Magic free-agent recruiting carrot: A championship ride
The Magic will break the bank (going into the luxury tax) to sign players, but the price is costly. With little to spend and more players to sign, they must rely on an age-old recruiting tool to attract free agents.
Sell 'em on the parade.
"We're a pretty attractive place," GM Otis Smith said.
The Magic can offer free agents more motivation than money after making it to the Finals last season.
While most players will take the money, there are those older veterans who haven't played on a contender or who want another title shot.
The Magic probably will try to sell this to players such as Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Grant Hill, Joe Smith, Drew Gooden and Eddie House, to name a few.
And, of course, Hedo Turkoglu.
Turk will officially become a free agent a stroke past midnight tonight after opting out of his contract.
He turned down the Magic's initial contract offer. A figure of four years, $36 million is being bandied about by Magic sources, but it's a figure the Turkoglu camp disputes.
Whatever. Hard to tell who's telling the truth and who's playing poker in these things.
The fact is that Turk, 30, is looking for his last big deal in a tough economy and marketplace. He's probably played his last game with the Magic, who likely took themselves out of the bidding for him by signing Vince Carter.
Turk's camp is still willing to talk, and Smith said he'll reach out to Turk soon after the free-agency period begins.
The Magic will have to dig deep into the luxury tax to afford him. There's no other option, really.
Of course, unless owner Rich DeVos just adopts him and puts him in the family will. BSchmitz.
posted by Big Figure @ 10:37 PM
14 Comments:
At 10:45 PM,
Big Figure said…
Wow. Alot of vets out there. We can fill out the roster for pennies with experienced vets if need be so i'm not so worried about players 10-12. As long as otis puts together 9 solid players and they can stay relatively healthy for the season and the play-offs i like our chances to beat the lakers next year in the finals. Grant hill anybody? 10-15 minutes off the bench couldnt hurt right?...LOL. The magic are seriously considering rasheed wallace also as reported today by chris broussard.
At 5:16 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
According to cbssports.com, Portland immediately contacted Hedo Turkoglu at 12:01 AM when the free agency period started this morning, and are trying to lure him with a $50 million deal to sign with them.
Very smart of Turk to opt out of his contract with the Magic. Instead of making $7.3 million next season if he had stayed with the Magic, he will make at least $10 million for the next 4-5 years with whatever team he signs with, and it looks like it will be the Trailblazers.
The Magic will only see Turk twice a season if he does sign with Portland.
Also, according to cbssports.com, Houston is making a big play for Marcin Gortat (who's a restricted free agent) now that Yao Ming's future is in doubt.
Rockets' GM Daryl Morey has announced he will meet with Gortat, and has urged Rockets' fans to send an email to rocketsfanslovegortat@gmail.com to help in the recruiting efforts.
I'd like to see the Magic match whatever Houston offers him.
Big Figure, I like your optimism in you saying that you like the Magic's chances to beat the Lakers next year in the Finals, as long as Otis Smith puts together 9 solid players (which I'm sure he will).
Remember though, Boston and Cleveland will be tougher next season, and the Magic (who I think are still going to be better than the Cavs or Celtics) will have to get past them and win the East first before worrying about the Finals.
Nothing is guaranteed for any team, including the Magic.
You also mentioned about Grant Hill, that 10-15 minutes off the bench with the Magic couldn't hurt... try and convince WeRDevos about that!
At 9:50 AM,
Phil said…
How do you expect to be back in the finals next year? by signing a washed up Vince Carter and getting rid of your best clutch shooter? thats a joke.
Cleveland gets the real superman and Boston just needs to stay healthy.
If that happens the Magic will be the 3rd best team in the East, which is nothing new to this team as they were the 2nd best in the east this past season. ( Just got hot at the right time to beat Cleveland, but not a better team ).
At 4:07 PM,
Anonymous said…
Celtics get Artest...follow the link from Broussards page on ESPN Insider, the deal should be announced early next week he is reporting. Wow looks like the C's just pushed to front of the Eastern conference as the Cavs got older w/Shaq and The Magic got older with Vinsanity.
At 4:22 PM,
Big Figure said…
Your entitled to your opinion,but i dont agree. Boston and cleveland both now have to guard vince,call him washed up all you want but the numbers prove otherwise. The magic have four all stars in the line-up which all four can shoot the three how and the world do you expect cleveland or boston to match up with the magic? Vince and paul is a wash,and lebron may be better than vince but lebron has no help in the scoring column (he cant score every point for cleveland) and please dont give me old ass shaq as going to help score points. The magic still trump both of those teams because jameer will win the PG battle over rondo and williams because he's clutch,bottom line. williams is too streaky and rondo cant shoot. And rashard at the end of the day will win the PF battle over whoever cleveland or boston puts out there because he's a match-up nightmare at PF. Vince and dwight to boot,thats just too much for both of those teams to have to score with. Plus without hedo the magic will be alot tougher,will get to the free-throw line more with the addition of vince and wont shoot as many jumpers having a guy who can create his own shot. Vince will make the magic a team that puts more offensive pressure on a defense by drawing fouls on opposing big-men which will in turn help dwight,boy i cant wait. Bring on the celtics,we're head and shoulders better than cleveland. Magic should be seeded #1 in the east and in my opinion they are. There's no guarantee garnett will ever be the same,he's old and his knee's are going. And lebron will be gone in a year because old ass shaq is gonna slow that team down to a snails pace and they already play too slow.
At 10:57 PM,
Matt said…
I have aired my views earlier on this trade. Adding Vince is definitely an upgrade in SG position, and will improve our offensive output with a guard who could create his own shots although I am not sure that VC is an effective defender or ever was known for his defensive prowess. Saying that he could guard the types of Kobe is a stretch. Now if Rashard moves to SF position, we will have an upgrade in that position, as well in which case we just need to find a decent starter at PF position. Would that Magic team be better than the current team? I tend to think so, but not by far. If we lure a PF at the quality level of Rasheed Wallace then we can say that we are at the top of the East. In any event, we will still be better than CLE (despite Shaq's presence), but with KG coming back and probably Artest's signing, I am not certain that we will be better than BOS except if we are able to sign a quality level PF in addition to re-signing Gortat.
On the flip side Vince Carter's trade just about destroyed any chance of re-signing Hedo, and diminished opportunities of upgrading the PF position. In my view, even if we come out of the East we cannot beat Lakers with Rashard at PF, as dominant as Gasol and Odom have been throughout the finals.
At 9:11 AM,
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
At 9:14 AM,
Kobe24MVP said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
At 1:04 PM,
steveDwriter said…
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/210323-warming-up-to-the-vince-carter-trade
great article on the vince carter trade
At 4:46 PM,
Big Figure said…
Im already of the opinion that we're gonna slide rashard over to the three and aquire a starting PF. We will still be able to play small ball by putting MP in the line-up and moving rashard over to the PF. I personally think we should go after antonio mcdyess to start next to dwight,he gives alot of what we're missing to the PF position. He can shoot from the outside,but most important will scrap and he hustle's for offensive rebounds which is exactly what we need in the line-up.
At 4:52 PM,
Big Figure said…
PF's out there. Drew gooden,brandon bass,paul millsap,chris wilcox,rasheed wallace,antonio mcdyess,joe smith.
At 2:56 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
So much for the rumors that Ron Artest may sign with Cleveland or Boston and that Trevor Ariza might sign with Cleveland.
Artest is going to sign with the Lakers and Ariza with the Rockets. With the Artest signing, on paper, the Lakers are going to be awesome.
I watched Shaquille O'Neal's first press conference Thursday with the Cavs... if only he could still play as well as he can crack jokes, the Cavs would be the favorite to win it all next year.
Shaq said that the Cavs aren't going to double anyone anymore now that he's there... can't wait to see D12 dominate with Shaq single-covering him.
At 2:58 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Hopefully the Magic can get a decent PF with the mid-level exception.
At 5:33 PM,
Matt said…
I meant a starting quality PF.
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