In a surprising draft-day move, the Orlando Magic traded Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie to the New Jersey Nets for Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson . Many expected the Magic to make a trade of some kind yesterday as they did not have a draft pick going into last night, but this was very much unexpected. I say that because it was only a week ago that the Magic front office said it would do everything in its power to retain Hedo Turkoglu and with Carter carrying $16.3 million this season, $17.3 million in 2010-2011 and an $18 million option for 2012, that option is probably gone as are the chances of resigning Marcin Gortat.
This leaves the Magic with a bevy of questions going foward: Who replaces Courtney Lee/Mickael Pietrus (most likely the starting SG now) coming off the bench? How do the Magic get another big man while keeping the luxury tax penalty down? Will the Magic bolster their bench?
When he first broke in, there wasn't a bigger Vince Carter fan than me. It's a strange in a way for me because the athletes I worshipped as a teen are now on my teams with Gary Sheffield on the Mets and Vinsanity coming to Orlando. I mean, what's next? Eddie George coming out of retirement to play for the Bucs? Joe Sakic to the Rangers? However, his antics at the end of his tenture in Toronto made me sour on him quite a bit, not to mention he's only won 2 playoff series in his career (then again, I am a T-Mac fan, so I guess it cancels out).
All that aside, the Magic needed to get tougher. Keeping Hedo and getting another inside presence along the lines of say Drew Gooden or Joe Smith would've fit perfectly. Instead, they got an older, shorter version of Hedo, except Carter can't play point like Hedo occasionally can. Sure, Carter can create his own shot and is a more profilic scorer than Turkoglu, but why break off a part of the core of a team that came within 3 wins of a championship? And yeah, you can argue that Hedo is soft, but toughness and leadership have not exactly been two of Carter's most noteworthy traits as a pro, have they?
Sending Battie off is fine and trading Alston is an assessable loss because of the salary issue and it's still Jameer's job to lose and it was quite apparent in the Finals that got into Skip to My Lou's head, but trading Courtney Lee could be a huge mistake. Some say this is a move for the right here and now, but I disagree. You can look at the missed layup at the end of regulation in Game 2 all you want, but Lee was a big reason why the Magic got to the Finals and was certainly not a rookie by the time the calendar turned to June. His defense was good for a rookie and will continue to grow in the coming years and it will be missed next year when Pietrus needs help checking LeBron for 48 minutes for at least 4 regular season games. His offensive production as a 4th option in the postseason was underappreciated and I can guarantee he will take off playing alongside Devin Harris in New Jersey/Brooklyn.
With a healthy lineup, which outside of one season Carter has largely done, they will certainly contend for the top spot in the East and will push 60 wins once again, the question is does this make them a championship team? I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.
1 comment:
With the apparent loss of Hedo, Orlando had to do something. But I don't think this was it. Courtney Lee's going to be a stud and isn't on the down slope of his career as Carter is.
Post a Comment