Did the Magic screw the pooch?

[GarySJ]

I say Orlando whiffed on this one, big time. Who needs a mature, dominant center when you can have a snotty high schooler who says he's going to convert the NBA to Christianity?

[KnightsRule]

Mature dominant center who is not a 7 footer and has a bad back.  I would have went with the HSer.

[___ Eats It]

Orlando wasn't gambling on Okafor's back after enduring the Grant Hill ankle fiasco.

Was it the logical decision?  Maybe not, but it was the logical decision for ORLANDO.

[Velcro]

I guess considering the trouble they've had with Grant Hill, and seeing Ben Wallace totally dominate the finals... they had a bad taste in their mouth, making it a very tough decision.

On one hand, you could potentially get another Ben Wallace type of player, but with some offensive ability, in Emeka, or he could turn out to be injured all the time like Hill.

Then you have Howard who could someday turn into a superstar if he ever gets enough motivation, but could be one of the many HS'ers that just don't turn out, which is more common than the Kobe, Lebron, KG occurance.

Any other team, probably Emeka is a decent choice, but with hill always injured, i can kinda understand going with Howard and praying he becomes a star.  

Since McGrady is as good as gone and in replacement, and we might see Stevie Franchise and Cuttino Mobley, as well as Kelvin Cato, it might not be as bad a move as i originally thought.

Possible Lineup if the trade happens:

Mobley

Francis

Hill

Gooden

Cato

Key Bench players:

Bogans

Gaines

DeClerq

Jameer Nelson

Dwight Howard

Deshawn Stevenson

Stephen Hunter

Juwan Howard

Pat Garrity

alot of good youth there

I'm sure alot will change though from now till the season starts.

[___ Eats It]

Since McGrady is as good as gone and in replacement, and we might see Stevie Franchise and Cuttino Mobley, as well as Kelvin Cato, it might not be as bad a move as i originally thought.

Is he not staying with OJ anymore?  Did OJ "cut" him loose?   ;D

[Velcro]

haha,  Kato Kaelin, Kelvin Cato, close enough right ?  

[Markeymark]

I can't fault Orlando for taking Howard over Okafor - they did what they felt was best for their team. In the larger picture, why the heck are all these NBA teams drafting unproven high school players? Some of these kids are 6-9 and don't know how to dribble. It's outrageous that all of these kids are being picked ahead of national player of the year Jameer Nelson. Sebastian Telfair is a lot of New York hype - the Trailblazers made a bad mistake by picking that kid, all of his highlight reels are against other other high schoolers.

I completely agree with Dicky V on this issue.

The truth will come out in about 5 years when most of these kids are out of the league, and the kids with college experience are out there on the floor every night getting the exposure.

[Velcro]

Well put MM.  I don't think Telfair is going to pan out... he needs to hit the weight room... he probably weighs 125 soaking wet.

Will Howard make it?  i don't know... will Okafor last, i don't know... just a bunch of question marks all around.

[The_Reaper]

No Magic for the Magic. Bad leadership, bad ownership. Guess they can always sell Amway!

[GarySJ]

Any player is an injury risk, even if he's never had an injury before. It's a good point that Orlando may have shied away from Okafor because of all the injury trouble they've had with Hill, even though there may be nothing to Okafor's back problems.

And you're right, this dependence on high school players has become completely ridiculous. How did a bunch of kids nobody'd ever heard of six months ago suddenly become way better than the national player of the year and the two stars who led UConn to a national title?

And they wonder how teams find great players in outside the draft lottery, and as undrafted free agents.