As you may have noticed, Getty removed the pictures which depicted the new uniforms for the Magic, Timberwolves, and Kings from its website. Apologies if you didn't manage to catch them in time.

Onto the news...

• Beyond the Arc, a Grizzlies-centered blog, refutes a recent internet report from an NBA website which stated the Grizzlies and Magic were discussing a trade involving Memphis shipping Javaris Crittenton to Orlando for the rights to Fran Vazquez. Those discussions never took place, according to the Grizzlies' owner, Michael Heisley. If they had, I'd worry for Mr. Heisley's sanity. (HT: Ball Don't Lie)
• In a fairly meaningless Olympic tune-up, Team USA defeated Team Turkey (which played without Hedo Turkoglu or Mehmet Okur), 114-82. Dwight Howard had 14 points (7-of-8 FG) and a game-high 8 boards. Here's the boxscore.
• Orlando Magic Blog examined the players the Magic have lost this summer and raises a good question: who's going to absorb their minutes? Jameer Nelson, Mickael Pietrus, and Anthony Johnson better eat their Wheaties this year, that's for darn sure. Courtney Lee, too.
• After some intensive number-cruncing, The Arbitrarian has created the Model-Estimated Value (MEV), a statistic which seeks to accurately account for each player's value based on his box-score statistics. It's like John Hollinger's PER and Dave Barri's Wins Produced insofar as it sums-up a player's production in a single number. Anyway, this metric rates Dwight Howard as the sixth-most productive player in the league last season, trailing LeBron James, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire, Kobe Bryant, and Allen Iverson.

Otherwise, it's quiet on the Magic front. We're still waiting for them to acquire a third point guard and to unveil their new uniforms.

Christmas comes early for the Magic and their fans, it seems. Earlier, fans got a sneak peak of the team's new jersey. Now, they learn their team will take part in a key nationally televised game this season.

NewOrleans.com obtained a copy of the Hornets' schedule and reported the team will play the Orlando Magic on Christmas Day. The matchup is simply to die for, as we discussed briefly (second bullet) after the Magic's loss to the Hornets last April Fool's Day.

The Magic hardly played on national television last season. The good news is their signature victory, the one which ended with this incredible buzzer-beating three from Hedo Turkoglu to down the Celtics, appeared there; the bad news is this embarrassing loss to Detroit also took place in front of a national audience. But seeing your team lose is better than not seeing it at all. Most Magic fans in Orlando can't see half the Magic's games due to the ongoing stalemate between FSN Florida and Bright House Networks.

This matchup will increase the Magic's presence on the national stage and possibly generate some hype about their future. Fantastic news for the team, its fans, and NBA fans worldwide.

With a tip of the cap to At The Hive.

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.

• The most important rumor floating today might not be exactly credible -- it comes from a message-board poster -- but if it's true, I'll be one happy camper, as will plenty of Magic fans. Says poster INeedMoreDarko (via Punisher):

  I've been told Turkoglu will sign a 2 year extension this offseason. Turk loves Orlando(and the Dragon Room), loves Stan, loves the direction the Magic are headed and loves the signing of Pietrus.

  Otis also has a great relationship with Lon Babby, his agent. And will extend Turk another 2 years, possibly 3(Similar to Lew's non-fully guarenteed contract for the last year of his). Remember when we inked Battie to an extension out of nowhere? Agent? Lon Babby... I dont know how much he'll be extending for but I hear it will be roughly 8 Mil a year.

  John Denton reported only a few days ago that Pietrus and Turkoglu vacationed together in Turkey earlier this summer, so it makes sense that Hedo would appreciate the Magic signing one of his close friends. I don't know when Turk would sign this extension; Battie signed his near the end of the 2005/2006 season.

  I do not know what the Dragon Room is.

• Denton also says the Magic's front office is keeping its eyes on what happens to embattled point guards Jamaal Tinsley of Indiana and Stephon Marbury of New York. If those players accept buyouts from their present teams, the Magic will consider signing them to back-up Jameer Nelson. Tinsley's a decent enough point guard when healthy and not shooting the ball, but I think I'd feel more comfortable with Jason Williams. As for Marbury... no. A million times, no.

  UPDATE: Brian Schmitz spoke to Otis Smith about the Marbury and Tinsley rumors. There's no truth to them:

  The Magic desperately need a point guard, maybe two, to back up Jameer Nelson.

  So when I asked Smith if he had interest in either the Pacers' Jamaal Tinsley or the Knicks' Stephon Marbury --- two moody, controversial players who might be bought out by their teams and available for a song --- he shook his head.

  No.

  And no way.

  "You know me," he said.

  That's a relief.

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.

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 »

Confirming a rumor we first heard in March, former Magic forward Corey Maggette might be interested in re-joining the team in free-agency this summer. Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel cites "a Maggette friend who is close to both the player and the Magic organization" as a source for his story in today's paper.

What Maggette's really interested in, I suspect, is making more money. SHOCKING, I know. The more cash-strapped teams he encourages to offer him money, the more leverage he has in negotiating with teams that have more cap room. The most Orlando could offer him is the mid-level exception, which has a starting salary of around $5.5 million (it changes from year to year due to the salary cap). Maggette, coming off a season in which he averaged 22.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, is certainly worth more money than that. Hell, the Magic paid Rashard Lewis a max-level contract worth $118 million over six years after a season in which he averaged 22.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. While no team can afford to offer Maggette that kind of money this summer -- and Maggette knows as much -- Lewis' contract ups Maggette's market value.

I wonder who, exactly, Povtak's source is. Who might be in a position to know players and teams equally well? Perhaps an agent... like Rob Pelinka, who represents both Maggette and Magic free-agent guard Keyon Dooling. We suspect Pelinka floated this rumor himself to increase Maggette's paycheck, not to mention his own. Additionally, by bumping Maggette out of the Magic's price range, Pelinka ensures the team has enough money to re-sign Keyon Dooling. Everybody wins... except Orlando, which loses the prospect of ever using the absurdly talented Jameer Nelson / Maggette / Hedo Turkoglu / Lewis / Dwight Howard starting lineup.

Maggette's coming off a career-best season and, at 28, knows this summer will be his last chance to secure a lucrative, long-term deal. He won't risk losing millions of dollars just for the opportunity to play close to home. The fact is, no borderline All-Star like Maggette has taken the mid-level exception to play for a contending team. Veteran lunchpail-types in their mid-thirties have (see Boston's free-agent crop last summer after it acquired Kevin Garnett), but never players of Maggette's caliber.

Summarily, the odds of Corey Maggette signing with the Magic this summer are slimmer than Shaquille O'Neal's chances of winning the Three-Point Shootout. And I'm pretty sure the previous sentence marks the first time anyone has used "slim" with "Shaquille." Go figure.

UPDATE: Mike Bianchi, writing on his blog, makes a salient point about the Magic's chances regarding Maggette:

Secondly, don't the Magic have more pressing needs than another small forward/shooting guard? They already have zillions tied up in Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis and have spent their last two first-round draft picks on J.J. Redick and Courtney Lee. I guess the Magic conceivably could do some sort of sign-and-trade involving Turkoglu and somebody else, but then you have to ask yourself is Maggette appreciably better than Turk?

That last sentence underscores why I don't understand the logic behind trading Turkoglu for Maggette, although it didn't stop me from making it a poll option, nor did it stop at least one reader from choosing it. For all intents and purposes, Maggette plays the same offensive game Turkoglu does, only without the playmaking ability for others: 68% of Maggette's shot attempts last season were jumpers, compared to 67% for Turkoglu. However, Turkoglu shot a much higher effective field goal percentage (.495 to .418), and created more of those shots off the dribble; just 49% of his jumpers were assisted, compared to 75% for Maggette.

So, really, what advantages do Maggette have over Turkoglu? The biggest one is his ability to get to the foul line, as he averaged more than double the free throw attempts per 36 minutes than Turkoglu did (9.8 to 4.7). But, in many respects, that's Maggette's only advantage. Before you say "age!" keep in mind that Maggette is a shade less than 8 months younger than Turkoglu.

If anyone wants to explain why they'd dump Turkoglu in favor of Maggette, I'm willing to listen. Right now, I'm unconvinced.

The Magic's official draft party, featuring the Magic Dancers and notable play-by-play guys, takes place tonight at NBA City, which you can reach by phoning 407.NBA.CITY (407.622.2489). If you'd rather stay home, you can still catch a live feed of the Magic's "war room" via the team's website.

• Here are my three favorite questions and answers from Brian Schmitz's live chat yesterday. They're juicy:

  Chris: Are the Magic trying to trade for a second-round pick?

  Brian Schmitz: Otis said they are exploring trying to pick up a seocnd-rounder, a high one.

  [....]

  Gene: What are the chances Otis packages Hedo and JJ to bring in an elite shooting guard (like Rip Hamilton maybe)?

  Brian Schmitz: Otis said they are not trading their core players, which includes Hedo specficially "unless a deal knocks our socks off."

  [....]

  Chris: Brian, Can you just give us a run down on what Otis said in the Press Conf. if anything? Do you Tim, or Denton have any kind of feel as to where the Magic are going with their 1st pick and also what's the chances of OTis aquiring a 2nd rounder???

  Brian Schmitz: Otis basically did the song and dance today, very vague. Said they will proably keep the No. 22 pick. Could add a second-round pick. He likes [Courtney] Lee, [Marreese] Speights, [Jason]Thompson, [JaVale] McGee, [Darrell] Arthur, [J.J.] Hickson and R[obin] Lopez. Does not care for [Roy] Hibbert and says CDR [Chris Douglas-Roberts] is falling.

  Good for Otis not wanting to trade Hedo, although that's a subject I'll cover in-depth sometime after all the draft stuff calms down. Also nice to know that Roy Hibbert is not on the Magic's board. Dude's a stiff.

• Marc D'Amico posted this interesting piece about Otis Smith's draft philosophy on the Magic's official website. First, examine this quote from the article:

  Smith made clear that the team isn't necessarily drafting by position. The Magic seem adamant on the fact that they will address their pick first by talent and then by position.

  That's nice, but a few paragraphs later, Smith gives us this gem:

  "For me to sit down face-to-face is huge," Smith said. "I put a lot of value on the sit-down time, probably more than I do on putting them in the gym and watch them hoist up jumpers."

  I don't get it. First, the Magic say they'll take the best (ie most talented) player on the board, but then Smith says, in a roundabout way, that he values character just as much as he values talent. Which is it, Otis?

• The Sentinel has this illuminating feature on Magic Assistant GM Dave Twardzik, who spent this past Thanksgiving Day eating reindeer sausage in Anchorage, Alaska. A quote from Twardzik, the Magic's chief talent evaluator:

  Twardzik has seen some amazing athletes, but high on his scouting checklist is "basketball IQ. We look for guys who have a great feel for the game and make right decisions," he said. "We don't put a lot of emphasis on statistics. It's more what we see on the floor."

  I could have told you the Magic don't put a lot of emphasis on statistics. They selected power forward James Augustine in the second round of the 2005 NBA Draft despite the fact that Paul Millsap, another power forward who happens to be a rebounding machine, was still on the board.

• Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via NetsDaily) the New Jersey Nets are sold on forward/center Joey Dorsey and will use the 40th pick on him if he's still available. Dorsey's the sort of rebounding/shot-blocking beast who'd be the perfect frontcourt complement to Dwight Howard. If the Magic want him, as they should, they'll need to trade for a pick better than 40th. Portland has two picks and Seattle has one, which is interesting because Tim Povtak reported just last month the Magic discussed trading with either of those teams for a second-round pick. Let the rumor-mongering commence.

Look for an open thread in which to discuss the day's events at 10:30. We'll play it by ear from there.

• The Magic will host a draft party at NBA City this Thursday. Read the full press release here. Dennis Neumann, David Steele, and Matt Guokas will be on hand, as well as the Magic Dancers. Rad.
• J.J. Redick turned 24 yesterday and believes he will play for the Magic next season. Just before last season's trading deadline, Magic GM Otis Smith said that a few teams had inquired as to Redick's trade availability. Apparently, his tune has changed:

  Interest from other clubs "has not presented itself," Smith said.

The Magic might be stuck with J.J. for another year after all. If they trade Hedo Turkoglu, as many 3QC commenters have recommended, Redick might have value as a throw-in to make salaries match.

• The Orlando Sentinel has a few items of note:
  • Brian Schmitz lists the Magic's needs as, in order: shooting guard, point guard, and "a big." He also recommends the Magic take the best player available, regardless of need.
  • Schmitz will have a live chat going starting noon today, just after Otis Smith's media availability session. Schmitz's chat announcement is here. I assume you'll be able to find the chat on the blog's front page.
  • Magic guard Keyon Dooling has joined the NBA Players' Union nine-member executive committee, writes Tim Povtak. There's a quote in the article which indicates Dooling's currently vacationing in the Bahamas. Seems about right, yeah.
• Basketbawful, writing for Deadspin, has a list of things he learned from watching the 2008 NBA playoffs. He writes, "Dwight Howard might be the love child of Bigfoot and Godzilla."

This summer, 3QC will take a look back on each Magic player's 2007-2008 season. The first nine posts will evaluate, on an individual basis and in alphabetical order, the players who played in at least 20% of the team's total minutes; the final post will briefly evaluate the five players who appeared in less than 20% of the team's minutes.

Today, our focus is Hedo Turkoglu.

If you foresaw Hedo Turkoglu's breakout season, I'd like you to help me fill out my lottery ticket. You might be able to help me hit the jackpot, as Hedo did with his stellar play during the 2007/2008 NBA season.

I'll be honest: I was not necessarily Hedo's biggest fan before the start of last season. I suspect many Magic devotees felt the same way as I did: he was too streaky a shooter to amount to much on a playoff-contending team. But with the help of some of Orlando's newest faces (Rashard Lewis and Stan Van Gundy), Turkoglu played the best ball of his career, blossoming into a borderline All-Star and a bona-fide, crunch-time threat. And if you don't believe me, you can ask the Bulls. Or the Celtics. Or the Raptors. Dude got it done when it counted...

... most of the time. As the season progressed, it became clearer and clearer to league observers that, with the game on the line, Van Gundy and the Magic would put the ball in Turkoglu's hands. And with the exception of the dipsy-do layup he hit against the Raptors in the playoffs (video above), he didn't deliver with the precision to which we had become accustomed. Part of it is his fault -- nobody forced him to rush a 25-footer with two seconds to play and the game on the line against Minnesota -- but part of it falls on Van Gundy. Upside and Motor, who has "a lot of respect" for Stan Van Gundy, thinks he should have gone to Rashard Lewis more often. I'm sure Stan feels the same way as Upside does, which is why I think the Magic will be doubly dangerous come crunch-time next season: they'll have ha an entire summer to work on plays for Lewis, as well as the Turkoglu Option^TM.

That statement assumes the Magic retain Turkoglu this summer, which isn't a given. Turk can opt out of his current deal next summer, which is a given on account of he's criminally underpaid; the Magic owe him a mere $6.8 million next season, a bargain for a player who produces as much as Hedo does. With his trade value as high as ever, the Magic may field offers for Hedo to make sure he doesn't leave them for nothing next summer. Although we at 3QC would love for him to stick around, we also have a trade proposal we'll unveil later this week that may tempt even the most devoted of Hedo Lovers in The City Beautiful.

There's no shortage of those people, either. And why would there be? Turkoglu played in every Magic game this season. He earned the NBA's Most Improved Player award. And -- here's what I like most about Turkoglu -- when his shot didn't fall, he still found ways to contribute. In a loss to Dallas last February, he shot just 4-of-14, but finished with 13 points, 12 boards, and 13 assists for his first career triple-double in 569 games.

Some Magic fans might think less of Hedo after his pedestrian playoff performance, which included shooting a dismal .286 clip from three-point range. But after all he accomplished in the regular season, Turk deserves a break, not to mention a raise.