Dwight Howard and the Magic wanted Gilbert Arenas for his potentially explosive scoring and Arenas desperately needed the Orlando Magic to rescue him from the purgatory he was suffocating in with the Wizards. Orlando can only hope that their Christmas wishes have come true with the acquisition of the player formerly known as “Agent Zero” and that Arenas’ desire for a fresh start will mean relentless effort and unwavering dedication to their championship cause and not clownish antics.
Orlando traded for Arenas, Jason Richardson, and Hedo Turkoglu yesterday but it is the performance of the potentially potent duo of Howard and Arenas that will determine whether the Orlando franchise undergoes a serious rebuilding project in the coming years - if this pairing falters by not delivering another NBA Finals appearance between now and 2012 the Orlando Magic will be forced into the same hand Cleveland was dealt this past summer and the Nuggets are currently dealing with:
The potential disaster of losing their franchise superstar for nothing.
CHECK OUT HIGHLIGHTS OF ARENAS’ 60-POINT GAME VS. LAKERS IN 2006 HERE
Dwight Howard can officially become a free-agent during the summer of 2011-2012, as the 2012-13 season his at his option, and the Magic decided that they needed to pull out all the stops to ensure that Howard is aware of their willingness to do everything possible to ensure competitiveness in the future for Orlando.
“There’s a LeBron comparison here,” said a connected authority on NBA player movement. “You’ve got to put talent around these guys, these superstars, so they can win. I think if they didn’t make a move like this, I don’t think they would’ve been able to keep Dwight. Does this mean they keep him? Not for sure. But if this makes them a championship caliber team, the chances go up.”
I’d like to think Dwight might choose to remain loyal to the Magic as Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, and Paul Pierce were to their respective teams this past summer but I realize that in today’s NBA those types of decisions are few and far between.
What’s to stop Howard from chasing bright lights all over the NBA as LeBron, Bosh, and Carmelo have done or are currently doing?
That is the only reason why they would acquire a troubled former all-star in Gilbert Arenas, who has roughly $60 million remaining on his deal until the 2013-14 season and a player clearly on the decline recently in Hedo Turkoglu, who has over $40 million left on his contract.
Jason Richardson might be a nice addition to this team - he’s an excellent three-point shooter, rebounds well for his position, is a solid defender, and can drive to the bucket as well as Vince Carter has or better the past several seasons. However, he has an expiring contract worth $14.4 million and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him dangled for additional pieces before the deadline.
That is what makes this deal so risky - Arenas and Turkoglu could both be busts for the Magic and we all know that Orlando’s chances of retaining Howard would diminish greatly with their underperformance.
I might be one of the few that thinks these transactions have a chance to work - while Turkoglu will benefit from his reunion with Stan Van Gundy I’m even more excited at the potential of a Gilbert Arenas/Dwight Howard pairing. People seem to forget that Arenas is just 29 years old and relatively fresh - he has played in just 68 games since the 2007-08 season recovering from injuries and his infamous gun-toting incident that resulted in a 50-game suspension last year.
Before those interruptions? Gilbert was a rising star whose scoring averaged ranged between 19.6 and 29.3 points during his first four seasons in Washington and had become one of those rare scoring juggernauts who could seemingly take over a game at will. He once dropped sixty points on Kobe and the Lakers, including 43 in the second-half alone, and garnered a plethora of MVP votes during the 2006-07 season.
He’s also still in his prime and I’m banking on his arrival working out well for the Magic, critics be damned.
Defensively Arenas has always needed work - his defensive ratings have never been stellar and he gambles for steals more frequently than he should - but Van Gundy’s units are consistently among the best in the NBA and I can see Gilbert working his tail off to prove to Magic GM Otis Smith that he appreciates a chance to start anew.
Coach Van Gundy has signaled that Jameer Nelson will continue to be the team’s starting point guard and Arenas has apparently already volunteered to come off the bench. One can only hope that a more mature Arenas will be teaming with old Golden State buddy Jason Richardson in Orlando and volunteering to sit is certainly a good start.
Magic GM Otis Smith spoke yesterday about Arenas, via Yahoo! Sports:
“We have a tendency not to forgive people in this country,” Smith said. “We have a tendency to hold onto things a little bit longer, particularly if they play professional sports. And I always say that some times good people do stupid things, and that one’s right on the top of the list. But I feel comfortable with who he is, knowing him since he was 19 years old.”
I am into forgiving people within reason - even Michael Vick has garnered slight support from me recently - and I would love to see a newly motivated Arenas with a better perspective on life lift the Magic back into NBA Finals territory.
I mean, is there anything better than a down-and-out underdog rising up from the ashes?
Here’s hoping, for the fans’ sake, that Arenas and Howard form the fearsome dynamic duo that the Magic are banking on them to become.
It certainly beats watching Vince Carter these days.