Hedo Turkoglu attempts a reverse layup against the Miami Heat last season.

File photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack, the Associated Press

Speaking objectively, it makes a ton of sense for the Orlando Magic to trade Hedo Turkoglu. His stock has never been higher, he's in his prime, and it's unlikely they'll have the money to re-sign him when he opts out of his contract next summer.Speaking subjectively, it makes no sense for them to trade him, because he's the team's second-best overall player, best playmaker, and key offensive weapon.

But subjectivity needs to yield to objectivity if the Magic are going to make the jump from "pretty damn good" to "elite." And the blogosphere is alive with proposed trades that, perhaps unfortunately, will never happen in real life.

Last week, the Trade Journal proposed a three-team trade between the Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Portland Trail Blazers in which the Magic parted with Turkoglu, among other players, and received center Zydrunas Ilgauskas and point guard Steve Blake. Readers of this site didn't much care for that deal.

Before we continue, I need to add some context: on June 24th, I emailed Kurt of the Lakers blog Forum Blue and Gold to get his thoughts on a trade which would send Turkoglu, Tony Battie, and either J.J. Redick or Keith Bogans to the Los Angeles Lakers for Lamar Odom and a lottery-protected first-round draft pick. The idea came to me when I read this rundown of the Lakers' probable 2008/2009 roster in which Kurt addressed some Lakers fans' concerns with Odom's play. I intended to use his responses in an eventual Talkin' Trades post (like this one) for this site. And although he provided wonderfully thorough responses, the idea slipped my mind, and I didn't think a heckuva lot of it until last week.

Last Friday, Magic beat reporter John Denton proposed the Magic send Turkoglu and Battie to the Los Angeles Lakers for swing forward Lamar Odom:

Losing Tukoglu's playmaking skills AND Battie's size would damage the Magic's firepower and depth, but Odom would give the Magic some nuch-needed size and rebounding at power forward. And such a move would allow Lewis to move back to his natural position of small forward.

Today, Trade Journal reader (and Poor Man's GM author) jaceman proposed a deal which sends Turkoglu, Redick, and Brian Cook to L.A. for Odom:

If the Magic are going to try some more unconventional matchups for the forwards, then you might as well get one that rebounds as well as Odom does. As much as Odom's offensive game plays like a 3, his game is actually best utilized when he's playing at the 4 position, I think. That being said, you'd replace for Orlando at the 3 a Rashard Lewis clone with, well Rashard Lewis.

Greg Broome, who runs The Trade Journal, thinks the deal "works" if the Magic are willing to re-sign Odom this summer.

That makes three well-informed NBA writers who have argued in the past week that trading Turkoglu for Odom makes sense for all parties involved. Due to the upswing in interest of a trade based on those two marquee players, I've decided to post excerpts from my aforementioned conversation with Laker blogger Kurt to round out the various reasons why such a trade works. Read it after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

	vs.
47-27		50-22
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Chris Paul
Maurice Evans	SG	Morris Peterson
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	P. Stojakovic
Rashard Lewis	PF	David West
Dwight Howard	C	T. Chandler
19 Nov 2007: Magic 95, Hornets 88

I did a double-take when I looked back in the archives and saw we beat the Hornets in our first meeting. Really? We beat the Hornets? Then I remembered that Chris Paul missed that game, and Tyson Chandler left early with a knee injury. So we eked-out a victory over a team missing the best point guard in the league and its All-Star caliber center. Forgive me if I'm not too enthusiastic about that win, which also happened to be the last time Trevor Ariza played in a Magic uniform; we traded him to the Lakers for Maurice Evans and Brian Cook the next day.

The New Orleans Hornets are really freaking good. 50-22, on top of the best conference in the NBA, and, by extension, on top of the best division in the NBA. But because they play in a small market, haven't gone on a huge win streak, and didn't make a huge trade this season, they're flying under the radar. For more on the Hornets, let's hear from Rohan, who writes for At The Hive.

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3QC: Chris Paul is a legitimate MVP candidate having arguably the best "pure" point guard statistical season (21.6 points, 11.3 assists, 2.7 steals, 49% shooting as of this writing) in the history of the league... and he won't turn 23 until May. How high is his ceiling? Can he -- or anyone else, for that matter -- play the position any better than he is right now?

Rohan: This guy is playing scary basketball right now. You put it well- he is indeed having the greatest year statistically in the history of the point guard position. His 28.8 PER eclipses anything Oscar Robertson, or Magic ever did; in fact the top 10 PER years by point guards are all Magic and Oscar, except for CP up at number 1. Right now there's nobody even close to Paul; Nash is posting a 21.1 (his best MVP year was 23.8), and he's the closest guy there is to Paul this year. In fact, Nash, Jose Calderon of Toronto, and Utah's Deron Williams are the only other guys in the 20's, but Paul is getting close to the 30's nonetheless.

Pretty much any Hornet telecast you tune into, you'll hear the announcers comparing Paul to another great, Isiah Thomas. Comparing with the same stage in Isiah's career, Paul shoots about 3 percent better, pulls down half a rebound more per game, shoots 12 percent better from the stripe and 4 percent better from long range, is about even on steals and assists, but impressively averages an entire turnover less. And according to Dean Oliver's DRtg stat, Paul is actually the better defensive point guard overall.

As far as his ceiling goes... let me just say, I'd be happy if he didn't improve from his current level at all. That said, there's two things I can pinpoint as areas of potential improvement. The first is a must- improving defensively against bigger point guards. I'm sure you've heard of his struggles against Deron Williams. The Jazz guard has about 4 inches and almost 40 pounds on him, which is huge. CP is going to have to learn to outsmart Williams on the court, and rely on his quickness to defend him. Utah's the one team I absolutely do not want to see in the playoffs, and the Chris Paul-DWill matchup is a large part of that. The second potential improvement isn't as much of a necessity- I want to see if Chris Paul can continue his fantastic improvement on jump shots. He came into the league at 45 eFG% and is currently at 53%. That's a testament to the work he's put in during the offseasons, and if he can ever come near Steve Nash levels (ie, 60%), playing against him would just be unfair.

3QC: In a Q-and-A session with ClipsNation, I gave Steve an opportunity to talk about how great Al Thornton is. So, in that vein, I'm giving you a few paragraphs to rave about David West, the Hornets' starting power forward and arguably the league's most underappreciated player. Have at it.

Rohan: Haha, I just kind of went off on Chris Paul, so this feels weird. Nevertheless, I'll gladly take the opportunity. West is one my favorites for one big reason: he gets maximum results out of his specific skill set. What I mean by that is West isn't as athletically gifted as the Howards (who is?), Amares, Odoms, or Garnetts of the world. When you watch him play, you won't be awed by an explosive first step or come from behind rejection into the eighth row. Even with Paul continually throwing alley-oop lobs, you'll never see West on the finishing end of one of those dunks. And he understands that. When he first broke into the league, I (and other Hornets' fans) came to know him as a tireless worker on the glass. Gradually, he improved his offensive game, year by year.

West is equal parts power and finesse- one of his go-to moves is powering his upper body into a defender, before taking a soft fall away jumper. Unlike most power forwards, he will give you a decent cross over as part of his drive to the hole. One thing you and your readers might not like though is that he'll be yelling every second of every minute of every game (at the refs). I'm stunned he hasn't gotten more technicals this year, but off the court, he's a really low-key and mild mannered dude.

3QC: Talk a bit about the job Byron Scott has done coaching this team. Certainly having the All-Star talent of Paul and West helps, but he's also turned the likes of Ryan Bowen, Rasual Butler, and Melvin Ely into regular rotation players. Is there a more deserving candidate for Coach of the Year?

Rohan: I say he's COY. First, I don't think he gets enough credit for the offensive system he's implemented in New Orleans. A lot of people will just point at Chris Paul and say it's pretty easy to coach with a point guard like him. However, they miss how well he's taught the other Hornets' players their specific duties on offense; New Orleans implements a highly complex variation of the Princeton offense. This allows the finds CP has to make to be a lot less risky; Peja Stojakovic is having one of the best seasons of his career due to the way Scott has set up the offense for him.

On the defensive end, Scott makes his case even stronger. In the last three years, the Hornets have jumped up in defensive efficiency rankings, starting at 20th, getting to 16th, and culminating at 9th. That's really impressive to me when you have a guy like Peja Stojakovic as a starter. Stojakovic isn't atrocious, but he's certainly a weak link; Scott specifically designs the defensive strategies, game to game, to cover for Peja through various types of help defense. On the player-coach interaction front, Scott has successfully integrated a known head case, Bonzi Wells, and a guy coming off a 2 year NBA ban, Chris Andersen, back into the rotation. That has to count for something.

3QC: Along the same lines, how about the work Jeff Bower has done in assembling this team? It really is hard to imagine better complements to Paul than Peja Stojakovic at the three and Tyson Chandler at the five. Does he deserve Executive of the Year consideration? Or is he just really, really, really good?

Rohan: Yeah, this team has been assembled through some very shrewd moves over the past few years. Number one is obviously the Chris Paul selection (by all accounts, New Orleans had him higher on their board than Deron Williams). The P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith for Tyson Chandler deal is looking brilliant. The decision to slowly elevate David West into the starting PF role (let alone giving him a chance as an undersized PF) instead of pursuing a big name free agent has worked out beautifully. Getting a three point shooter some pegged to be on the downside of his career has paid dividends. Most impressive, to me, was Bower pulling the trigger on acquiring Bonzi Wells, and reacquiring Chris Andersen. You have to understand that this was a playoff team with or without those two guys. Bower could've easily sat back, and have been absolved of any of the potential blame that comes with acquiring a head-case and a former drug user. Instead, he showed real commitment to building a bona fide contender- he put his own neck on the line for the good of the franchise. To me, that's worth just as much, if not more, than signing two big name free agents in one offseason (Boston).

3QC: This question's really just for fun. This year, the Hornets introduced an alternate logo, cleverly titled the "fleur de bee," to be worn on a jersey patch. What's your take on the fleur de bee? I ask only because I think it's the best alternate logo in the league, and because not enough people see it.

Rohan: Hahaha, you're right, it's indeed a clever play on the "fleur de lis" and props are in order to whomever coined that. I think it really showed the Hornets commitment (at the time it was released) to the city of New Orleans, with all the drama floating around about leaving the city. The city and its fans have just rewarded the franchise's commitment by showing up to games en masse these last two months.

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Thanks once again to Rohan for his insight. Check out his site, At The Hive, for more on the Hornets. Click here for my answers to his questions about the Magic, including my take on Rashard Lewis' contract. Another great resource for Hornets news and analysis is Hornets 247. There's also this great post about the Hornets at Hardwood Paroxysm.

As Biased Fan reminds us in this comment here at 3QC, a Magic victory over the Hornets tonight goes one step closer to helping the Jazz secure home-court advantage in the West. I think we owe them that much, since their drubbing of the Wizards last night sealed the Southeast Division title for us.

The tip's at 7 on Sun Sports, and there really is no excuse not to watch this game. Clear your schedule. Chris Paul should will be a joy to watch, even if when he's shredding our perimeter defense.

Get them donuts. Go Magic.

Pau Gasol defends Dwight Howard the only way he knows how to: by flopping.
Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

On the first possession of the game, Dwight Howard got position on the right block, posted-up Pau Gasol, and went around him for a layup. Gasol offered no resistance. A minute later, Howard again posted-up Gasol, this time on the left block. Gasol flopped egregiously as Howard made his move, and got the benefit of the whistle, as he would all night. In one unbelievable, second-quarter sequence, Gasol flopped while Howard posted him up, forcing the turnover. On the ensuing Laker possession, Gasol himself posted up Howard, dribbled, and flailed his arms wildly when he felt Howard's forearm on his lower back. Howard was called for the foul. Thank you, Pau Gasol: You've taught me that it is indeed possible to flop while dribbling.

Still, we can't sweat the poor officiating in this one. In spite of it, we had plenty of chances to win in the end.

Point-blank: we did not deserve to win last night.

Sure, we played hard. But no team that turns an 11-point lead after one quarter into a 1-point deficit at halftime, battles back to give itself a chance in the closing minutes, then misses its last five shots of the game can legitimately say, "We deserved this one." No team can hope to succeed in the playoffs when it executes so poorly down the stretch. Let's set the scene:

The Magic took the lead, 112-111, on two Hedo Turkoglu free throws with 1:37 to play. On Los Angeles' next possession, Keith Bogans forced Kobe Bryant into taking a contested 17-footer, which he missed. Rashard Lewis rebounded for Orlando.

That's when it got ugly.

• On the ensuing possession, Turkoglu hoisted a three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock. I understand wanting to go for the dagger in front of the home crowd, but that was a poor idea with that much time on the shot clock and the team clinging to a one-point lead. Gasol rebounded and outlet the ball to Bryant, whom Turkoglu fouled. Bryant converted the free throws to give the Lakers a one-point lead.
• After two Orlando 20-second timeouts (one to set-up a play, the other to preserve possession after Turkoglu caught the inbounds pass and tripped), Jameer Nelson missed a step-back 18-footer with 14 seconds on the shot clock. That's too early to shoot. Bryant rebounded and the Lakers scored when Howard goaltended a Lamar Odom jumper.
• Keith Bogans missed a layup. The ball bounced out-of-bounds off a Laker player and the Magic call their final timeout.
• Rashard Lewis has his catch-and-shoot three-pointer from the right corner partially blocked by Lamar Odom. Bryant rebounded, Jameer Nelson had no choice but to foul him. Kobe made two free throws as Lakers fans in attendance chanted "M-V-P! M-V-P!" The Lakers lead, 117-112, with 14 second remaining. Game (effectively) over.

I give our guys a lot of credit for fighting back. The game looked really out of reach there late in the third quarter, but we steadily chipped-away at the Lakers' lead and put ourselves in decent position to win the game, only to take ill-advised shots. Note that Dwight Howard had 0 attempts in crunch time, even though he was 8-of-8 from the field. Stan Van Gundy said after the game he told his players to get Dwight the ball, but for whatever reason, they didn't. He defended his players by adding that it's easy for him to say, "Get Dwight the ball!" from the sidelines when he doesn't have a guy like Lamar Odom or Kobe Bryant standing right in front of him.

After the game, I turned to my dad and said, "That's vintage Orlando Magic basketball right there."

Notes:

• J.J. Redick exchanged pleasantries with the Lakers' Sasha Vujacic after Vujacic fouled him late in the second quarter. Bryant had to step between the two players, who each earned technical fouls. Redick vs. Vujacic might be the least exciting fight in NBA history.
• Pat Garrity was booed when he checked into the game late in the second quarter. During the 38 seconds he played, the Lakers "defended" him with Derek Fisher, who is 6'1". Jameer Nelson had to contend with 6'10" Vladimir Radmanovic guarding him around the perimeter.
• Adonal Foyle picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter. With Howard already sitting with five fouls, and with no other center active, Stan Van Gundy had no choice but to insert J.J. Redick into the lineup. Redick joined Jameer Nelson, Maurice Evans, Rashard Lewis, and Brian Cook on the floor. Indeed, Brian Cook played center for this brief stretch, and was called upon to defend Pau Gasol.
• Put another notch in your belt, Carlos Arroyo fans; the Magic lost a game in which Nelson started while Arroyo received a DNP-CD. Feel free to ignore the fact that Nelson played well (17 points, 7-of-15 shooting, 9 assists, 0 turnovers), or that Los Angeles is a damn good team, or that Howard and Turkoglu were in foul trouble for the entire game, or that Arroyo laid an egg Wednesday against New Jersey.

	vs.
32-19		31-17
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
FSN Florida
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Derek Fisher
Maurice Evans	SG	Kobe Bryant
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	V. Radmanovic
Rashard Lewis	PF	Lamar Odom
Dwight Howard	C	Pau Gasol

Our game-day feature is a bit of Lakers Q-and-A with Kurt of the web's premier Laker-fan resource, Forum Blue & Gold. You may remember him from the insight he gave us when the Lakers and the Magic engaged in a three-player trade last November. Kurt took the time to answer some of our questions, just as I answered some of his.

******************************

3QC: It's been nearly three months since the Magic traded Trevor Ariza to the Lakers for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans. How has that deal worked for the Lakers? Does Ariza, who can opt-out of his contract this summer, fit in to their future plans?

Kurt: The deal has been viewed as a great move for the Lakers. Until he got his foot stomped on by Derek Fisher in practice (Ariza is out a few more weeks with a broken bone in his foot), he had become a key player at the small forward, splitting time with Luke Walton. He is far more athletic than Luke and a much better defender, so depending on the matchup he or Luke got the start and the majority of minutes that night (Ariza started three games and was playing about 18 minutes a game, up from 10 in Orlando). It was his defense that was winning him fans, it gave the Lakers a second very good perimeter defender to take some pressure off Kobe at that end. And the move even helped Ariza's offense - the first half of the year in Orlando he shot 45.2% and had a PER of 12.9, in LA that jumped to 52.4% and a PER of 17.3. Plus, he had a monster dunk on Christmas Day over Grant Hill.

It's going to be interesting with the Gasol trade - Odom will start at the three and the Lakers are now pretty crowded at forward (Radmanovic can play there as well in a tall lineup). Still, Ariza's defense will get him minutes. I'd be surprised if Ariza opts out at the end of the year. I think the Lakers would like to keep him around as part of a young core that can compete for a title for the next few years, so long as it can be done at a reasonable price.

3QC: Los Angeles made a much bigger trade last week by acquiring All-Star forward Pau Gasol, which sparked plenty of championship talk among Lakers fans and NBA commentators alike. Given the formidable playoff lineup of Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Gasol, and Andrew Bynum, is there any team in the league which the Lakers would stand no chance of defeating in a seven-game series?

Kurt: One of the best parts of the Gasol trade (other than just getting rid of Kwame) and the way the Lakers roster is built is the flexibility it gives Phil Jackson. Want to go small, put in a lineup of Fisher, Jordan Farmar, Kobe, Ariza and Lamar Odom. Want to go very big, put in Kobe, Ariza, Odom (or Vladamir Radmanovic), Gasol and Bynum. Need just a few stops, put in a defensive-focused lineup of Fisher, Kobe, Ariza, Ronny Turiaf and Bynum. And those lists go on. In the crazy-deep Western Conference matchups in the playoffs are going to be key, you're going to see a different kind of team each round and you need to be able to counteract that style (just ask the Mavericks). The Lakers are in a better position now than any other team in the West to do that. But we'll see how that translates into wins when it matters.

3QC: Bynum, the Lakers' young (franchise?) center, has improved dramatically this season. What's been the key to his success?

Kurt: No need to put that question mark after franchise. He is part of the core of this team for the next decade and beyond, even after Kobe hangs it up.

The biggest change this season has been Bynum's conditioning. His first two years in the league he spent a lot of time with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (which you probably noticed because every time Bynum scored in a national broadcast the television cameras cut to Kareem). Kareem taught Bynum a lot about how to play the low post, proper footwork, using his body and length to get rebounds, etc. Last season, forced into extended minutes because of injuries, Bynum was learning how to apply those lessons in games, but his body kept betraying him. He got tired quickly, wasn't strong enough to do what he wanted at times. This past summer he spent a lot of time putting on muscle and getting in NBA condition (he's no Howard but he's not bad). The results have been phenomenal - and as he does something well his confidence grows, and then he feels comfortable trying different things he'd been working on. That's a great upward spiral for a young player.

3QC: Which Laker, besides Bynum, has been the most pleasantly surprising this season?

Kurt: Jordan Farmar has been the other key. Clearly the guy had leadership skills - he took UCLA to the NCAA title game, and in that game was the only Bruin to play worth a damn, scoring 18. He fits with the Lakers style in that he's got a great basketball IQ. And, he's a gym rat. The quintessential story about Farmar is this: On draft night last year the Lakers took the now-traded Javaris Crittenton in the first round, another young point guard. As the Lakers front office staff at the LA team headquarters were leaving the building that night, Jordan Farmar came in and started working on his shot. Nobody was going to take his spot. This season his shooting has improved - overall from 42.2% last season to 47.5% this year, and from three he's now shooting 38.9%, up from 32% last year. He's splitting time and learning from Derek Fisher, something that has the added benefit of keeping the not-so-young legs of Fisher fresh for the playoffs.

3QC: Which Magic player poses the toughest matchup for the Lakers? Conversely, which Laker poses the toughest matchup for the Magic?

Kurt: Um, have you seen Dwight Howard play? Does anyone have someone to matchup with him? He is going to be a big challenge with Bynum out, Pau Gasol is tall but not a great post defender. You may see a bunch of DJ Mbenga (a 10-day contract guy). The other guys who could have a big night are Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. One of the problems for the Lakers defense this year, particularly since Bynum and his presence in the paint went down, is that defenders are quick to sag off guys at the three-point line to defend the paint. Since the Magic have so many guys who can shoot the three, that can be a problem for the Lakers.

On the flip side, nobody really has a matchup for Kobe. The only thing slowing him down right now is he dislocated the little finger on his shooting hand against the Nets and that impacted his shooting against the Hawks Wednesday night. We'll see what happens tonight, but he is a force unlike any other. I'm curious how the Magic will defend the high pick and roll with Kobe as the ball handler and Gasol setting the pick (he has the skills to roll to the basket if you trap Kobe, or if you sit back on him he can slide out and hit the 18 footer). Also, depending on which Lamar Odom shows up, he can be almost unstoppable. He is the one that stops himself most nights.

******************************

We'd like to thank Kurt once again for his thoughtful responses to our questions. Once again, be sure to check out the game preview at Forum Blue & Gold to see how I responded to Kurt's questions.

	vs.
9-7		14-4
Staples Center
9:30 PM
Sun Sports HD
Probable starters:
Derek Fisher	PG	Jameer Nelson
Kobe Bryant	SG	Keith Bogans
Lamar Odom	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Ronny Turiaf	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrew Bynum	C	Dwight Howard

• UPDATE: Forum Blue and Gold, the finest Lakers blog on the tubes, has posted its preview for tonight's game.
• The Lakers have struggled with their defense this year. They're 16th in defensive efficiency, and gave up 120 points to the Jazz the other night despite Utah behing without All-Stars Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur.
• Brian Schmitz has this feature on Rashard Lewis in which Stan Van Gundy places some of the blame for Lewis' shooting slump on himself:

  "If we're going to really get our shooting back to where it was, the minutes are going to have to get more realistic on he and Turk. I have not done a good job at that," Van Gundy said. "If you're looking at their minutes [Lewis leads with 39.3 minutes per game and Turkoglu averages 36.9], it's not realistic, especially on a nightly basis when we're a team that's played the most games in the league."

• This has nothing to do with the Magic, but how about UCF winning the Conference USA Championship behind the strong running of Kevin Smith? Congratulations, Golden Knights!
• The Magic are 2-16 (.111) all-time on the road against the Lakers. Despite that, Accuscore thinks we'll win the game, giving us a 52% chance of leaving L.A. victorious.
• Trevor Ariza hasn't done much since we traded him to L.A., averaging just 2 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists.
  • UPDATE: John Denton spoke with Ariza about his frustrating season. Ariza had hoped to showcase his skills before becoming a free-agent next summer, possibly cashing in on a career-year. But he didn't crack the rotation in Orlando and hasn't mastered Lakers coach Phil Jackson's offense.

The game recap may be up later than usual tonight. Feel free to write your own in the diaries.

Brian Schmitz has had it with the Kobe rumors:

Enough already.

For those excited Magic fans who have alerted me that Jerry Buss, Lakers owner and Hugh Hefner wannabe, claims he'll deal Kobe Bryant if the season unravels.....

If you want Kobe, it will cost you all-star center Dwight Howard in a trade.

Hello?

Still there?

As much as you may not want to believe it, he's right. There's no way anyone, much less the Lakers, will take Rashard Lewis and his oversized contract in a trade. Thus, Howard is the Magic's only bargaining chip in any attempt to land Kobe. Here's how the trade would probably look.

Every team should want Kobe Bryant -- he is, after all, the best player on the planet -- but not at the cost of its future. KB24 is nearing 30 years old and is at his peak; that is, he's not getting any better. Dwight Howard, on the other hand, is not yet 22 and is nowhere near his zenith.

Mortgaging your future rarely wins championships, as the Miami Heat can attest to. They unloaded Caron Butler and Lamar Odom to get Shaquille O'Neal and they won a title two years later. Now, the Heat are, for the most part, washed-up or injured. Their run is over.

Further tempering this trade scenario is Kobe's no-trade clause, which he would have to waive to be traded. I highly doubt he'd give a Magic trade his approval; Orlando is a small-market town and doesn't have enough complementary pieces to win a title. Why come here when he can go to Chicago, which is a big city and can offer enough talent to please the Lakers while still keeping enough talent to contend for a title?

Fact is, there's no way Kobe Bryant will be traded to the Orlando Magic. We should focus on more likely trade scenarios, ones which don't require us to trade our franchise player.