Orlando, like Denver, had a franchise player on the last year of his contract. Orlando, like Denver, had been told by that player that he would be leaving upon termination of that contract. Orlando, like Denver, was given a shortlist of teams that were acceptable trading partners for the player.

Denver did the smart thing, sat on it, and waited it out until the moment where they could get the best deal possible, and it shows in their play since then. Orlando, on the other hand, caved early and gave up any and all leverage they had in the negotiations by acting like it was a firesale in July when they still had another 8-10 months before a real solid deadline, and it shows in the utter crap they got in return.

ditto for Shaq I believe, ditto for KG?

but the point is Denver looks good now cuz they did good on their star deal. other teams didn't, and it shows.