NBA Trade Rumors: LeBron James vs. Dwight Howard, Who Is a Better Fit for Miami?

My apologies in advance to my readers, this is what the lockout has done to me.

I am now reduced to articles dealing with false hype, ridiculous allegations, and trade rumors that will remain trade rumors for the rest of their natural life.

Just bear with me and we'll get through this with no hurt feelings and all of our psyches in tact.

When it comes to dealing with the Miami Heat and their various struggles, the solution of trading away a key member of the team always comes into play.

The team started last season with a 9-8 record, causing many to deem the experiment of bringing Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and LeBron James on the same team as a failure. The five game losing streak they endured through late February into early March caused even more hype and rumors about the teams future to build up.

Bosh, Miller and James were all three key members of the team that were being put on the block by the Miami fan base—and the rest of the NBA world—and analysts actually began to question whether trading away Bosh or James might not be a good idea. In reality, trading away either of those players that early into the season would be borderline insane of Pat Riley and anyone else at Miami.

Luckily, Riley has too much pride to admit defeat and claim that he was wrong for creating this type of squad. Also, it's still too early to deem this experiment as a failure and move on.

Analysts talk of Miami possibly trading Chris Bosh throughout the regular season was basically all hype. Simply put, trading a player of Bosh's caliber away for a player of equal or lesser value would never work.

Not to mention that the Heat already has more than $100 million tied up in Bosh, James, and Wade.

Usually these rumors start to pop up only when the Heat are struggling, so Miami fans didn't have to listen to many ludicrous trade ideas throughout the postseason.

At least until the NBA Finals.

With a 4-2 loss and LeBron James playing the worst playoff series of his career, the focus was on him and what the Heat could possibly do to improve their roster.

The obvious answer would be do nothing. Why risk trading away one of the top players in the league just because they had a few bad moments?

The last rumor to arise among the ashes of the fallen Heat actually involves James and another superstar, Dwight Howard.

Yes, the same Dwight Howard playing for the Orlando Magic that has contended for a title over the past few seasons.

During his time with Orlando, Howard has emerged as possibly the most dominant forces in the league today. Howard's athleticism and defensive prowess are two of the most coveted player characteristics in the NBA and the Heat could have a chance to obtain that talent. But only if they trade away James or Bosh and another player.

Some think this idea isn't too far fetched and that Dwight Howard might be a better all-around fit for the Heat.

Right now the Heat's offense problem is that it doesn't allow much freedom for Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. The team doesn't run too many set offensive plays or a specific system, constantly putting Wade and James at the perimeter attempting to find ways to break apart a defense and enter the paint. This greatly limits their driving ability, hinders the consistency of the offense, and forces the two into jump shots they don't always want to take.

Also, these two players basically have the same offensive game plan. Neither player is a quality jump shooter—Wade has a solid mid-range game and James can sometimes shoot three-pointers—so they constantly have to drive and get near the basket for the majority of the points.

Both players only seem to know how to play offense when the ball is in their hands. With James directing traffic in Cleveland and Wade controlling the game in Miami for seven years, neither player expected that they would actually have to learn to move without the ball. They most likely thought that they would be the main event on their respected teams for the rest of their careers.

Moving without the ball and finding ways to score off of another player directing the offense is something that both players are going to need to learn if they want to improve the consistency of their offense. Neither player should force the issue of taking the ball up on every single offensive possession. They need to learn how to play with a pure point guard and allow them to take the ball up and direct the offense.

Neither James or Wade can thrive as prolifically as they could if they don't add another dimension to their already volatile offensive onslaught.

Trading away James and bringing in Howard does have it's benefits, especially with the team actually bringing in a pure center that is recognized as the best in the league at post defense, post scoring, and rebounding.

Howard has been a staple of the Orlando Magic since he was drafted in 2004 and has been an MVP contender over the past four seasons, finishing in the top five every year. He earns votes because his impact on the Magic's ability to contend for a title every season.

With Howard on the team, it would be easy to say that the offense would start running smoother. Without James to take up time driving, Wade will find himself as the only pure slasher on the team. He can still direct traffic, still take the ball up the court, and take up all the possessions he wants by driving rather than sharing the ball with James for easy scores in the paint. Instead of looking for James, Wade can draw some attention and find easy shots for Howard.

However, we have to come back down to earth and realize that this will never happen.

There is absolutely no way a swap like this would happen between two teams in the same division.

A team like the Orlando Magic doesn't want to trade a superstar for another superstar.

It's a ridiculous trade for both sides, but especially for the Heat. It would be extremely disappointing if the team decided that this experiment was a failure after only one season of playing together.

The Finals loss was a disappointment, but they came two games away from winning a title with only three of their starting five since their projected fourth and fifth best players were out with injuries for the majority of the season.

It was a great sign of things to come for the juggernaut of a team as they can only now be hungrier for the title that they all signed up for when coming to Miami.

The most obvious reason for the Heat not to trade away LeBron James for Dwight Howard is that James is considered by most to be the first or second best player currently in the NBA. James is already considered by some as one of the best of all-time despite never winning a title.

Why would the Heat want to trade that away for a player of lesser value? The fact that James and Wade are on a team together is enough for the Heat to be considered a dangerous team.

Wade and James might have the same playing style, but they appear to have mastered combining forces on the court. When you see them connecting for plays like this or this, you realize that separating these two again would be an extremely bad idea.

This team isn't broken, so there's no need to fix it. Miami came two games away from their first championship last season and they only have room to improve.

Trading away players isn't the solution to the Heat's problems right now. The NBA world needs to realize that Bosh, James and Wade are in Miami to stay—at least until their contracts expire.