Orlando Magic: Time To Make Moves

After the Orlando Magic set franchise records for fewest points and lowest shooting percentage in a game against Boston Monday night, and blew a 27 point 3rd quarter lead to the Celtics on Thursday, the Magic came out and made a statement against the Hornets tonight.


This team has no chance of winning the NBA Championship this year.


The Magic raised the bar of expectation when they made it to the NBA Finals in 2009. Just making the playoffs isn't good enough for Magic fans anymore and it isn’t good enough for Dwight Howard either. Since the Magic say they're not trading Howard because they think they can convince him to stay, it’s time to start making moves.

If the Magic have any shot of convincing Dwight to stay in Orlando they’re going to have to bring in another star in the offseason. The problem is, the way their roster is currently constructed they don’t have enough cap room to bring in any free agents or resign their 2nd best player Ryan Anderson.

So it’s time to make some moves. 1st move: Trade Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu to Cleveland for Antawn Jamison and his expiring contract. The salaries work out in the trade machine and it would benefit both teams.

It would give the Cavs 2 veteran starters to go with an emerging star in Kyrie Irving and talented fellow rookie Tristan Thompson.

The Magic would get rid of Turkoglu’s contract and don’t need Jason Richardson. JJ Reddick is a better basketball player (17.2 PER compared to J-Rich’s 11.1) and they should have never resigned Richardson in the first place. It was Otis Smith's second "I'm gonna fuck the Magic over by signing this guy because I liked him when I was in Golden State 10 years ago" move after trading for Gilbert Arenas.

Most importantly though, Orlando would clear up $16 million in cap room. That would allow them to resign Anderson. Then they would only be a few Twitter death threats away from Jameer Nelson declining his $7.8M player option and having the cap space to take a run at Deron Williams, Eric Gordon, Steve Nash or even Gerald Wallace.

I’ll admit that Williams is a long shot. He’ll probably end up in his home town of Dallas with the Mavericks but with a little D-Wade style recruiting from Howard you never know. Gordon would also be tough to land because he’s a restricted FA. So even if the Magic offer him a max deal New Orleans has the option to match it.

Nash is the most realistic option. He's still got a few solid years left in his back and him running pick-n-rolls with Howard and pick-n-pops with Anderson would be a lethal combination.


Since this whole scenario is just an optimistic hypothetical, a little creative maneuvering could land the Magic Nash and Wallace.

Howard, Nash, Wallace, Reddick and Anderson is a squad that could hang with any team in the NBA (although 3 white . Plus when Nash retires in a couple years it will be just in time for the Magic to take a swing at John Wall, StephCurry, Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans or Eric Bledsoe.

This is all just wishful thinking but none of it is possible if Otis Smith doesn’t clear some cap space and Howard walks. So make it happen Otis, you’re on thin ice as it is.