Dwight Howard Trade Talk: NBA All-Star Game Will Affect Magic Star's Decision - Bleacher Report
The 2012 NBA All-Star Game may well be the best and worst thing to happen to the Orlando Magic in some time.
On the one hand, the city will have the opportunity to celebrate its transformation from central Floridian backwater to budding metropolis in the 20 years since it last hosted basketball's biggest exhibition. The Magic organization will also get to showcase the shiny, new Amway Center to the rest of the league all at once.
Where will Dwight Howard wind up?
On the other hand, as Jerry Greene of ESPN.com points out, inviting the totality of the known basketball universe—superstars, owners and power brokers alike—to descend on the Theme Park Capital of America can't be good for the Magic's hopes of convincing Dwight Howard to stick around.
After all, the whole weekend will essentially be a party based around him, with everyone with even a fleeting interest in bringing Superman to his or her Metropolis nipping at Howard's tired ears to plant those pesky seeds of doubt.
Howard's proven to be rather easily swayed by outside opinion, public or otherwise, since he first made his intentions known prior to the start of the 2011-12 season. First he wanted out, then he cowered in his corner amidst the outcry of fans and talking heads alike, and now he seems to add a new team to his wish list every time one or another gets hot and starts winning games.
Imagine what'll happen when all of those folks he flirted with through the back channels descend on his backyard and shower him with the attention and affection that he's been seeking from brighter lights in bigger cities all along.
Think he'll want out of Orlando then, even more so than he does now? Think he won't be beating down Otis Smith's door to ship him up to the New Jersey Nets or west to the Los Angeles Lakers or the Dallas Mavericks?
Or any place else, any place with a bigger media footprint?
Think Gilbert Arenas' advice will be enough to keep DH12 from believing that the grass is, indeed, greener on the other side?
If you do, then you probably work in/for the Magic's front office, which has already done plenty in recent years—including trading for Vince Carter and Agent Zero—to destroy the team's chances of retaining the superstar center for the foreseeable future.
But hey, at least All-Star Weekend will be fun, right?
21 Feb, 2012
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Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHZXTpn4HJ_qnJh7P-BClI8CiG8DQ&url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1073587-dwight-howard-trade-rumors-nba-all-star-game-will-affect-magic-stars-decision
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