Carter to Magic deal finalized
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)—Vince Carter is going home to Orlando, and to the Eastern Conference champion Magic.
The New Jersey Nets dealt the eight-time NBA All Star, who grew up in Daytona Beach and lives in Orlando, and forward Ryan Anderson to the Magic on Thursday for point guard Rafer Alston, shooting guard Courtney Lee and power forward Tony Battie.
The trade gives the Magic another star in a lineup that already includes Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis. The deal might also convince Hedo Turkoglu, who can opt out of his contract and become a free agent on July 1, to remain with the Magic.
Orlando is hoping Carter, who has averaged 23.5 points over a 10-year pro career, will provide center Dwight Howard with a perimeter scorer who can create his own shot—something they lacked in losing the NBA finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Vince gives us a veteran, go-to scoring presence, especially at the end of games,” Orlando general manager Otis Smith said in a statement. “Our goal remains the same—to win a championship. Any time you can add an All-Star to help you reach your goals, you have to do it.”
The Nets get a solid backup for point guard Devin Harris in Alston and a talent who showed flashes of stardom in Lee.
Lee, a rookie from Western Kentucky last season, was a late first-round pick in 2008 and turned out to be one of the Magic’s few bright spots in recent drafts. Lee started 42 games and was a solid contributor for the Magic last season, averaging 8.4 points per game.
But the Magic were willing to give up Lee to acquire Carter and clear payroll.
With Jameer Nelson already named the starting point guard for next season, the team was looking to move Alston—and his $5.25 million contract that ends after next season.
Alston was acquired at the trade deadline from the Houston Rockets after Nelson suffered what was then called a season-ending shoulder surgery. Alston’s acquisition largely saved the Magic’s season, but when Nelson was able to return for the finals, Alston complained about his minutes and the point guards never could find their rhythm.
The Magic’s biggest cost-cutting move is parting ways with the 33-year-old Battie, who will make $6.2 million next season in the final year of his contract.
The trade gives the Nets some $18 million in salary cap relief for the 2010-11 season.
Carter’s departure ends the era of the Nets’ Big Three. Point guard Jason Kidd was traded to Dallas early in 2008 and Richard Jefferson was dealt to Milwaukee on draft day a year ago for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons.
Carter carried most of the offensive load for New Jersey last season, along with Harris and rookie center Brook Lopez.
Anderson, a 6-foot-10 forward who was the 21st pick overall in last year’s draft, started 30 games and averaged 7.4 points and 4.7 rebounds.
Associated Press Writer Antonio Gonzalez in Orlando contributed to this report.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 7:36 PM
12 Comments:
At 8:33 PM,
WeRDevos said…
I did not see this one coming at all. Other than the idea that everyone wants to dump salaries and the Magicians time is now.
+1 getting rid of Alston -- he was a head case with Nelson returning to the lineup.
+1 losing Battie. I'm sure he's a great guy, great locker room presences, but Pat Garrity is probably better than him now.
-1 giving up on Lee.
+1 Magic finally replace T-Mac at SG.
-1 Vinces contract is huge and is either 2 or 3 more years. And he is 32 now.
I guess we have to wait for the other shoe to drop. Right now Magic are probably looking at
C Howard
PF Lewis
SF Pietrus
sG Carter
PG Nelson
Bench
C/PF Ryan Anderson
PG Grandpa Johnson?
SG Reddick?
Where is the bench? Is Spanish Guy(tm) coming? Gortat or Turk resigning? Where is the bench!
The summer sure isn't boring anymore! That was quick.
At 8:40 PM,
WeRDevos said…
And I had a great time with my Cleveland friends/customers. It was nice that they had to buy. None of them firmly believes Lebron will stay. It sounds like he will not sign an extension with Cleveland this summer.
They like getting Shaq, but still sound like they are ready to bail on the NBA next summer when Lebron leaves.
At 8:46 PM,
WeRDevos said…
Wow, what a night for Courtney Lee. NJ just drafted a SG with the 11th pick. Lee may go from starting in the Finals to a backup for NJ who missed the playoffs.
That would suck.
At 10:30 PM,
Matt said…
This is a judgment call meaning that Magic brass think that they are ready for the championship run. But also presents short-sightedness because they have not addressed their front-line now getting weaker by not being able to resign Gortat, assuming that Battie and Anderson trade is a wash. In summary:
1 - By losing Hedo their ability to play small ball is going to diminish, and SF position will become thinner.
2 - They still have not addressed the PF hole. In my view, with a decent starting PF Magic could have taken a shot at championship; an all-star SG while holes at PF and SF are being more defined would not help, as I see it.
At 11:08 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Vince Carter's stats for last season:
80 games; 20.8 PPG; 43.7% FG shooting; 38.5% 3 PT FG shooting; 81.7% FT shooting; 5.1 rebounds; 4.7 assists; 2.1 turnovers
Carter will turn 33 next January and will earn $16,300,000 next season; $17,300,000 in 2010-11; and a team option for $18,000,000 in 2011-12.
PF Ryan Anderson's stats:
66 games (30 starts); 7.4 ppg; 39.3% FG shooting; 36.5% 3 PT FG shooting; 84.5% FT shooting; 4.7 rebounds
Anderson turned 21 in May and will make $1,317,120 next season with a team option for the following season.
With this trade, the Magic now have only eight players under contract for next season.
Battie, Alston, and Lee will make a combined $12.8 million for next season, while Carter and Anderson will make a combined total of $17.6 million, so the Magic are taking on an additional $4.8 million in salary.
Obviously the Magic aren't done, as they need additional help at PF and SF, as you guys mentioned.
It'll be interesting to see how much the Magic will go over the salary cap and into the luxury tax to fill out their roster.
At 12:14 AM,
Ken said…
Wow! I sure didn't see this one coming.
At first, when i heard CLee was included i didn't like the sound of it. But you got to give up something to get something and I think this shows the Magic are serious about winning Now. I really hope VC has two great years left in him and "coming home" will ignite him being on a championship contending team. And you can't argue with VC's showmanship. He will get the crowd excited and make this team fun to watch.
I love Hedo, but if he goes, which it sounds like will happen, I won't miss his up/down shooting streaks and his extended slumps/mystery illness' that took place every season.
I honestly never heard of Ryan Anderson until today, but his numbers look good and he has got some size to him.
This does leave our bench rather sparse though. Be interesting to see what Otis comes up with about that... Here is a link to what they are saying in NJ about the trade. Sounds like the fans aren't to happy about seeing Vince go..
http://www.nj.com/nets/index.ssf/2009/06/nj_nets_nets_agree_to_move_car.html
At 3:15 PM,
Big Figure said…
Espn's chris broussard has reported on outside the lines that hedo turned down the offer made by otis smith before he announced that he was opting out. Hedo stated that he wouldve stayed for the money that VC is now going to get,but the magic dont want to pay those kinda dollars for such a long contract. VC probably plays two years and opts out if he doesnt win a championship so we'll only be paying him for those two rather than signing hedo for 5 or 6 years at those kinda dollars. And to be honest hedo isnt worth VC money. VC is an all-star bottom line,he gets to the free-throw line as well as being able to create his own shot without the benefit of a pick-and-roll. 4 all-stars in the magic starting five just gave us the best starting team in the east by far.
At 3:18 PM,
Big Figure said…
The magic need to find a way to re-sign gortat though which may be tough. Hedo thanks for all the memories,watching you play has been a pleasure!
At 3:22 PM,
Big Figure said…
Not sure if you guys remember a game a year ago when the magic traveled to new jersey and VC had his way with hedo and anybody we put on him,the man was absolutely unstoppable that night. We were throwing whole defensive gameplan's at him and he still got 40 i beleive,can you imagine with dwight now drawing doubles for VC he can go one-on-one most of the time,WOW I CANT WAIT!!!
At 4:49 PM,
Matt said…
Was that statement of going over the salary cap conditional to only re-signing Hedo? As it stands, Magic needs to re-sign Gortat, or their frontline will be so thin that adding Vince cannot offset it. That means that they have to go over not only for re-signing him but also signing a decent backup at SF. Other than that Magic is done for the summer. The best scenario would be to come up with a creative sign and trade for Hedo to fill back ups for PF/C and SF positions.
At 2:25 AM,
OVERWADED said…
First off, I'm a fan of this trade. I think is shows the Magic are committed to winning a championship now, rather than later.
Also, I think this trade works for the present, and future. Carter's contract is only for 2 more seasons. The 3rd season is a team option. So we have a 2 year span to see how it works with VC, and then we'll have some flexibility.
WeRDevos pretty much summed up my feeling with his +/- summary. And while it's tough to see Lee go, you can't pass on a chance to add a Vince Carter.
"Was that statement of going over the salary cap conditional to only re-signing Hedo?"
Obviously not. The franchise has already said they are willing to pay the luxury tax, and this move only further proves that; especially considering they have a roster fill out.
While resigning Turk would qualify, I don't believe we need another small forward. I do believe we need to sure up our front court, but that doesn't mean we need another small forward. Word is the Magic are going to be shopping for a power forward. The names I've heard more than once are MyDyess, Sheed, and Bass. Adding one of these players would allow Shard to slide back to his natural position, and use Pietrus as a backup.
If the Magic can manage to resign Gortat and sign a veteran power forward, the summer would be a success.
So while I think the Magic have made their "biggest move" of this off season, I think the rest of the summer will be very interesting to watch because Otis still has a roster to fill out.
At 11:11 AM,
Matt said…
After reading OVERWADED's post, I would like to retract my earlier post on necessity of signing a back up in SF position. If Magic fills up the PF starting position - or back up, whatever the case may be - and move Rashard to SF, they could use MP as the back up in SF. From a numbers standpoint, in the trade with NJ they added just about 4 mil to the total salary, and as such just about 2.5 mil is left from Hedo's current salary if they let him go. Therefore, based on current salary structure they have roughly 2.5 mil to sign a PF and Gortat. Considering that Gortat may get 5.5 mil, that would leave the Magic with a negative of 3 mil with about 10 mil to spend on the starting PF at the level that OVERWADED mentioned. Is Magic brass willing to go 13 mil over current salary total, thus giving Otis Smith the nod to go for it? I am not certain that they are.
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