NBA Rumors: Pressure on Magic Management to Placate Dwight Howard with Trades

The tide appears to be turning for the Orlando Magic, if only for the time being.

According to Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM, the team's focus has shifted from shopping Dwight Howard before the NBA trade deadline—and before he presumably bolts for greener pastures this summer via free agency—to doing everything within its power to convince the league's best big man to stay put.

"

Nothing new on Monta Ellis. But I think it's safe to say the Magic aren't looking to trade Dwight. The next few days should be interesting

— Jarrod N Rudolph (@MisterRudolph) March 1, 2012"

Unfortunately for the Magic and GM Otis Smith, the Golden State Warriors have no interest in moving Monta Ellis to Florida in a deal for anyone other than DH12, a function of Orlando's most glaring problem as March 15th draws ever closer—its lack of attractive trade chips (via Contra Costa Times).

The Magic roster is rife with bloated contracts (Hedo Turkoglu, Glen Davis, Jason Richardson) and flat-out disappointments (Davis, Jameer Nelson, Chris Duhon) who'd be better served as throw-ins for any deal that would ship Howard out of town.

Orlando's two most enticing non-Howard assets—JJ Redick and Ryan Anderson—also happen to be the most important to the structure and success of the team. Along with J-Rich (when healthy), Redick and Anderson provide head coach Stan van Gundy with the perimeter shooting necessary to spread the floor for Howard to operate in the middle.

The thing is, the Magic don't have much of anyone who can create his own shot and score consistently in that ever-so-important expanse of court space between the three-point line and the portion of the low block that Howard so customarily occupies.

Hence, Otis Smith's pursuit of a pure scorer like Monta Ellis.

See the problem? The Magic need a player like Monta to improve the team and, in turn, their chances of keeping Dwight Howard, but to get that player, they'd likely need to trade Dwight Howard.

That's not to say that the Magic and the Warriors won't eventually be able to make it work, or that Smith won't find some other way to meet the needs of his team (and his wantaway superstar) before the deadline.

Rather, it's that the pressure is on Smith to somehow transform himself into an above-average wheeler-and-dealer in less than two weeks time. Smith's past deals (i.e. the Vince Carter trade two-and-a-half years ago, the Gilbert Arenas trade last year) don't exactly inspire confidence in management and got the Magic into this mess in the first place.

Good luck with that.

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