| Orlando Magic Offseason Preview Authored by Howard Mass - April 21, 2005 - 12:36 am
Orlando Magic Offseason Preview
After a second consecutive of not making it to the glory of the postseason, we are stuck to ponder yet another offseason in the middle of April.
Instead of giving some summary of the season that everyone as already heard, I’ll get right to the goods.
Status of Magic Players for next season
Who’s Staying
Dwight Howard- This is obliviously a no-brainer. When he was first taken over Emeka Okafor, there were a lot of doubters. However, when many of us first saw him, we all had this gut feeling that he was the right choice.
The next coach of the Magic will need to make him the centerpiece of the offense as he has a developing post game and good hook shots, which are rare these days.
Dwight Howard is no doubt going to be a special player for this team
Grant Hill- This season was a dream come true for him as he got to play most of the season. It was everything that we had hoped for. Hill is a great guy and we all know he is not going anywhere.
Hedo Turkoglu- What a steal on the free-agent market. His contract is great and a wonderful sixth man.
Jameer Nelson- Forget this garbage about him not being a starter. We all know what Nelson is capable of. The record with Nelson in the lineup is not great but neither is the team’s record lately. No matter what the Magic try to do this summer, Jameer Nelson is the starter next season.
Tony Battie- Simply an outstanding backup center. I’ll admit that dealing Drew Gooden and throwing-in Anderson Varejao for him ticked a lot of us off but he brings a somewhat positive light to the deal.
In Question
Steve Francis- Magic GM/COO John Weisbrod said that Johnny Davis would coach all 82 games this season.
Obviously, this did not happen.
So, do not buy it when he says that Francis will not be moved this offseason.
However, the jury is still out on whether or not he should be moved.
I think it can work if a respected head coach who can control Francis is brought in.
If he needs to be traded, this team CANNOT give Francis away for nothing.
Magic Front Office will have more on the possibility of Francis being moved later this summer.
Doug Christie- I do not care what John Weisbrod says, Christie is as good as gone. The team just will not buy out the final year at a little over $8 million on his deal. As many of you know, expiring deals are very valuable in this league. Did anyone see what Golden State had to give up to get Baron Davis out of New Orleans? Dale Davis’ expiring contract and Speedy Claxton. The Magic probably cannot get Davis especially during the offseason but you never know
Kelvin Cato- Every single Magic fan that I chat with wants Kelvin Cato gone. In this league, I believe you have a 4 and 5. One scores in low post, the other is a strong defender. While Cato can be aggressive, he is injury prone and the Magic probably need a change here. It would be great if the Magic could send his expiring deal to New Orleans for P.J. Brown.
Pat Garrity- If the Magic cannot get him spot up shots, they need to ship Garrity off as he is useless without those shots. The Magic could only probably nab another role player or an expiring contract for him but this team needs players who will fit in and without those shots, Garrity does not.
DeShawn Stevenson- His late play under interim head coach Chris Jent helped his chances to return. Stevenson’s short and cheap contract benefit as well but I would not be surprised if the Magic threw him in a deal. While he played well, his jump shot still is not there and until he can develop that on a consistent basis, he is not a starting shooting guard in the NBA.
Gone
Stacey Augmon- I guarantee everyone he will not be on the roster at the start of next season. Augmon will either opt-out of his contract, get bought-out, or traded as a deal throw-in.
Andrew Declercq- We all love DQ but with his injuries and a better Magic frontcourt, he might want to go elsewhere for more minutes. If he does return, it will be on a one-year deal.
Brandon Hunter- Look for BH to join another team for summer league play or head overseas for next season.
Summer League
Mario Kasun- Some of you will rip me for putting him in this section but while Kasun has shown some signs, it is a big step from 11th or 12th man to rotation player. I have always liked Kasun and think he can crack a rotation but he still has a ways to go.
Mark Jones and Andre Barrett- Very little chance of returning. Both will need to do well on the summer league team to get an invite to training camp.
The Coach
Before this season started, I wrote an article on RealGM.com’s old Magic affiliate and predicted Johnny Davis would not last the season as head coach. My prediction came true.
The real surprise was that Chris Jent got the interim job over fellow assistant Paul Westhead, who once coaches the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA Finals.
While it was a surprise, no one was really that upset as we all kind of felt that Westhead would not have been much different from Davis.
Under the circumstances, it was tough for a Jent to turn this around and ultimately he did not.
In last week’s poll, Magic Front Office asked if you felt Chris Jent should be retained as head coach. An overwhelming 84 percent (96 votes) of you said No while only 16 percent (18 votes) said Yes.
Based on what we have heard, Chris Jent is unlikely to return.
Like many of you, I like Jent but a frontline coach is needed here.
There are many canadiates being mentioned and MFO wants to know who you think will end up being the next head coach.
Please vote on the side of this page and send in your comments. Select ones will be posted in a future column. There are 16 choices to choose from and I hope I got everyone in.
Like Steve Francis, MFO will have more on the situation later this offseason including a take from our very own Brian Roberts this weekend.
The GM
Off the bat, many of us doubted John Weisbrod. Those doubts were quelled a bit with an outstanding draft and a pretty good deal that sent Tracy McGrady packing to Houston.
However, Weisbrod made a number of questionable moves where his weakness kicked in: The inability to get maximum value in trades.
Here are his three questionable moves
1) Trading Drew Gooden and the rights to Anderson Varejao for Tony Battie and Cleveland’s 2005 and 2007 second-round picks.
We all knew that Gooden had to go and all do like Tony Battie. Still, when you throw away Varejao in an already lopsided deal, something is wrong there.
If asked Weisbrod will argue that they did not have the capspace to buy him out of his overseas contract but if anyone has seen Varejao this season, Weisbrod definitely did not know what he had and he should have let him stay overseas another year.
Another reason for dealing him was that Weisbrod did not want two rookies at the power forward position.
Did anyone see what Brandon Hunter (one year in league) or Mario Kasun did this season?
It just makes you shake your head in disgust.
2) Keith Bogans for Brandon Hunter- I will give Weisbrod credit here as there would have been no minutes for Bogans. Still, Bogans at least would have given this team help defending on the perimeter. Brandon Hunter had a good year the previous season in Boston but did not pan out here.
3) Cutino Mobley and Michael Bradley for Doug Christie- We all know how this one went.
Sure, Mobley would not have resigned but for taking on the final year of Christie’s deal ($8.2 million) Weisbrod should have at least gotten Sacramento’s first-round pick in the deal. Rumor has it that they already have this pick from the Nick Anderson deal in 1999 but even if the Magic do, Weisbrod should have looked harder for a deal.
On a final note, Weisbrod traded the 36th pick in the draft, which turned out to be Antonio Burks, to Memphis for cash. Kind of wished they got a future second round pick for the selection but I guess the cash helped the team as DeVos has no new money coming in from a new arena.
Mythbuster on supposed 2006 capspace
There has been some speculation about possible capspace for the 2006 offseason. Do not hold your breath.
The Magic have over $51 million committed in salaries for the 2006/2007 season. I highly doubt that with that number, this team will have any capspace.
So, do not think the Magic have to take back another expiring contract for Kelvin Cato or Doug Christie this summer.
There is simply NO Capspace in 2006.
Outlook
If the Magic are going to improve this team, they are going to have to do a few things.
1)Get a good head coach
2)Draft well with their lottery pick or pray that they get an unlikely top-3 selection in the lottery. Note that the Magic might also have Sacramento’s first round pick.
The Magic also have own 2nd which they will likely swap for Toronto’s 2nd round pick as they have that option. The Magic have Cleveland’s pick as well and could possibily get one from Utah.
Note: We will have more on the draft as the lottery nears.
3)Get the best players they can in free agency. More than likely, they will grab another point guard to split time with Jameer along with a defender. The Magic will have their mid-level Exception (about $5 mill) and their $1 million dollar Exception $1.6 or $1.7 to spend here and hopefully they spend well like last season when they picked up Hedo Turkoglu.
Coming up this week on Magic Front Office
This weekend, MFO columnist Brian Roberts will give you his take on the offseason. On Monday, die-hard Phillipine Magic fan Fendi Lim will give his take on the season that was.
Then, mid-next week Trey Flynn from the new website http://www.orlando-arena.com will be writing a guest column for us about his group’s crusade to get the Orlando Magic a new arena. This site is amazing but to get the info, you got to check this baby out.
Feedback
While I got to post my take, I want everyone else to have their say. So, please send me your thoughts and feedback about this and I will post select comments in my next column.
Even if you do not feel like writing up some comments, please take the poll on the left side of the page. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's take here.
Finally, if you are interested in writing a piece of your own for this site, please contact me at the above address.
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