There is no Magic in Orlando

The Orlando Magic might be the worst run NBA franchise. Yes, this may seem unfair considering the Magic made the playoffs last year and the finals a few years ago, but this is a team that’s been run as poor as any team in sports. They’ve had Dwight Howard, the best center in basketball, for several years and the best player they’ve managed to put around him is Hedo Turkalou. Now after trying to trade Dwight Howard for almost 2 years, they get absolutely nothing for him.

Before we get into this abomination of a trade, let’s look at their prior moves and contracts. They gave a max contract to the barely useful Rashard Lewis, and then traded Lewis for the completely useless Gilbert Arenas. Then considering Arenas in no way could help their team win, they used their amnesty clause on him eating his remaining salary.

They traded the very productive Brandon Bass for Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Brandon Bass immediately became an essential piece for a contending team with the Celtics. The rumor is that Glen Davis is a friend of Dwight Howard and that’s why the Magic traded for him then gave him a contract extension. (That’s an effective way to build a franchise)

Hedo Turkalou had one tremendous season and helped the team get to the NBA Finals and then they smartly allowed him to be overpaid by the Raptors. Then to replace Hedo they decided to sign Vince Carter, because that’s always a good idea. When that plan obviously failed they traded Carter, Mikeal Pietrus, a 1^st round pick and Marcin Gortat to Phoenix for Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkalou (previously traded to the Suns from the Raptors). Gortat is now one of the best young centers in the NBA and could've been the replacement for Howard but the Magic had to reacquire Hedo Turkalou and his atrocious contract. Jason Richardson is a quality player but we'll get to him later.

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The only Magic you'll find in Orlando is at Harry Potter World

For how active the Magic have been over the past few years they have almost nothing to show for it outside of an extremely unhappy Dwight Howard and who could blame him?. Now the Magic have finally traded Dwight Howard and Jason Richardson for Arron Affalo, Al Harrington, Moe Harkless, Nikola Vucevic and 3 late first round picks. That's the deal they get after keeping Howard hostage for 2 years!? Are you freaking serious?

How is this deal any better than getting three first round picks from Houston and getting rid of some of their bigger contracts? Hell, I even like the idea of Brook Lopez and MarShon Brooks. I like Affalo but he is not a star player you build a team around and Al Harrington is an overpaid 6^th man at best. Harkless has some potential as well but is he really the type of guy you build your team around? And who the hell is Nikola Vucevic? How do you make a 4 team trade where you're trading one of the best 3 players in the NBA and not get the 2^nd or 3^rd best player in the trade?

This has to be the worst trade I've ever seen. The Magic should've tried to clear cap space and acquire young talent in this trade and this is what they did? Affalo and Harrington have very big contracts and Harkless wasn't even a lottery pick. Also, of all the players with big contracts on their team they managed to trade away Jason Richardson, who's easily the most affordable and the most useful. Every single team in this trade benefitted in some way except the Magic and they were trading the best player in the trade. It's unbelievable that this happened.

It gets even worse though. Weeks before this trade they signed Jameer Nelson, a 30-year-old point guard who hasn’t been good in 3 years, to a 3 year 25 million dollar deal. What in the blue hell is this team doing? Are they trying to rebuild or are they trying to compete by overpaying Nelson, Affalo, Turkalou, Harrington, and Glen Davis to be the core of their team? If you are a Magic fan you have my complete permission to trade in your team and get a new one. This is not a team that deserves to have fans or to be cheered for. They wasted the best center in the NBA and they managed to get just about nothing in return for him. They don't have a lot of cap flexibility and Arron Affalo is probably the only player you can even consider a B/B- player on their entire roster. This has to be some of the worst management of a successful franchise we've ever seen in modern sports.

The Magic will now be remembered as the team that had two of the best centers in NBA history and lost both of them. The team that signed Vince Carter, overpaid Rashard Lewis, and traded for Gilbert Arenas and Glen Davis. The team that put the entire country through this ridiculous Dwight Howard saga and then got nothing in return for him. At least the Magic will be remembered in the history books, but probably not in the way they had in mind.