Power Ranking Dwight Howard's Benefit on Teams Vying for His Services

With the NBA trade deadline just a smidgen over two weeks away, the trade talk is starting to get real, but we are no closer to a Dwight Howard trade than we were the day after the lockout ended. We're still essentially sitting on five teams that have a chance of getting him. 

Not all teams would benefit equally from his acquisition, though. Some of the reason for that is based on the team, its history and its ownership, i.e. the team value. Some of the reason for that is how good the team will be, i.e. the team quality. 

Here are the rankings of how much each team would benefit form the acquisition of Howard. 

Chicago Bulls

In Chicago, there's very real and very reasonable debate over whether the Bulls would benefit at all with Howard. 

In terms of team value, the Windy City is already a premier basketball city. They have the third-most valuable franchise already at $600 million. They have the league's MVP in their homegrown superstar and one of the league's most marketable players in Derrick Rose. 

In terms of team quality, it is possible they are a worse team after a Howard trade. They already have the fourth-best frontcourt in the NBA based on net efficiency recap, according to hoopsstats.com. They are also a very deep team. 

Both that frontcourt and depth would have to be sacrificed in order to obtain Howard. The Bulls are already one of the top three teams in the NBA and a very real contender for the title. Depending on what the price is, they could be worse or the trade could be a wash. 

Chicago would benefit the least of any team with this move, if they benefited at all. 

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers would benefit depending on the price. If they could get him and keep Pau Gasol, it would be worth it. 

It needs to be said here that those that are comparing Andrew Bynum to Dwight Howard and saying he's better are completely off their rocker. Howard is a much better player than Bynum.

That's not a knock on Bynum. He's the second-best center in the NBA. 

He's just not the best, and he's not close to being the best. If he were even with Howard, the Lakers wouldn't be looking to trade him. If they were, the Magic wouldn't be reluctant to take him. 

There is something I like to call the "10 percent rule" when it comes to news/teams involving anything to do with Boston, the Lakers, the Knicks and the Heat. Assume that at a minimum, whatever you hear about them is at least 10 percent exaggeration. 

If Andrew Bynum is playing for the Denver Nuggets, no one is comparing him to Dwight Howard. It's just true. 

But I digress. The Lakers' team value isn't going anywhere. They are the most valuable franchise in the NBA. They could improve with a straight-up trade, but there is a qualifier to that. 

The Lakers weakness right now is not that they don't have a center. Their weakness is that they lack a point guard. Howard is not exactly the type of player who runs the ball down the floor in transition. You need a point guard to feed him the ball and you need players who can hit from deep to spread the court.

The Lakers would be marginally better with Howard, but they would be better served looking elsewhere to make a move. They need a point guard and three-point shooters more than they need an upgrade at center. 

Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are looking to add both Dwight Howard and favorite son Deron Williams. If they add both of those players, watch out.

Sometimes people just look at the addition of stars and don't think about how the players would play together. I think how much they complement one another is a huge thing to consider. 

With Dirk Nowitzki and Dwight Howard paired in the frontcourt, you would have an unbelievable combination of players. You can't stop either one-on-one and with the two of them together, it would be impossible to defend.

What's even better is that they have different types of games. Look where Nowitzki's shots come from compared to where Howard's come from. The combination of their scoring abilities and the way they do their damage from different spots would be enough to make defensive coaches curl up and cry. 

Then you add players like Vince Carter and Jason Terry on the wings and you have a stretched-out court.

Finally, you add one of the three best point guards in the NBA in Deron Williams, who can both score and distribute.

You put all of that together and you have a team that could legitimately challenge for 70 wins. In terms of quality, the Mavericks would be the best actual team. If it is about winning, this should be a no-brianer for Howard. Go to Dallas.

Having said that, the Mavericks are already a very good team and is the fourth-most valuable franchise in the game. They are also already a destination spot. The Mavericks would be the best team, but that doesn't mean he would benefit them the most. 

Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic aren't out of the running and as far as teams that would benefit from his services. Of course, their benefit would be in not going down, rather than going up. 

For the Magic to keep Howard, that would mean they acquired an elite point guard. 

The Magic will be a lot better if they keep Howard. They will be a lot worse if they don't. 

Additionally, their team value is very much a result of the play of Howard over the years. However they've also been paying huge salaries, so last year they actually lost money and the franchise value stayed the same.

This is the reason why Orlando is wanting veteran talent, not draft choices and the like in return. They need to draw fans and rebuilding teams don't do that so well. 

Orlando would benefit by keeping Howard more in the sense of the hit they wouldn't take both as a team and financially by losing him. 

New Jersey Nets

No team would benefit as much from the trade as the New Jersey Nets for several reasons. First, they've already put all their chips on the table in acquiring Deron Williams, who they will lose if they don't get Howard. Even with Williams, they haven't been a very good team, with just 11 wins.

They are moving into a new stadium in Brooklyn next year. They have an opportunity to become an elite team if they can keep Williams and land Howard. They have the opportunity to possibly be the worst team in the NBA if they lose Williams. They are going to have virtually no talent to build around. 

That's a lot on a team moving to Brooklyn. The gulf in the difference between getting Howard and not getting Howard for the Nets is probably not measured in the tens of millions of dollars financially, but in the hundreds of millions. It's the difference between being a top-five team in the NBA and the worse. 

For that reason, the Nets stand to gain the most by landing Howard.