Rob Mahoney, New York Times
The Orlando Magic's haul of Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless in this four-team deal does not impress Mahoney and understandably so.
The Times writer said in a recent article that "this [trade] at best a highly questionable deal for the Magic."
While Afflalo and Harrington are nice pieces and Harkless could blossom into a decent player, earlier offers from the Brooklyn Nets and Lakers had more intriguing players involved.
Brook Lopez or Andrew Bynum are far better options than Vucevic and Harrington, and the Magic could have had the superior two of these if management traded Howard several weeks ago.
Overall though, Orlando received a whole bunch in return for its star player, and that's better than absolutely nothing, which is what the team would have received if Howard got to free agency.
That being said, even when you add the three protected first-round draft picks to this equation, it's hard not to think the Magic could have received more if they dealt earlier.
Shaquille O'Neal, TNT
Former Magic and Laker star Shaquille O'Neal has openly criticized Magic management for agreeing to this trade, taking to his personal Twitter account to do so. The man once called Superman tweeted:
An old nba addage we have to get worse to get better, that's true but what happens when u get worser aka more worse than the worse answa dat
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) August 10, 2012 O'Neal seems to be right in line with Mahoney's thoughts on the matter, raising an interesting point, albeit in a hard-to-understand...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
