Shaq Back to the Orlando Magic as GM? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
By Jason McIntyre
The Worst: Michael Jordan (in Washington).
Very Close to the Worst: Isiah Thomas (in New York). Too painful to recap.
The Best: Jerry West (with the Lakers and Memphis).
Pretty Damn Good Job: Joe Dumars in Detroit and Larry Bird in Indiana.
Forgettable: Chris Mullin (in Golden State) and Elgin Baylor (with the Clippers).
Remember how Shaq and Dwight Howard had beef a couple years back? Shaq wasn’t thrilled that Dwight Howard started to infringe on his “Superman” turf and took a couple shots at him. And remember how Shaq left Orlando for Hollywood, and Magic fans never forgave him? Given his history with the franchise and its franchise player … yeah, I’d love this marriage.
It’d be a splashy move to bring in Dr. Shaq to be a GM, and I’d say Shaq is one of the few guys who probably wouldn’t treat the position as Dwight Howard’s yes man. Wouldn’t Shaq bring in his guy Brian Shaw as head coach? My guess is that Shaq’s first order of business would be to ship D12 out of town and then start hacking away at this sloppy roster. First question I’d ask Shaq: Are you a star guy, or would you trade Howard for a bunch of good players, the way the Nuggets dealt Melo to the Knicks?
Hey Shaq, if you get the job, here’s an interesting trade proposal that some guy sent to me on twitter:
Orlando gets: Andre Iguodala, Thad Young, Eric Bledsoe
LA Clippers get: Dwight Howard, Craig Brackins
Philadelphia gets: DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin, Hedo Turkoglu
The good news: Everyone kind of wins. Let’s break it down by team ….
The Magic ship their disgruntled center out of town and get plenty in return – a potential starting PG (who replaces Jameer Nelson), a defensive-minded SF in Iguodala, and a valuable 6th man in Young. Your starting lineup – Bledsoe, J Rich (can try to move him, but that contract is awful), Iguodala, Big Baby, Daniel Orton. Frontcourt is thin, but at least you shed the Hedo contract. Scoop up a shot-blocking big like Fab Melo in the draft. Reddick and Young are offense off the bench.
The Clippers don’t have to worry about CP3 leaving in 2013 – he just got the best center in the NBA! Howard’s star power makes up for the loss of star Blake Griffin. How would Reggie Evans like to be Dwight Howard’s wingman inside?
The 76ers get much-needed beef inside with Jordan/Griffin, and actually may come out as the big winners in this trade. Their strength right now is in the backcourt, and retaining Holiday/Williams/Turner is huge. You could be looking at Holiday at PG, Evan Turner at SG, Turkoglu at SF, Griffin at PF, Jordan at C. Philly gets its biggest star since Iverson left, and still has Lou Williams coming off the bench to provide offense.