2012 NBA

[Threash]

Orlando?  What in the fuck?  How in the world do you trade Dwight Howard and not get Bynum back?  What a terrible deal for them.  It's not as if they even get decent picks for a rebuild, because all the teams involved are going to be good.  

In the NBA the WORST place you can possibly be is middle of the pack.  If you are not a contender you want to bottom out and rebuild, getting stuck in the middle leaves you perennially as not good enough to win and not bad enough to improve.  The Magic team with Bynum would have been at best an eight seed in the east, that is a horrible situation to be in.  The only place where they got screwed in this trade was in the final Iguodala for Afflalo/Harrington trade, they could have done better than that.  Hell Portland got a sixth pick for Gerald Wallace.  Howard Duhon and Clark for Bynum McRoberts and Eyenga + a first round pick from 2017 (a year the Lakers won't have Kobe Nash or Pau anymore) is not a terrible deal.  Bynum and Richardson (another bad contract) for Iguodala and two good young prospects in Harkless and Vucevic + another first rounder is a pretty decent deal.  Iguodala for Afflalo and Harrington on a horrible contract + another pick i guess is pretty shitty.

[Threash]

From what I can remember, Big P was a little tamer than other f13 posters.  :)

From someone who's been an ORL fan for about as long as I can remember (I was 10ish in the days of Penny, Horace, and Shaq), I've never seen someone whine as much as Dwight Howard.  Dwight Howard coudl've been a legend in Orlando a la Evan Longoria for the Rays or Vinny Lecavalier for the Lightning.  Fans in Florida love to have a face of an organization even more than the Colts loved Manning -- think Tebow and UF.

Watching someone cry his way to the firing of one of the truly great basketball coaches and eventual trade drives me crazy.

I've been a Magic fan longer than you and i thought Van Gundy should've been fired on the spot.  You don't throw the organization under the bus like he did and expect to keep your job, it is that simple.  I don't care if Howard is being a baby, you don't air the teams dirty laundry to the press and destroy any chance of keeping a franchise player because your feelings got hurt.  And he might have been a great Xs and Os coach but he was a horrible people person and completely refused to play rookies and develop young talent, which is partly to blame for Orlandos severe lack of trade assets.

[Paelos]

Both Van Gundy coaches fail at the most important thing in coaching, leadership.

[cmlancas]

I've been a Magic fan longer than you

Any post that starts out like this?   

Feel free to disagree, but c'mon man.  And it's the organization's fault that the star player cried a river that Van Gundy eventually drowned in? 

I might give you that he should've had more class than to call out the organization, but here's the thing:  it was true.

[Threash]

I've been a Magic fan longer than you

Any post that starts out like this?   

Feel free to disagree, but c'mon man.  And it's the organization's fault that the star player cried a river that Van Gundy eventually drowned in? 

I might give you that he should've had more class than to call out the organization, but here's the thing:  it was true.

Well, you mentioned it so i figured it was important :).  Whether it was true or not it still sunk any chance of keeping Howard right after they had talked him into waving his ETO, coaches are not important enough to survive that kind of offense.

[ghost]

Good god, is Serge Ibaka really worth $12 million per year? 

NBA league priorities seem definitely fucked up.  (and yes, I understand he led the league in blocks)

[Cyrrex]

But but but...he lead the league in blocks!  BLOCKS!

[Threash]

[Ingmar]

Ibaka is only 23 and already the best in the league at something, that's probably a pretty good argument for getting paid.

[ghost]

I'm not buying it.   

[Threash]

Any center with even the bare amount of skill and size is going to get paid.

[Ingmar]

Yeah, that's less than 2x what Kwame Brown makes after all. 

[ghost]

Al Horford and Joachim Noah make less money than this joker and they're both twice the player.

[Ingmar]

Not by PER, they're all right around ~19. And those other 2 guys are 3-4 years older; if Ibaka continues to improve as he ages he should outperform them in the long run.

[Threash]

Horfor will get a max contract when his current one runs out, probably so will Noah.

[ghost]

Not by PER, they're all right around ~19. And those other 2 guys are 3-4 years older; if Ibaka continues to improve as he ages he should outperform them in the long run.

Yeah, well, Chris Anderson and Andersona Varajao have PERs of around 19 too, and I'm not trading Ibaka, Noah or Horford for both of them and a first round pick.  PER doesn't tell the whole story.  There's quite a few guys above 19 that I wouldn't trade for any of the three guys we're talking about.