Happy News
MAGIC: Magic Re-Sign Trevor Ariza
Good news for the Magic. Terms not announced yet but Ariza is athletic and should have been signed for cheap. Ariza remains the second youngest player on the roster and is a year younger than JJ Redick. He is long and explosive and he is capable of growing into a defensive stopper role. If he gains a jump shot he is a steal.
This may be the last we hear of the Magic before the training camp roster is announced. They went into the offseason needing to re-sign or replace Ariza, Stevenson & Kasun plus add shooting plus a backup big without breaking the bank and ruining options for next offseason. Unless Otis has something up his sleeve the 2006/07 team will pretty much be this:
Gone for Sure: (-3) Kasun, Stevenson, Augmon.
New guaranteed contracts: (2) Bogans, Redick
Non-guaranteed additions: (2) Augustine, McNamara
On the bubble: (2) Travis Diener, Bo Outlaw (unsigned), McNamara, Augustine
Next year: Marcin Gortat
The season ended with the starters plus four bench guys (Darko, Arroyo, Dooling, Ariza) playing the bulk of the minutes plus occassional help from Augmon & Outlaw. Kasun, Hill & Garrity were inactive the last 2 months and Diener's work was limited to greeting various childrens groups before the game.
When the team breaks training camp the team will probably look like:
PF/C: (6) Howard & Darko & Battie account for 90+ minutes per game. Camp will determine if Darko starts or plays 6th man role. Garrity (ack!) & Outlaw limited minutes and Augustine 15th man unless he finds an aggressive streak in camp.
SF: (3) Turkoglu starts, Ariza first off bench, Hill in the mix or on the shelf with an ailment nobody can predict.
SG: (3) Bogans, Dooling & Redick all seeing time. Starter determined in camp all three averaging more than 12 minutes a game.
PG: (3) Nelson starts, Arroyo gets 18 minutes a game, Dooling gets spot minutes at PG. Diener is 14th man on the bench dreaming about his stellar summer league performance.
Good news for the Magic. Terms not announced yet but Ariza is athletic and should have been signed for cheap. Ariza remains the second youngest player on the roster and is a year younger than JJ Redick. He is long and explosive and he is capable of growing into a defensive stopper role. If he gains a jump shot he is a steal.
This may be the last we hear of the Magic before the training camp roster is announced. They went into the offseason needing to re-sign or replace Ariza, Stevenson & Kasun plus add shooting plus a backup big without breaking the bank and ruining options for next offseason. Unless Otis has something up his sleeve the 2006/07 team will pretty much be this:
Gone for Sure: (-3) Kasun, Stevenson, Augmon.
New guaranteed contracts: (2) Bogans, Redick
Non-guaranteed additions: (2) Augustine, McNamara
On the bubble: (2) Travis Diener, Bo Outlaw (unsigned), McNamara, Augustine
Next year: Marcin Gortat
The season ended with the starters plus four bench guys (Darko, Arroyo, Dooling, Ariza) playing the bulk of the minutes plus occassional help from Augmon & Outlaw. Kasun, Hill & Garrity were inactive the last 2 months and Diener's work was limited to greeting various childrens groups before the game.
When the team breaks training camp the team will probably look like:
PF/C: (6) Howard & Darko & Battie account for 90+ minutes per game. Camp will determine if Darko starts or plays 6th man role. Garrity (ack!) & Outlaw limited minutes and Augustine 15th man unless he finds an aggressive streak in camp.
SF: (3) Turkoglu starts, Ariza first off bench, Hill in the mix or on the shelf with an ailment nobody can predict.
SG: (3) Bogans, Dooling & Redick all seeing time. Starter determined in camp all three averaging more than 12 minutes a game.
PG: (3) Nelson starts, Arroyo gets 18 minutes a game, Dooling gets spot minutes at PG. Diener is 14th man on the bench dreaming about his stellar summer league performance.
posted by WeRDevos @ 1:34 PM
9 Comments:
At 2:24 PM,
OVERWADED said…
I'm very happy with the Magic this summer. Redick, the Stevenson/Bogans wash, and now re-signing Ariza... Ariza might have more potential than anyone else on our team. But that has been the case many times, but we'll see... Another great move from Otis by not letting a talented YOUNG player like Ariza get away just yet.
At 2:45 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
YES!!! A move we expected the Magic to make for the last several months has finally been made. I agree with what Intro had to say about the Magic's moves this summer.
At 2:55 AM,
"rem" said…
not surprising but safe signing by the Magic (think insurance policy on Reddick with Bogans and
At 10:39 PM,
Matt said…
I thought to drop in to say hi. I am out of the country for a teaching assignment and have little time to spare. I guided Whit Watson to check this blog out, and I am glad that he did. Good news on the arena, but don't take it to the bank yet until the funds are specifically allocated. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened this summer. Redick's draft was expected, and Ariza's signing took too long. Stevenson and Bogan's wash is a good thing. Funny that earlier when Magic had a chance to choose between the two, they chose Stevenson. Mentioning the core players by Smith and leaving Darko out was unnecessary; the kid still needs to be cheered up and his enormous potentials could not be compared to those of Turk. Well said Mike that we still need to watch for Hill.
At 8:50 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Matt... great hearing from you once again! Nice to see that you had at least a little time to check in on our blog.
Interesting comment by you that earlier when the Magic had a choice between Stevenson and Bogans they took Stevenson.
I think the Magic might be a little ticked at Darko for not staying at least part of the summer in Orlando to work out with the team, but hopefully that won't hinder his development too much.
Take care Matt... don't work too hard and whenever you get the chance check out the blog and comment if you have some time!
At 3:29 AM,
Ken said…
Hey Matt, glad you had the chance to drop by and say hello...
I agree, happy to see the Magic finally get Ariza re-signed. I would have liked to see Darko hang around town for a while this summer also and work out a bit with the team. Hopefully this dosn't land him on BSHill's shitlist and replaced by Garrity or some dumb thing...
I tend to think the Stevenson/Boguns descision at that time was a coin-flip thing. Both players had big positives, but only was could stay.. I dunno, thats just how i remember it. But i'm old and my memory fades from time to time.. LoL....
At 3:01 PM,
Matt said…
Hi Ken:
I hope nobody is that shortsighted to forget the enormous potential of Darko. Yes, it would have been nice for him to hang around in summer, but to hold it against him would be real dumb. After all, these are still kids, and god knows they don't get their priorities straight, all the time.
As for Bogans and Stevenson, you are right about the history of it, as well as this time around; it was a coin flip and still remains to be so. I like Bogans for his longer range but, in my view, he is less athletic and a lesser defender than Stevenson. Regardless, I am happy with Bogan's selection. I think Stevenson got too greedy for his own good.
At 1:22 PM,
OVERWADED said…
It's great to see your name on here again Matt!
Well said about Darko. I heard and read Otis's comments about the "core players". When I first heard it I wasa little worried, but after hearing how Otis put it, I think he was just talking. Recently he also stated that we have "no starters, ok, maybe 1" speaking about Dwight of course. So I'm not worried yet about Darko. I was disappointed that he didn't stay around this summer. I was excited about the idea of him lifting weights for the 1st time in his career. I just think Darko is alot more important to this team than most people realize. When this team was dominate during stretches at the end of last season, it was usually because Darko and Dwight were dominating the game at both ends. I look at Darko as our Sheed. If Darko wants to be great, and he wants to work hard, he's only going to get better, and he could very well be the difference between a playoff team and a champtionship team in our future.
At 11:16 PM,
Matt said…
Nicely put Intovert316. I agree that the dominant phase of Magic's late season rally had a lot to do with Darko's contribution, especially his shot blocking ability. In particular, the game the we won in San Antonio comes to my mind without recalling all the details. I also agree that if Darko develops to his full potentials, we are not that far off from a championship team. Having that said, the fragile psyche of a kid being put down for so long requires a lot more sensitivity that has been afforded to him so far. I said it towards the end of the season, that it would be great to have the kid start for at least one or two games when the fate of the season had been sealed, but that did not happen. The unnecessary comment on the core players was not helpful, and I hope Darko has been too busy to catch it up. Smith has always had a reserved manner and has been quite careful in picking his words. Why change?
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