Orlando Magic Rumors: Updates on Last-Minute Moves and Speculation

The Orlando Magic are the team that seems to be revolving around everything to do with the trade deadline. 

Between the teams that are looking to "rent" Howard, the teams on his "list" where he would go and the Magic's efforts to steep themselves into denial, there are enough rumors about the Magic to keep us all busy trying to keep up with them. 

Here are the latest rumors revolving around the Magic center and the team. 

Magic Give Dwight Right to Fire Otis Smith and Stan Van Gundy

The most recent rumors are shocking, egregious, desperate and, for lack of a better word, pathetic. Well, there are better words to describe it, but they don't fit the Bleacher Report standards. 

According to ESPN:

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One source close to the situation told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher that the Magic have promised Howard that they will add a quality player before Thursday's deadline and that Howard can decide the fate of both GM Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy at the end of the season if he signs an extension. 

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It's really hard to imagine how Van Gundy is supposed to be allowed to coach when he serves at the whim of Howard, who is about as arbitrary as a five-year-old. 

Stephen Jackson

In the report, ESPN also suggests what move might be made to appease Howard: "Bucks swingman Stephen Jackson, frustrated in Milwaukee, is available and sources say he and Howard have talked about playing together."

Here, you have the perfect example of why you don't want to have players calling the shots in the GM office, because when they do, they want to do things like this. Howard would make Michael Jordan look like a good GM given the chance. 

Jackson is a player who is past his prime, whose will to win is highly questionable and who is having all kinds of personality conflicts in Milwaukee. He's 33 years old, and he's shooting for an effective field-goal percentage of .412 this year. 

If this is the kind of "suggestion" that Orlando has been ignoring, then I don't blame them one iota. Hey, it's not like they've been genius, but to their credit, they didn't get Stephen Jackson. 

Monta Ellis

CBSSports.com is reporting a far more intriguing scenario:

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The Warriors are discussing ways to acquire center Andrew Bogut from Milwaukee as part of a complicated, three-team proposal that would send Monta Ellis to Orlando, multiple league sources told CBSSports.com. The Warriors would get Bogut from the Bucks and send Ellis to Orlando as part of the Magic's efforts to persuade Dwight Howard that they are prepared to continue surrounding him with top-flight talent. The Magic are exploring multiple scenarios to upgrade their roster in the hopes that Howard would then relent on his strategy to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. 

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However, a more recent report is now stating that this is off the table:

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Warriors owner Joe Lacob has no interest in sending Monta Ellis to Orlando to help the Magic keep Dwight Howard, wanting instead to preserve his own slim chances of landing the All-Star center, league sources told CBSSports.com Tuesday.

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In other words, if Ellis and Howard are teammates, it's going to be in the Bay Area, not in Orlando. 

Magic Prefer to Work with Chicago

For the Magic, the team they would most like to work out a deal with is the Chicago Bulls, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports:

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Magic executives are said to be unimpressed with the assets Howard's three preferred teams could provide in a trade, prompting them to engage in a calculated campaign to expand the field of potential suitors beyond the Nets, Mavericks and Lakers. But the team that can make the strongest case for Orlando to depart from its risky strategy of holding onto Howard are the Bulls, who could offer 7-footer Omer Asik, Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer for Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, sources said. The Bulls also could offer a valuable first-round pick from Charlotte -- top-14 protected in this year's draft but but unprotected by 2016.

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This is certainly a deal that might get done if Howard gave the say so. Previous reports had Noah, not Boozer, going in exchange, but if the Bulls could keep Noah and ship Boozer, that would be a deal worth serious consideration. 

A team with Noah and Howard in the frontcourt defensively would be terrifying. Noah may be a more natural power forward anyway, and between his quickness and Howard's interior defense, the pair would patrol the lane with unparalleled ferocity. 

On top of that, with Tom Thbiodeau, the greatest defensive mind in the NBA, putting the pieces into place, it would be even more awesome. 

Sure, there would be some questions, but with those three under contract for years to come, you would have a potential dynasty on your hands. In terms of pure talent, the Miami threesome might be more talented, but with the Bulls having such an advantage at the bigs, they might have the better team. 

The thing is that there's no team that has fully embraced a player the way that Chicago has their favorite son, except for maybe Los Angles and Kobe Bryant. 

Part of the reason for that is that there's probably no player to embrace his town, to the point of literally having it tattooed on his body, the way that Rose has Chicago. He was born there, raised there and loves it there. 

As a result, Howard will always be the other guy, and I'm not sure he wants to be the other guy. 

Nets Still Preferred Destination

According to CBSSports' Ken Berger:

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Howard's representatives reiterated to teams inquiring about him in recent days that his No. 1 choice remains the Nets, and also revealed that he has a list of several players he'd like to play with, a person familiar with the situation said Tuesday. Ellis, the Warriors' electrifying guard, is on the list, the person said. Nets point guard Deron Williams is presumed to be on it as well, though Howard's desire for new teammates is unclear beyond that.

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The bottom line is that, in the end do you really see Howard "settling" for his second choice? More and more, it seems like he's set his mind to go to Brooklyn and that's what he doing. 

The rest just seems to be a lot of distraction.

The Magic may not like what they're getting back form New Jersey in that deal, but it beats the heck out of not getting anything at all.