Magic Acquire Rashard Lewis in Sign-and-Trade Deal

[ELI 0]

I think it was a good move, yeah a little on the high side for the contract, but once the magic start winning games that they were losing last year fans will forget how much Shard is making per year. we can still trade some of the expiring contracts and pick up few role players. will be ok!

[Sir Buttermilk 0]

Hey guys! First post! Glad to be here!

 

What a historic day for us!!! What were people complaining about? Most of the complaints I heard in recent years were because we weren't spending enough money. Now we are spending too much? Yeah we did overpay for Rashard, but I think Otis' mentality was to get this thing done quickly. Even if we can't make any more moves, we aren't in bad shape with what we now have.

 

We got the best free agent out there and have a lot of pieces to help us win now, so I think we should be optimistic.

 

We are going to be a fun team to watch, especially for Magic fans!! We will surely cause some headaches next year!

[magic01 0]

I wonder if anyone called RDV today, bought season tix, and said..I'm glad we are putting our future, over $100 mil, into this guy.. we will have to go over the cap to keep jameer, ariza.. if they have good seasons next year.

[EnFuego 1]

quote:

Originally posted by Sir Buttermilk:

Hey guys! First post! Glad to be here!

 

What a historic day for us!!! What were people complaining about? Most of the complaints I heard in recent years were because we weren't spending enough money. Now we are spending too much? Yeah we did overpay for Rashard, but I think Otis' mentality was to get this thing done quickly. Even if we can't make any more moves, we aren't in bad shape with what we now have.

 

We got the best free agent out there and have a lot of pieces to help us win now, so I think we should be optimistic.

 

We are going to be a fun team to watch, especially for Magic fans!! We will surely cause some headaches next year!

 

Welcome to the boards Sir Buttermilk, good to see you're positive. I'm not quite there yet but I always end up backing the team 100%.

[Skywise316 211]

I'm not upset about how much Lewis gets paid, more power to him.

 

Maybe I've just been a Magic fan for so long that I've become jaded. Everything that can go wrong.. will go wrong.

 

I admit that I'm a J.J. Redick fan, to the point that maybe I think he's better than what he actually is. But I think Redick, Dooling, even Bogans.. they're good enough to "hold down the fort."

 

But man, the current state of the frontocurt is downright scary. We got Dwight Howard, Tony Battie, and then squat.

 

Marcin Gortat? James Augustine? Pat Garrity?

 

I don't want to cringe and watch Magic games through my hands when the bench comes in next year. Too many bad memories of the pathetic bench from the Shaq and Penny days.

 

Our starting five was one of the best in the NBA 12 years ago, but the bench was downright awful. It was so bad it sometimes even cost us games.

 

I just hope those bench days aren't coming around again, because we've had a really good bench the past couple of years that has even brought us back into ball games.

 

With the roster as it is right now? I'll be scared when Dwight or Battie have to sit down to catch a breather.

[Sir Buttermilk 0]

I definitely understand the frustration because I have been a long term Magic fan also. I guess, I am just shocked that they said we were going to make moves in the offseason and they got Rashard Lewis, because "making moves" used to mean bringing in "Rony Seikaly, Ron Mercer or drafting Geert Hammink<==still makes me cringe.

 

I also am not a Grant Hill fan and am shocked that there are so many on this forum, so this offseason looks pretty good from my vantage point compared to others.

[Black And Blue 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Skywise316:

I'm not upset about how much Lewis gets paid, more power to him.

 

Maybe I've just been a Magic fan for so long that I've become jaded. Everything that can go wrong.. will go wrong.

 

I admit that I'm a J.J. Redick fan, to the point that maybe I think he's better than what he actually is. But I think Redick, Dooling, even Bogans.. they're good enough to "hold down the fort."

 

But man, the current state of the frontocurt is downright scary. We got Dwight Howard, Tony Battie, and then squat.

 

Marcin Gortat? James Augustine? Pat Garrity?

 

I don't want to cringe and watch Magic games through my hands when the bench comes in next year. Too many bad memories of the pathetic bench from the Shaq and Penny days.

 

Our starting five was one of the best in the NBA 12 years ago, but the bench was downright awful. It was so bad it sometimes even cost us games.

 

I just hope those bench days aren't coming around again, because we've had a really good bench the past couple of years that has even brought us back into ball games.

 

With the roster as it is right now? I'll be scared when Dwight or Battie have to sit down to catch a breather.

 

Great post and I agree entirely, Skywise.

 

Welcome to the boards Sir Buttermilk.

[agentfelix0013 0]

I am also horribly scared. I was not amazingly impressed with Darko's performance last year but I did recognize that we NEED a big man. We now have two viable options for the 4 and 5. Yet we have 3 point guards (a 4th if you want to count the combo Dooling). Also, there is much talk about wanting to make Trevor Ariza the star 6th man...but unless you slide Hedo up to 4...what's going to happen to him. Otis Smith said he admired the redundancy between him and Rashard, but all I see is a situation in which yet again, 1 PG and now 1 SF are never going to get used to their potential, all while we are sitting on 2 positions that have not even decent role players for a second string.

[Skywise316 211]

The more I think about it, that's what Darko's true worth to the Magic was.

 

Productive minutes.

 

The fact is that we only had a three big man rotation and whenever Battie or Darko got hurt, the team suffered greatly. Lets face it, Bo Outlaw and Pat Garrity are good people but they never contributed their fair share towards winning while the Magic lost so much during Battie's injury.

 

So now you take Darko away, and it's not like he was an all-star candidate or anything. But he was productive. He helped Dwight rebound, he helped Dwight block and change shots. His offense was up and down game to game, but his defense was always there. So we go from needing to ADD one big guy to the Dwight/Battie/Darko rotation to then letting Darko be subtracted and now needing to add TWO big guys to the Dwight/Battie *cough* "rotation." Not an easy proposition when you have no MLE and are over the cap.

 

But at the same time its too early to be freaking out. For all we know the following could happen: Fran's buyout is lowered and the Magic help him ($500,000 worth) get out of his contract. He comes over here and basically gets most of Darko's minutes. Gortat gets added to the main roster and gets spot minutes to keep everyone fresh (10-12 min to begin with).

 

After the Magic are sitting 3rd in the Eastern Conference at the 07-08 All Star Break, there's no such thing as an unhappy Magic fan. We're all laughing at everyone else for thinking we paid too much for Rashard Lewis.

 

Meanwhile, Darko Milicic is averaging 9 pts and 7 boards a night for the Memphis Grizzlies. Both career highs! Woopty doo.

 

Hey. You never know.

[orlando82 0]

I don't want to rain on anyones parade but we most definitely overpaid for Rashard. However, I could not be more happy to have a legitimate scorer on the wing, something we desperately needed. That being said why in the world would we agree to this sign and trade? Wasn't the whole point of the sign and trade to free up money to sign milicic or another free agent? We obviously did not accomplish this and ultimately gave a guy we were already going to get more money and what for? While this acquisition makes us better it definitely does not put us in the upper echelon of the NBA or the eastern conference for that matter.

 

I am happy we were active this off season but my question is at what cost? Please give me your feedback and I encourage you to challenge me, I would like to feel as good about our roster as our GM seems to.

[ClaytonMagic 0]

Rashard Lewis is the best thing to happen to the Magic. He will be the best shooter on the Magic and he will be the leading scorer. He will play alongside Hedo to make a 3 point parade. I think he will improve Dwight Howards game and Jameer Nelsons game who had a bad season last year!

[agentfelix0013 0]

I still think that if they plan to use Ariza to the level that they are claiming to, they need to move Hedo out of town. If they throw in Arroyo's expiring contract we might even be able to get a pretty decent big man out of the deal. Having two decent players behind your starting superstar is not going to be good for sharing minutes. Ariza can't shoot well enough to be moved up to the 2, isn't tall enough to play the 4. We have too much talent at some positions. I'm not saying they are the best players in the world but you have no need for an above average 3rd string guy, especially when we have no useful backup Power Forward or Center