As promised, a few assorted bullets on stories not involving Carlos Arroyo:

• Hoops Addict is conducting its first annual Floor Burn Tournament, which seeks to credit the players who do the so-called "dirty work" for their teams without getting much acclaim. Round One is up now. I nominated Jameer Nelson, who must defeat Knicks forward David Lee to advance. Show your support for Jameer, who does not get enough credit for the little things he does.
• Dwight Howard did not fare well for Team USA in a tune-up game against Team Russia. Dime (via BDL) gives us the awful truth:

  On Dwight's first touch he threw up an ugly hook shot off an awkward post move that hit all glass, and in general seemed hesitant to beast his way to the basket despite being guarded by guys who looked like Keith Bogans standing next to him. He finished with five points and made just one field goal.

Dwight will have a chance to redeem himself tomorrow morning at 8 AM, as Team USA will take on Team Australia -- and its center, Andrew Bogut, selected first overall in 2005, a year after Dwight -- in its final exhibition match.

• For more Olympic coverage, I recommend these sites:
  • At the Hive, SB Nation's New Orleans Hornets blog;
  • Green Bandwagon, SB Nation's Boston Celtics blog;
  • 20 Second Timeout;
  • and Upside and Motor.

Great work, fellas.

• Last Friday, the Clippers withdrew their qualifying offer to Nick Fazekas, a hardworking power forward whom they signed after Dallas cut him to make room for Jason Kidd. Fazekas is now an unrestricted free agent. I'm not the only Magic fan who wants the team to consider signing him, as this thread on Denton's board shows. But fans of other teams are taking note, too, as Hoopinion wants the Hawks to take a look at him as well.

After verbally agreeing to sign with Golden State earlier this week, Maurice Evans backed out and asked for more money. The Warriors said, "Thanks, but no thanks," and instead matched the offer sheet Kelenna Azubuike signed with the Clippers. Neener neener, Baron Stealers!

Evans has found a home in Atlanta, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (ht: Hoopinion). Evans was as good as gone the moment Keith Bogans told the team he would exercise his player option this season, so this signing means little to us. We'll get to see him roast us -- the Hawks always roast us, it seems -- four times a year. It also means he'll play 41 games a year in the building in which he set his NBA career-high last April. Good times.

We all figured that Maurice Evans wouldn't return to the Magic next season; Keith Bogans' picking up his player option determined that much. Well, now we know where he's headed: the Bay Area.

The Warriors signed Evans to a three-year, $6.4 million deal, reports the Mercury News (ht: ClipperBlog). He'll work out well in Golden State, which prizes three-point shooting and athleticism. Evans provides both those things (80 triples and 73 dunks last season), and does so at a reasonable price. Congratulations to Maurice. Thanks for your hard work. See you in the fall.

The Spurs re-signed Kurt Thomas, the forward/center whom the Magic coveted at the deadline. Meanwhile, a day after acquiring combo guard Keyon Dooling from Orlando, the Nets sent backup point guard (and object of Magic fans' affection) Marcus Williams to the Warriors for a future first-round pick.

Oh, and the Magic's chances of re-signing Carlos Arroyo -- already a long shot -- took a big hit when he tore a leg muscle during an Olympic qualifying tournament.

But Javaris Crittenton, long connected to the Magic in trade rumors, is still in play. The Grizzlies' young combo guard is likely the odd-man-out in Memphis, which wants to focus on developing O.J. Mayo, Mike Conley, and Kyle Lowry. I think Crittenton would be a home-run acquisition for Otis Smith and the Magic. For one thing, he's tall (6'05"). For another, his presence would make both J.J. Redick and Keith Bogans more expendable than they already are... assuming they weren't the guys dealt for Crittenton in the first place. Finally, it would mean fewer minutes for Anthony Johnson, the Magic's 34-year-old current backup, whose talent level befits that of a third-stringer.

Could Mikki Moore be an option? The Kings spent their full mid-level on the veteran power forward last summer, but might look to unload him to free-up playing time for youngsters Spencer Hawes, Shelden Williams, and Jason Thompson. Kings fan pookeyguru, whom you may know from his participation in the Sactown Royalty community, would swap Moore for Redick and Brian Cook.

I still support the idea of swapping Redick and Cook for Jeff Foster, but I doubt the Pacers would part with him now that they've dealt Jermaine O'Neal to Toronto for T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, and riff-raff.

Maybe we overestimate the Magic's need for another player at the power positions. After all, Tony Battie will make his return this season, and figures to steal some minutes from Adonal Foyle (at center) and Rashard Lewis/Cook (at power forward). And Marcin Gortat, who played in more post-season games than regular-season ones, showed promise. But you'll forgive me for feeling nervous about a big-man rotation that includes Lewis, Battie, Gortat, Foyle, and James Augustine.

What's the Magic's biggest area of need? Whom should they target to fill that need?

The Orlando Magic reached an agreement to sign free-agent guard Anthony Johnson, who played for them during the 1999/2000 season, as seen above.

File photo by Don Frazier, the Associated Press

The Orlando Magic signed veteran point guard Anthony Johnson to a two-year deal. Denton and Schmitz have the scoop. Schmitz also says that the team expects backup center Adonal Foyle to return, although he will probably not sign for another month. The 2008/09 roster is indeed taking shape, and there could be another deal in the works, as the Magic are still trying to acquire point guard Javaris Crittenton from the Memphis Grizzlies.

Only that last bit of news excites me. Johnson will turn 34 before the season starts and is, at best, a third-string point guard on a contending team. The Magic need to find a younger, taller option to lead the second unit. And as much as we all admire Foyle's hustle and character, he's too much of an offensive liability to effectively back-up Dwight Howard.

Based on today's news, I expect next season's depth chart to resemble the following (inactive players in italics):

The roster is loaded with bigs, so I expect the team to jettison at least one of them (Cook?) before the season starts. So far, this roster isn't a huge improvement over last year's, which won 52 games and a division title, so maybe we shouldn't complain.

Maybe.

Brian Schmitz says the Orlando Magic have offered Keyon Dooling a two-year deal worth a total of $3.8 million, hoping it will be enough to retain the team's best defender. Unfortunately for us, Dooling would be wise to decline that deal because it fails to offer the long-term financial security that he desires and deserves.

I don't know whether to applaud Otis Smith for at least making an offer to Dooling or to criticize him for making such a low offer. It's the latest in a series of moves that Dooling could perceive as snubs. First, the Magic offered their back-up point guard job to Chris Duhon, regarded by most fans and media experts as inferior to Dooling. Then, when Duhon signed with the Knick, the Magic turned their attention to Golden State swingman Mickael Pietrus, whom they eventually signed. In so doing, they lost the cap space they could have used to make Dooling a competitive offer.

Bottom line: we'd love to see Keyon back, especially in light of Jameer Nelson's injury history, which Schmitz mentions in the article. But $3.8 million won't get it done. Once Dooling formally declines that offer, the Magic will probably extend it to Anthony Johnson, Jason Williams, or another such bargain-basement point guard in this barren free-agent market. If those options don't sound good to them, they could always try to swing a trade, using out-of-favor J.J. Redick as bait; Schmitz mentions Keith Bogans and Brian Cook are on the block as well.

n8c21 with the assist.

A couple more details from the Orlando Magic's signing of Mickael Pietrus have trickled in. The team will host an introductory news conference to introduce its new starting shooting guard this Thursday, says Brian Schmitz.

• John Denton, who first broke the news of Pietrus' signing, has more details. It's a four-year deal worth $25.1 million. If you ask me, the Magic overpaid, but Pietrus fits their system and upgrades their weakest starting position from last season. Here's my favorite nugget from the piece, though:

  Also, Pietrus is close friends with Magic small forward Hedo Turkoglu and the two families recently vacationed together in Turkey for a week.

  So he's friends with Hedo and knows Otis Smith from his Golden State days. He should be comfortable here, especially since he'll play his natural position.

• Sean Deveney of the Sporting News spoke with Bill McCandless, Pietrus' agent, and gives us this information about which other teams pursued Air France:

  McCandless said 11 teams were interested in Pietrus but only five were serious. It came down to Orlando or Detroit, with Atlanta also a possibility. For the Pistons, Pietrus would have been a reserve. With the Magic he will start, McCandless was told, not at power forward, but at the more natural shooting guard spot.

  "It was not the most lucrative offer," McCandless said. "But the opportunity, combined with the money, to start for an up-and-coming team was too much to pass up. He could have gotten the same money, or more, from Detroit. But he would have been coming off the bench. ... It becomes a matter of timing. Orlando had the perfect spot for him. You have the threat of someone else moving into the spot. We did not want to wake up tomorrow and find that Otis had signed someone else."

  First, I love that we beat Detroit to signing Pietrus. I'm sure it's no big loss to Pistons fans, but it feels good to get something from them for once. Jeez.

  Deveney notes that the four-year deal includes an Early Termination Option for Pietrus after the third season.

• If you're wondering what this signing means for the Magic's chances of re-signing Keyon Dooling, you aren't alone. Dooling himself doesn't even know what's happening. When reached for comment, Dooling told Brian Schmitz the following:

  "It looks like they have filled their position at the 2. Pietrus will help us," Dooling said. "I don't know what's going to happen. Things are all over the place."

  The switch from third-person to first-person probably doesn't mean much, -- dude was probably a bit frazzled -- but it can't be a good sign that Dooling isn't confident he'll return. And, frankly, why should he be? The Magic made overtures to Chris Duhon, to Corey Maggette, and to Pietrus, but have yet to present him with an offer.

  The Magic can sign him, but doing so will bring them close to luxury-tax territory, which they want to avoid. The Magic's best bet is to make Dooling a long-term, front-loaded offer, which would give Dooling the money and security he wants while simultaneously freeing-up cap space as the salaries of Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, and Jameer Nelson increase.

Woof. Busy offseason ahead. Either J.J. Redick or Keith Bogans will surely move via trade -- the smart money's on J.J., as he has more value -- and the Magic still have plenty of holes to fill.

Mickael "Air France" Pietrus, seen here taking flight over Kyle Korver, has agreed to terms with the Orlando Magic on a multi-year deal.

File photo by George Widman, the Associated Press

Earlier today, I discussed with another blogger how the Magic's inactivity this summer made me nervous. The moves some of the teams behind them have made -- the Wizards' re-signing their two big-name free agents, the Heat's adding the draft's most talented player, the Raptors' acquiring a dominant low-post defender, to name a few -- coupled with the Magic's not making a peep in free agency just made me... uneasy. I didn't like that we were just sitting back, watching other teams make moves to get better.

The Magic got proactive today by agreeing to sign swingman Mickael Pietrus, which is curious, because he doesn't address either of the Magic's biggest needs: depth at point guard and at the power positions. He lacks the ballhandling and decision-making skills to play point-forward, and although Pietrus, 6'07", played power forward in Don Nelson's nutty, anything-goes offense in Golden State, can't play that spot in Orlando, not with Brian Cook (6'09"), Rashard Lewis, and James Augustine (both 6'10") in front of him.

But, despite not addressing Needs 1 and 1-A, Pietrus makes sense for the Magic. He's an upgrade over their incumbent starter, Keith Bogans, and he should make an immediate impact. The signing also means J.J. Redick is likely on his way out. Already the Magic's best trade asset, he now projects to sit at the back end of Orlando's still sub-par backcourt rotation. He, combined with a future draft pick or two, should net the Magic a solid player at either point guard or power forward. The Magic will look to bolster Whichever position the nigh-inevitable Redick trade doesn't address through free agency with the low-level exception. Of course, they wouldn't have to trade Redick if they drafted a power forward in the first place...

A final note about Pietrus: he's coming off a season in which he regressed. His per-36-minute scoring decreased (14.9-12.9), as did his effective field goal percentage (56.7-52.5). Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I believe Pietrus' problem was focus-related. Getting away from Nelson, with whom he had a sour relationship, might do wonders for his confidence and performance.

You may remember this post from May, in which I tried to navigate the NBA's salary cap to see what the Magic could do this summer in free agency. Now that we're closer to the beginning of the free-agent signing period (Wednesday, July 9th), I thought I'd take another look at it. I've presented my findings in a Q-and-A format. For this post, I consulted Larry Coon's NBA Salary Cap F.A.Q., Storyteller's Contracts, ESPN's 2008 NBA Free Agent list, and the Orlando Magic's official roster page. We hope you find this guide helpful.

Question: How many players do the Magic have under contract next season, and what are they owed?

Answer: Currently, the Magic have 11 players under contract, owed a total of $60,553,339 next season. While the league has yet to release its official salary-cap data, we can say with absolute certainty that the Magic are over the salary cap. Here's how everything breaks down by player...

Note: for this table, "Age" refers to a player's age as of October 31st, 2008, when we expect the NBA season to begin.

... and by position...

Make the jump to read the rest of the Q-and-A.

Continue reading this post »

Courtney Lee is the newest member of the Orlando Magic. Some thoughts/links:

• The Orlando Sentinel has a solid recap of the Magic's draft, including video of Otis Smith and Stan Van Gundy discussing the team's pick, here. For me, the highlight was Smith telling reporters he did not make a promise to Lee; he wanted him to "sweat it out." That's funny.
• The Magic have called a 3 PM press conference to introduce Lee to the media.
• Brian Schmitz wonders what Lee's presence does to affect J.J. Redick's status with the team. Smith told Schmitz that "it doesn't do anything to [Redick]." Uh, how doesn't it? Redick's a two-guard who hoped to move from third (fourth if you count Keyon Dooling as a two) on the depth chart to first. Keith Bogans plans to stay, the Magic drafted Courtney Lee, and their biggest free-agent priority is re-signing Dooling for the portion of the mid-level. And if Dooling bolts, the Magic will turn their attention to retaining Maurice Evans, their starting two from last season. So, yeah, I'd say Lee's selection impacts Redick in a big way in that it keeps him at the end of the bench.
• The Magic weren't able to acquire a second-round pick, although I got antsy when Portland selected power forward Joey Dorsey 33rd overall. The live feed from the Magic's draft room showed Assistant GM Dave Twardzik, who had spent the last several minutes sitting idly, like everyone else in the room, buzzing about and appearing to take a fax. But, obviously, nothing materialized. If you want me to post some screen grabs, I can.
• And, for what it's worth, Otis didn't move from his chair during the several minutes I spent watching the feed during the second round.

All in all -- and this subject is one Believing in Magic touched on immediately after the draft -- the Magic went with the safe pick. But was it the right one?

The Magic could not have screwed this pick up, it seemed. Their biggest needs are, in order: shooting guard, power forward, point guard, and center. They had four great players left on the board, and each one would have fit a need: Lee, the shooting guard; Darrell Arthur, the power forward and likely a better overall player than Lee; Mario Chalmers, the point guard; and Kosta Koufos, the center. Nobody in the Ridiculous Upside liveblog could believe Arthur slipped as far as he did, although ESPN later reported that his stock fell due to a kidney condition. Had the Magic taken him anyway, it would have been the steal of the night. Yet they didn't.

But snubbing Chalmers might bite them in the behind more than snubbing Arthur will. Chalmers fell all the way to Minnesota and the 34th overall pick; the Timberwolves shipped his rights to the Miami Heat, who need a point guard in a bad way. The addition of Chalmers, a first-round talent and possible opening-day starter, to a lineup that already features Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley might put the Heat in contention for one of the bottom-tier playoff spots in the East, if not better. And considering that Miami's the closest thing the Magic have to a rival -- sorry, the Pistons don't count -- the thought of them succeeding with a point guard the Magic could have had hurts. Then again, I've overrated the Heat before. When they acquired Mark Blount and Ricky Davis last fall, I wrote, "if this deal goes down, the Southeast Division will be much tougher to win, and there's no guarantee we'll even make the playoffs."

The Heat went on to win less than one-third of the games the Magic did, finishing with the worst record in the league. Good call I made there, huh?

It's been a blast covering the draft. Next up: summer league and free agency. Trades? Those, too.

Fun's just beginning.

UPDATE: Here are a few evening/weekend links from the team's website. Enjoy.

• The team's official website has this small bio of Lee. It also has a transcript from his introductory news conference.