Question... Is Darko the magics main focus this summer?

[Fern1960 0]

Just throwing this out there.... How inportant is it to sign Darko this summer?

[Fern1960 0]

Just throwing this out there.... How inportant is it to sign Darko this summer?

[Mr Charisma 0]

Great question.

 

I've got to think this is priority #1, but the problem is timing.

 

With Darko being a restricted free agent, that means that both he and the Magic will likely take time to wait and let the market establish his value.

 

If the Magic want to make any draft moves, they will have to do that first, which may include the moving of other players/salaries.

 

When free agency opens up, the Magic will want to pursue other free agents, but will have to do so with one hand tied behind their backs because of the uncertainty of the salary cap hit that Darko will cost them.

 

This is going to be a very complicated off-season for Magic management, and they are in a position where they will have to take risks in making some moves, HOPING that they can complete certain other moves later into the off-season.

 

Risky business.

 

To reduce the risk, the Magic may choose to make a major offer to Darko and possibly overpay him to get him signed and out of the way so that they can move forward with a much better grasp of their options/limitations.

 

By the way, you didn't express an opinion yourself, understandably so as to keep it as objective as possible. Hopefully you will share your thoughts on this as the thread develops.

[bhnole 153]

I think top priority is to find a crunchtime perimeter scorer this off-season with retaining Darko a close second.

 

The problem is if Darko gets a big offer somewhere, it would make accomplishing both goals almost impossible.

 

I was a big fan of Otis's moves last season to reshape this team, but I think he has made several critical errors this year that could very well keep us from landing the FA we need or retaining Darko.

 

1) Pulling Darko's extension at the last minute, he would have Darko locked up now at a reasonable salary for a solid big man.

 

2) Not making any moves at the trade deadline to clear capspace. Moving Bogans, Hedo or Carlos would have cleared some space by trading for expiring contracts and relieved our logjam for playing time at those positions.

 

Moving these guys now to clear capspace will be more difficult since few teams can take any salary without giving anything back.

 

Hopefully he can do both.

[jack l j 0]

i agree that darko is important but the order of business is a new coach. i believe brian has tried to do what he thought is best but it is not working period. replacing him is number one. this team needs a new direction. we must keep darko and we must have a point guard with leadership and passing skills. he must also not play favors with who he passes to. it is amazing to me what bh allows the pgs to do. they are out of control. jj has been open so many times in rhythm and doesnt get the pass. its frustrating to him and then he rushes because he may not see the ball again. this is a coach problem and is one example of many poor decisions by the coach. player rotation is the most glaring problem, etc.,ect., we only need to get a good point and new coach and this team will do great things. jacklj

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

The problem with Darko is his contract hits the CAP at double it's value until he's either resigned or renounced. So we'll have to make a decision with him before we can do anything else, which is why I think we'll know what we're doing with Darko one way or another after the first week.

[SmackDaddy 30]

Darko must be signed first so that we can move forward. This means that Darko has all the bargaining power. His agent can let Otis know that they plan on waiting out the Magic to consider all offers, essentially tying their hands. Therefore, we may have to overpay Darko or deal him. I don't think that we'll be able to get Darko at a bargain price, beacuse for that to happen we would need to string him out and put all other efforts aside.

 

The more I think about it, Billups seems to be a pretty good option for the Magic. There's a reason he is called MR. Big Shot. The guy can score, distribute, play defense. He can do it all.

 

Vince isn't a bad option either considering he dishes out more assists than any other player on our roster. I just don't want to pay him 12-15 million.

 

Jameer's struggles this season have opened up a can of worms that really cause this organization problems. If we move Jameer to the bench, who the heck is going to fill the starting PG role?

 

Dwight also seems to be backsliding now.

 

Somebody tell me please who they think has actually exceeded expectation on our roster? Then tell me how many holes we have to fill.

[Emory889 353]

Uhmmm, maybe JJ has exceeded expectations. That depends on what everyone thought of him this summer.

 

As for holes on the roster: Starting pg, starting sg, and backup power forward. Thats assuming we resign Darko and bring back either Grant or Turk. The roster is a big cluttered mess.

[jack l j 0]

again repeat coach, coach,coach. i haved been watching the nba 35 years and have been a fan of celtics, bulls and magic. i have never seen such a mess with a team and its coach. we must keep darko and replace bh. bringing in vince or someone else will not matter until we have a coach. i believe we have the talent now. they just need direction. we need to focus on the development of dwight, darko, trevor, and jj. find a point and they will be great. jacklj