Defending The Magic

Hey, Otis Smith. How? Why? What? You just signed Rashard Lewis to a franchise player contract when everyone knows he is definitely NOT a franchise player. You just turned your best transaction - getting Darko from the Pistons - in to NOTHING by letting the big man walk.

That being said, the signing of Lewis has convinced Dwight Howard to stay on and sign an extension. The best young big man in the world will be part of your core until 2013. Young Thunder is the franchise player, not Lewis. So, how do you sign a #2 guy for max money?

On the court, Rashard is the perfect player for Orlando. He’s joined a team that will hide his flaws. At the defensive end, Howard will reject any shot taken by the player Lewis is guarding, Tony Battie will gobble up rebounds and set screens for ‘Shard, Trevor Ariza will use his athleticism to board, Jameer Nelson and Carlos Arroyo should create opportunities so Lewis doesn’t always have to do it on his own. ‘Shard is a one trick pony, he scores, scores and scores. If you surround him with players that will do everything else, your team can be successful. That’s what a team is. Yes, it’s better to have 5 guys on the floor that are more well-rounded if you want to be looking down on teams in the standing for years on end (see: Spurs), but as Orlando matures and adds parts, I think the supporting cast can complement Lewis and Howard. Did they overpay for their ultimate need?

Watching the Magic this year, all I kept thinking was they need someone to score from the outside. Grant Hill couldn’t do it, but Lewis can. Of course, I understand the thinking that giving all these ducats to a guy who isn’t a build-your-team-around kind of player sort of cripples your growth towards a championship. Now, I assume that Otis Smith didn’t bid against himself. I know I’m being naive here; this ass backwards type of move has happened before. ESPN’s Chad Ford points out (Insider) that Smith likely did just that, but I still can’t fathom how someone put in the position of GM can possibly do that (it’s time for a fantasy GM reality show). And maybe I’ve been drinking a little to much of the Rashard Lewis Kool-Aid. He’s never been happy in Seattle and I was always under the impression that he would become motivated and propel his game once he skipped town. He keeps telling us that he wants to be the team’s go to guy. As it was pointed out in the comments of our last podcast by Lazlo, ‘Shard has never shown he can be The Man. And, on a side note here - why am I the only one getting the hate from the commenters? Just ’cause ‘Skeets is off making lots of funnies while Ufford is gone on With Leather, it doesn’t mean he should escape the wrath (shameless plug, that). Back to Lewis. In a way, with the Magic, he won’t have to be the guy taking the big shots. Once Howard develops his inside game, Thunder will take the last minute attempts, but when teams double Dwight, it will be up to Lewis to make the big one. Rashard will be 28 in August - it’s his time to peak.

So, was Lewis the beneficiary of a weak free agent class? Yes. Was he the best available fit for the Magic on the market? No doubt about it. With Grant leaving, maybe the Magic didn’t feel comfortable not having a guy signed to a max contract. Either way, with the salary cap rising at the clip it’s been flying at, I’m sure Smith is hoping for more $$$ to sign the necessary role players. Personally, I feel Lewis was the best player available to enhance Howard’s skills. Smith acted very quickly, overestimating Lewis’ value, but ‘Shard makes this team a lot better. Whether he can perform near the level of a player usually given franchise dollars is up to him. He hasn’t proven it in the past.

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By Tas Melas at 11:48 am on 07.14.2007 — Tags: Otis Smith, Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard, Magic

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9 Responses to “Defending The Magic”

  1. lazlo at 2:17 pm on 07.14.2007

    Tas,
    Gave you the hatin’ because you’re the one to use the words “superstar” and “stud” when describing Lewis in the podcast. But Skeets agreed with you, so, Skeets is a wrong too (but he’s SOooo funny!).
    This deal is everything thats wrong with the NBA. A player who doesn’t play defense/ An athletic 6′10″ player who averages 5 rebounds a game because crashing the boards might give him an owie (poor baby) gets a max deal. And yeah, Rashard did have a great last two months of the season this spring, his BEST TWO months in nine years, which coincidentally came just before free agency. Isn’t that special. Orlando fans shouldn’t get too excited. You just paid a three point specialist max money.
    And on the GM side, rewarding mediocrity is never a good way to build a championship.
    To put this in perspecitve, your Raptors also signed a free agent this summer. Also a small forward three point specialist who isn’t a good defender (but at least shows some effort in that area), and actually shot at a much higher three point percentage than Lewis, and got him for a quarter of the money. The difference - Kapono was a role player on a good team, Lewis was a starter on a bad team and got more touches. Yes, Lewis is a better athlete than Kapono, but since he never uses it - who really cares.
    Chris Bosh now has a three point specialist to kick out to, just like Howard. Colangelo managed to save only about $100 million dollars. The Raptors have financial flexibility to continue to build/develop/add to their core, Orlando is addicted to mediocrity. Orlando will be looking WAY UP at the Raptors in the East standings for a long time.
    You say Rashard was the best free agent for them? Not at that money. Not when it cripples any other moves you can make. Spending a smaller amount on Kapono, Mo Peterson, Pietrius, and giving Reddick another year to see if he adjusts to the league would’ve been a better use of their money. And who else were they bidding against? Who? Seattle didn’t want him, not with drafting KD and Green. No one else was had max salary room under the cap. They bid against themselves and lost.
    And I watched Orlando some last year - and actually I’d say their biggest problem were turnovers and transition defense.

  2. stopmikelupica at 4:41 pm on 07.14.2007

    No one breaks on Tas. He is the backbone of this here website. Without him, this website would just be a endless series of You Tube clips mixed with podcasts of Skeets talking to himself!

  3. J.E. Skeets at 6:39 pm on 07.14.2007

    Rashard, Dwight … yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to know the real reason why the Magic are going to be substantially better this upcoming season? NO BRIAN FUCKING HILL! He killed last year’s teams chances. They completly quit on him.

    This signing isn’t going to look that ridiculous when the Magic are a top four team in the East.

    And hey, Melas, Lazlo, it’s called a paragraph break. You guys should try one sometime. (I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Great post/rebutal.)

  4. Paging Roger Cossack at 7:55 pm on 07.14.2007

    Yeah, this was a great post. It really defended everything on the last podcast and explained it in better detail than one can with the buzzy bee music and everything.

    I do think you give too much credit to Otis Smith, along with the concept of the GM in general for infallibility. Otis Smith, as Chad Ford points out, totally botched the Darko deal. Plus, two maxed-out players that have not shown enough on the court to be considered maxed-out players (Young Thunder has inestimable potential, but right now, he’s just a terrific rebounder and shot-blocker, still struggling at offense that doesn’t consist of putbacks and man-to-man defense)? Iffy, at best. Remember, the last time the Magic had two “franchise players” didn’t work out too well for them, either.

    What really got to me was the amount of money that they unnecessarily threw to Lewis. Max player? Not really. But they could have stuck with the 5 year, 85 million or so contract. Instead, they pointlessly threw a 2nd-round draft pick to the Sonics, for the right to add another year and 10.5% yearly increases, instead of 8%, as a Bird free agent. Why????

    I don’t think anyone doubts that Lewis is what the Magic needed and will make them much better. But with Lewis and Howard both maxed out (and with Lewis’s contract approaching 25 million at the latter stages), along with their impending extension of the disappointing Jameer Nelson, they really won’t have any money later. I feel as though those three players won’t be enough to be in the top two or so teams in the east. And that’s at the very least what you have to aim for.

  5. nerditry at 1:38 am on 07.15.2007

    The worst part of the Darko signing was the lack of return on a deal that should have definitely included some. I would have loved to unload one of our shitty point guards and maybe a future pick to get back Lowry and someone else.

    Lowry would have been the truth since Ariza is a natural point forward. It’s hinging on JJ stepping into a starting role successfully and if Hedo’s still around, his being a mustachioed Manu.

  6. Tatoo Magoo at 3:43 pm on 07.16.2007

    DWIGHT DOESNT DESERVE A MAX CONTRACT??? Did I hear that right??? nah no way. I know no one is that STUPID to say Dwight didnt deserve a max contract and that he is “just” a terrific rebounder and shot-blocker… Cuz he had 17 ppg last season averaging 10 shots a game, so yeah, no way someone could be that stupid to say that…

  7. Petey at 4:13 pm on 07.16.2007

    “Now, I assume that Otis Smith didn’t bid against himself.”

    I assume you are correct. I think Ford is wrong.

    Houston was offering a 6yr max, and a third unnamed team was doing so as well, supposedly.

    So Lewis wasn’t avaliable to the Magic at 5yrs. It was either 6yrs, or no Rashard.

    —–

    None of this answers the question of whether or not the deal makes sense for the Magic. But from what I’ve picked up, Ford’s piece was shoddy.

  8. Hoops Addict at 4:16 pm on 07.16.2007

    Couldn’t it be argued that Orlando swapped Shard for Darko this summer? If that’s the case, Orlando made out like bandits.

    I get what your saying about Orlando utilizing a sign and trade for Darko but with the addition of Shard they didn’t have the flexibility to bring back more salary from Memphis in exchange for Darko.

  9. Tas Melas at 12:40 pm on 07.17.2007

    Hoops Addict, if they wanted to, the Magic could have got return on Darko. They could have taken back salary in a sign-and-trade with the Grizz.

    Maybe they didn’t want to take on more $$$ or maybe they just weren’t a fan of anything on the Grizzlies roster. The end result is a player with lots of upside who appeared to want to stay in Orlando is gone for nothing. And, he signed at a pretty reasonable rate of 21 mil/3 years.

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