Magic Is Wishing Upon Howard's Star
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: February 26, 2006
When the smoke from the nondeals, the minor deals and the one head-scratching deal dissipated, who was the biggest winner at the trading deadline?
Dwight Howard.
A 6-foot-11 rebounding prodigy and the No. 1 pick in 2004, he was the reason Orlando allowed the remnants of the Tracy McGrady trade to disappear like a dream.
By dumping Steve Francis into the Knicks' stockroom of expensive shoot-first guards, in exchange for Trevor Ariza and the former Magic star Penny Hardaway (Orlando waived him and his $15.8 million contract on Friday), Orlando cleared salary space for 2007 to build a team around Howard.
But will the Magic and Howard still be winners two years from now?
"With this flexibility, I think you're able to get the players you want to get as opposed to doing a trade for bodies that years from now might not help you," Otis Smith, the assistant general manager, said. "It's about complementary pieces that can win you a championship; it's not about collecting as many bodies as you can."
Depending on how active the Magic is this summer, it could have $25 million in 2007 to help sign Howard to a maximum contract, and Orlando could add other free agents when Grant Hill's contract expires.
Orlando may not be able to focus on the high-profile class of Chauncey Billups, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade and Vince Carter. The competition will be stiff. The Magic will be one of nearly 10 teams — along with the Hornets, the Raptors, the Bulls, the SuperSonics, the Lakers, the Hawks, the Bobcats and the Clippers — with flexibility under the cap in 2007.
Without a deal for a new arena, the Magic's future in Orlando is uncertain. But Smith said: "We'll be here for a long time. Right now, you have to sell what you have."
That is Howard. But whether he is a Tim Duncan-in-waiting or a solid anchor needing another superstar is to be determined. In only his second season out of high school, Howard leads the N.B.A. in rebounding average (12.5) but is not an offensive force (15.6 points a game). Finding a guard to pass to Howard became a priority for the Magic.
Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, usually loath to compliment big men, likes Howard so much that he said he wanted to return to the Magic as a general manager when he retired to tutor him. Why the admiration? "The way he plays hard all the time," O'Neal said last week.
Howard's enthusiasm is infectious. Smith said, "Every time he makes a jump shot or dunks the ball, he breaks out into a full-fledged smile."
Whether the smile fades depends on the players Orlando surrounds him with. Howard has played for three coaches and two general managers in fewer than two seasons. The Magic miscalculated on last year's draft when the No. 11 pick Fran Vazquez decided to stay in Spain and not come to the N.B.A.
Orlando traded for Detroit's No. 2 overall pick from 2003, Darko Milicic, hoping that with playing time he will fulfill his potential. Point guard Carlos Arroyo was also obtained in the deal, and to get them Smith gave up a 2007 first-round pick; if the Magic finishes better than fifth-worst, the pick automatically goes to Detroit in 2008.
Free agency has been anything but a sure bet for Orlando — in 2000 the Magic signed McGrady as the hot free agent after trading Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins to Detroit for Grant Hill.
Howard is looking to the future. "I want to get this organization back to where it was when Shaq and Penny were here, where every game was full and people watched the Magic," he said recently. "I don't have big shoulders for nothing. I expect a lot of myself, too."
