Summer Plans
By John Denton FLORIDA TODAY
MAGIC PURSUING WEBBER, PJ BROWN; TALKS STALL WITH NELSON
"There’s interest from those guys to play here,’’ Smith said of Webber and Brown. "This is a young, up-and-coming basketball team, and any veteran who comes here won’t have to carry a lot of the weight. We have a young guys in Rashard and Dwight who they can lean on and a strong nucleus. That makes us attractive to guys still out there. And being in the East is attractive, too."
MAGIC PURSUING WEBBER, PJ BROWN; TALKS STALL WITH NELSON
"There’s interest from those guys to play here,’’ Smith said of Webber and Brown. "This is a young, up-and-coming basketball team, and any veteran who comes here won’t have to carry a lot of the weight. We have a young guys in Rashard and Dwight who they can lean on and a strong nucleus. That makes us attractive to guys still out there. And being in the East is attractive, too."
posted by OVERWADED @ 2:09 PM
12 Comments:
At 3:29 PM,
Big Figure said…
Both players will bring toughness that we need and smarts about the game. This is exactly why this team wont be built in one summer,either will just be a role player until next years draft when we add another big,this is probably the last year for both players. The 60th pick this year and next years pick should make a good front line on our summer league team next year,you add in vasquez who will come in two years and suddenly the magic will be super deep at the big man positions.
At 6:19 PM,
Matt said…
I welcome webber's interest, if there is any on his side, but I am not sure that Brown could do much except taking the place of young potentials thus impeding their development.
As a matter of principle, I have been against offering any position to Fran Vasquez. I think that we should trade the rights to him as soon as he states his intention to come to U.S.
At 6:54 PM,
OVERWADED said…
I like Brown more, but Webber is a little younger. However, Webber seems to be breaking down faster.
No matter who it is, he won't be expected to be anything more than a role player.
As far as Fran Vasquez goes, if they trade his rights, they need to do it now. I've watched a few of his games, and seen his highlights. He would be a great fit here next to Dwight. If they're going to trade him, they need to do it before he comes to the NBA; because if they wait until he's coming over, the Magic front office will look foolish all over again because the guy will join another team and play well.
At 7:03 PM,
OVERWADED said…
At the same time, this isn't the first time a foreign player didn't come over when he was drafted.
It could be worse; we could have picked a guy name Yi with the 6th pick of the draft after he already made it clear he didn't want to play there.
But really; are there not only 2 choices? We either trade his rights soon, to get immediate help. Or we remain patience, and add a polished lottery pick a couple years from now. What other choice do we have?
At 7:37 PM,
Matt said…
The more polished he becomes, couldn't we get a better player in trading him? The whole fiasco surrounding this guy and the way it played out makes it a necessity, in my view, to make an example of him.
At 8:25 PM,
OVERWADED said…
If we could get something of value in return for Vasquez; then sure why not, make a deal. However, I don’t think we’d get true market value for him, not unless another team scouts him and comes to us to make a play for him.
Question; I know they are two different circumstances, but they both had one thing in common, Marc Cornstein. Could the Fran Vasquez "fiasco" have anything to do with how Darko situation played out?
It probably doesn't mean much anymore, but both situations were involving foreign players that Cornstein was representing; and they both went sour for the Magic.
Sometimes I wonder if the Magic were trying to make an example out of Darko and his agent.
Again, I know they are two different situations, but I have questioned if behind the scenes, there was something more.
At 8:52 PM,
Ben Q. Rock said…
I'm surprised that Webber is apparently interested. I thought he wanted to chase a ring with either Dallas or Detroit.
Would he wear no. 84 here? No Magic player has ever worn anything higher than 55...
At 9:57 PM,
Matt said…
Magic did treat the Vasquez situation favorably. Otis Smith actually flew to Europe just to meet with Fran guy (is that right?). Therefore, there shouldn't be any bad blood out of that situation to cause the blow-up in Darko's case.
At 12:36 AM,
OVERWADED said…
Fran doesn't have Cornstein as his agent anymore...
At 2:45 PM,
OVERWADED said…
"We're just talking about insurance, someone reliable who can give us 10-12 minutes a night," Smith said. "We're going to be patient."
At 2:58 PM,
OVERWADED said…
In other words, we are not looking for a starter. We have our starting group for the season; unless another team comes knocking on our door with an offer.
My guess is, Lewis will start with Hedo and Howard in the front court. Otis really likes Hedo, and the idea of putting him next to Lewis, so they can spread the floor for Howard. They've talked too much about forgetting traditional positions for it not to happen, or at least be given a shot.
However, I think the shooting guard spot will be open for the taking until the season opener. Although, I'm guessing they hope J.J. steps up and takes the spot.
At 5:24 PM,
Big Figure said…
I favor webbers scoring ability and passing. PJ really only offers you defense,he can hit the outside jumper but when it comes to being an impact within a game theres no comparison. Webber actually had some games last year for the pistons that were similar to his old athletic self,granted late in the playoffs his play started to fade but we dont need him to play the same role as the pistons,they tried to use him as a starter which is probably what wore him down. Webber on the high post,who can still score 20 on any given night,coming off the bench for 10-12 minutes playing with dwight on the low block,i'd love to see it,our second unit would be set plus we still have battie. If we go with rashard and hedo at the forwards,depth wise we'd be ok with webber,battie,pat,gortat and augustine.
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