“As I told you a little bit earlier in the hour, I have some news to report about your New York Knicks.  The Orlando Magic, I will preface my statement by telling you that they have categorically denied this, but my sources tell me that they have inquired about Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire going to Orlando for Dwight Howard.  Let me confess to you that I’m torn.  From a basketball standpoint, it would seem you do that trade in a heartbeat.  You don’t teach seven-feet and you don’t teach the dominate and the skills that Dwight Howard has.  But I like Tyson Chandler.  I like the fact that he rebounds and defends.”

From ESPN reports that Magic have “inquired” about a trade of Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler for Dwight Howard via IamaGM.com quoting Stephen A. Smith on 1050 ESPN New York

I have a couple of pertinent thoughts on this report, the overriding theme of each of which is that this trade is just not going to happen.

First, I’m not sure why the Magic would want to take on what is increasingly looking like an uninsured albatross of a contract to Amar’e Stoudemire, nor why they would want to send Dwight Howard to New York to help the Knicks alleviate their roster construction problems. As Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski wrote over the weekend, the Magic are too good right now to just trade Howard and effectively give up on the season. Even shooting guard J.J. Redick is of the belief that this Magic team is the best one he’s been on since he came to Orlando six years ago, and they went to the Finals in 2009. It doesn’t make sense to break up this team, especially since the Eastern Conference is pretty wide open id Dwyane Wade’s injury lingers and the Miami Heat aren’t at full strength for the playoffs.

Second, and excuse me while I go into full Hubie Brown mode here, but: “You’re Otis Smith. You’re the General Manager of the Orlando Magic, and your previously much-maligned roster has gelled like never before at the beginning of this lockout-condensed season. However, you’re still not entirely convinced that your star center will want to stay in Orlando long term, and you’re also not entirely convinced that this hot start is for real. After all, this is mostly the same team from last year’s run, with Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis swapped in for Brandon Bass. You know that losing Dwight Howard for nothing will make fans go nuts, and might even cost you your job. You also know that while you’ve engaged in active discussions to trade Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, they’ve yet to offer both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in the same deal. Now, what do you do?”

The answer to the question I just asked myself in – I think – the fourth person is this, “You leak it to a prominent media member that you’re considering trading Howard to New York for Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler to put pressure on a Lakers team that has already missed out on Chris Paul and seem him shipped to the other Los Angeles team, is struggling to create offense and has a fan base that might actually spontaneously combust if Howard was traded to the Knicks.”

And that’s what I think has happened here. Sometimes, knowingly or unknowingly, reporters get used for leverage. I’m not saying that Stephen A. Smith didn’t get this information from a credible source; I have no doubt that he did. After all, his sources have been on point about other unlikely things before – he was talking LeBron and Chris Bosh to Miami before pretty much anyone else, even if Alan Hahn, then of Newsday and now of MSG, officially broke the news – but to me, this smells of Laker-bait, and not much else.

Lastly, other than the team not being good, this is the most annoying part about liking the Knicks. They’re seemingly linked to every big time player who is mentioned in trade rumors, and there’s endless pining for players who aren’t on the team and likely never will be. That type of madness seriously needs to stop. Like, NOW.

Suffice it to say, it has not been a good 18 months for Mo Williams. In May 2010, he was thrown under the bus as one of LeBron’s many (yet unnamed) Cavaliers teammates who “die[d] down in the moment” in the playoffs. Later that July, he (along with the entire city of Cleveland, its many expatriates, and hopeless romantics around the world) was flabbergasted by the final resting location of LeBron’s talents.

After July, Mo spent the rest of the summer battling depression. He contemplated retiring from basketball, but eventually suited up for the 2010-2011 season in Cleveland. After winning an uplifting home opener against the Celtics, it was pretty much all downhill for Mo and the rest of the Cavs after that.  He was manning the helm of new coach Byron Scott’s “offense” as the the Cavs achieved a level of unparalleled futility by setting the record for longest losing streak in NBA history at 26 games. They also managed to lose to the Lakers by 55 points, the largest margin since well before nearly all of us HP writers were born. Mo was sidelined with a hip pointer for a few weeks during the winter, but even sitting on the bench only made him more of a witness to the madness of the Cavs’ losing streak. When the Cavs eventually avenged their loss to LA, he played only 3 minutes as he was fresh off a return from his injury. And when the team mended the broken hearts of Cleveland against the Heat, he was already miles away in LA playing for a new team.

At the trade deadline last season, Mo was sent to the Clippers along with Jamario Moon for Baron Davis and a draft pick that eventually turned into #1 selection (and PG) Kyrie Irving. Mo was the best point guard the Cavs had seen since Andre Miller, but with that trade, he quickly dropped himself down on the list of “Best Cavalier PGs.” He was openly grateful for the time he spent in Cleveland and the loyalty of the fanbase, but he was also clearly excited at an opportunity to distance himself from heartbreak and salve his wounds with an exciting talent like Blake Griffin. The Clips didn’t make the playoffs, but for the first time in years, they had a stable front office and a relatively youthful and talented roster devoid of bloated contracts. Things were on the up and up, and Mo was the starting PG for a team with potential.

Mo watched and waited along with the rest of us through the lockout, and I’m sure he was eager to get back to work. As the lockout came to a close, trade rumors for Chris Paul started floating around. First to the Knicks. Then to the Lakers. Then to the Clippers. No trade became yes trade, and Chris Paul officially landed (or will land, rather) in LA. While most people would assume that playing on the same team as a once-in-a-lifetime-talent like Paul would be great, I think we can all agree that this philosophy may not apply when you have just come from a franchise devastated by a similarly-described player (who happens to be one of CP3′s BFFs and shares his PR firm), you play the same position as said prodigy, and you are older than he is. To top it all off, the Clippers also signed veteran PG and NBA Champion/Finals MVP Chauncey Billups to play PG as well. Perhaps personnel will slide Mo over to SG on the depth chart. Eric Gordon was a 6’3″ SG, and Mo is 6’2″, so that’s not so different, right? Maybe, but even so, I don’t think Blake and fellow dunker DeAndre were as excited to play with Mo as they will be with CP3.

Blake Griffin upon hearing @CP3 news: "It's going to be Lob City."

December 14, 2011 6:04 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@ESPNChrisPalmer

chris palmer

Perhaps the anxiety caused by being demoted at his job caused him to look the other way at password security this past week. Or maybe it was a cry for attention. Who knows?

im never leaving

December 13, 2011 12:08 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@mogotti25

Mo Williams

I sincerely hope Mo finds a good place this season. Both career-wise and emotion-wise. Have a good cry, Mo.

(H/T: my wife, via Perez)

Basketball-Reference.com recently added a section allowing users to view the entire trading history of every team in the NBA, by partner. This series will run down each team’s trading record, ranking the best and worst deals in all 30 franchises’ histories and pulling out anything else I find interesting along the way. I may switch up the order, but for now I’m going alphabetically, which means the Atlanta Hawks are first up.

The Hawks’ track record of trades leaves a lot to be desired. The five trades I’ve selected as their most embarrassing are a diverse array of past and future Hall of Famers, while most of their “good” ones are of the “Well, this draft pick turned out to be pretty good” variety (Josh Smith) or involved giving up a significant asset (the Rondo pick in the Joe Johnson deal).

(Note: these trades are listed chronologically and are not meant to be ranked for superiority, although on both lists the earliest one is the clear winner.)

(more…)