Dwight Howard has asked the Orlando Magic to trade him to New Jersey, a move that at first glance seems to make a lot of sense.  The team is moving from New Jersey to Brooklyn, where they will be looking to boost their profile, aided by the fact that their minority owner is also one of the world's premier hip-hop artists and is willing to perform multiple times to open up the new arena before the start of the regular season. Howard would tap into this emerging market and build his brand while catching alley-oops from point guard Deron Williams and pad up his already lofty stats. Already considered one of the premier defensive players in this league, Howard's offensive game would likely reach a peak playing with one of the best point guards in the league.

But with that said, it's ironic that Howard is trying to leverage himself out of Orlando for what he claims is the opportunity to compete for a championship, because the opportunity to do so with New Jersey/Brooklyn is just as high as it is with the current roster that Orlando has.

First of all, it remains to be seen what type of package the Nets are able to provide the Magic to secure the services of Howard. Current rumors have New Jersey orchestrating a four-team deal while giving up their first round draft choice and Brook Lopez. While Lopez wouldn't be necessary after acquiring Dwight Howard, if these are the only two assets the Nets have to give up to get him, what will be left on the Nets roster to build around a pairing of Howard and Williams?

The answer is a bunch of busts (Sheldon Williams, Travis Outlaw, Jordan Farmar), and a bunch of anonymous bit pieces (Sundiata Gaines, Anthony Morrow, Ben Uzoh). The Miami Heat illustrated the fact that a team cannot win the championship with just three superstar players and the absence of depth around them, so imagine how weak New Jersey would look with even less depth than Miami and only two superstar-caliber players?

The Nets boast a team salary of less than $40 million currently, and while this would likely pick up in making a deal for Howard, would still likely be under the cap. The problem is that most of the big-named free agents have already been signed, and the team clearly lacks trade bait outside of Lopez. Perhaps next season the team would manage to convince other big-name players to join them, but will the team perform well enough to convince Deron Williams to rejoin the team? Williams has insisted that he will test out the free agent market next season by opting out of his contract, and if Williams has shown anything this offseason by signing a contract to play in Turkey during the lockout, he is not the type of guy to be influenced to sign an extension midseason even if Howard does so after coming to the Nets.

Has Orlando fallen into a rut after advancing to the NBA Finals in 2009? Definitely. Despite the flurry of trades and signings that general manager Otis Smith has attempted, nothing has seemed to work so far, an obvious disappointment for Howard. This offseason seems to have involved much of the same, as the Magic got rid of experiment Gilbert Arenas through the amnesty provision, while trading forward Brandon Bass to the Boston Celtics for undersized big man Glen Davis.

Are these the type of pieces that will propel Howard to his first-ever championship? Probably not. But with a supporting cast that includes Jameer Nelson, the steady Chris Duhon, the consistently improving J. J. Redick and sparkplug Von Wafer at the guard positions and Ryan Anderson, Big Baby, Hedo Turkoglu, and Jason Richardson up front, the team could have a shot.

At any rate, minus the absence of star power both on and off the court, the Orlando Magic present a much more appealing choice for Dwight Howard if he is earnest in his aspirations for pursuing a championship ring. If that's not his intention, however, then he can feel free to entertain millions of people with meaningless highlight plays. At the end of his career, however, when we start comparing him to the man who has been his assistant coach for several years (and my favorite basketball player), Patrick Ewing, he better not be upset.