Magic play it safe, take Lee at 22
It was a surprise and it wasn’t. Going into the draft, all signs basically pointed to Orlando selecting Courtney Lee, the polished senior from Western Kentucky. When his name was called, I was happy with the 22nd overall pick but a little part of me was disappointed. Lee was a predictable selection for Orlando, but the pick didn’t dazzle, and maybe that is a good thing.
More notable, prominent players such as Kansas’ Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers, as well as young but raw bigs DeAndre Jordan and Kosta Kofous were available, but Orlando went with the guy they had their eye on to begin with.
The Magic have gambled in the past, most notably with Fran Vazquez three years. The 6’10” Spaniard still has yet to play an NBA game and he falls in line with recent gambles/busts in team history such as Steve Hunter, Reece Gaines, Jeryl Sasser and Curtis Borchardt (who turned in Ryan Humphries).
These gambles didn’t really pay off, so now the Magic take a guy who may not dazzle, but is virtually a sure thing. Lee is a pure shooter with experience and he can play solid defense. He basically is a can’t miss. He may never be an all-star, but Lee is a proven winner and leader, and is a good guy, which can take a guy a long way.
I will do a more in-depth profile about Lee in the coming week, but Orlando should be happy with Lee. The Magic needed shooting guard help, he fills that bill. The need a guy who can take players off the dribble, Lee can do that too. They wanted a guy who could fit in their system, well Lee shot 40% from behind the arc this past season. He’s not dazzling, but Lee fills a lot of holes for the Magic and he can contribute to a playoff team immediately…sounds good to me.
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19 Responses to “Magic play it safe, take Lee at 22”
June 26th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
well if he can shoot the rock and play some defense it is an immediate upgrade over mo evans.. now they need to make a splash in the free agent market and get a big body to throw down low
June 26th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
brendan you no what i just realized is that know one from uconn was drafted or even enetred as far as im concerned so that means everyone is coming back except for austrie realy i think we will be pretty good next year
June 26th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
well, i was dissapointed,honestly. i really wanted and expected the magic to draft darrell arthur. And after the magics selected Courtney Lee, i was sure the magic would trade for or buy a second round pick, but they didn’t. So all together i would give this Draft a C+, but hopefully in the future Courtney lee would make me forget all about darrell arthur.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
lets hope so magic92..trade just in kevin love and mike miller and others to minnesota and memphis gets oj mayo and antoine walker amongst others
June 27th, 2008 at 12:23 am
wow they are still doin trades, thats crazy. Hopefully orlando does something to land Michael beasley. i can dream cant i
June 27th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Brendan , do you know when the nba free agent period begins?
June 27th, 2008 at 12:37 am
lol magic92 i think they have a better chance of getting patric ewing to go out there and play yeah zero.. but i believe the free agent period start in a month or so around late july correct me if i am wrong brendan
June 27th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Hey guys,the dust has settled. First, Dorsey was traded to Houston, so that looks like it is out of reach.
You wanted Arthur Magic92? Just kidding, I know you did and I really wouldnt have mided him at all. What a crazy night it was for him, he was with four teams. I agree with the C+ grade because it wasnt a sexy pick it all, but it was safe. I honestly think Lee contributes right away and will be a well-rounded offensive scorer with solid defense.
Dean, I believe free-agency starts July 1st. Looking at what Orlando has done, I’d like them to re-sign either Doolnig or Evans, bring in a MLE with defensive teneacity (either a g/f or f/c) an an experienced PG (Jayson Williams or Anthony Carter).
I know UCONN didnt have any seniors at all, right? Thabeet was toying with leaving but he stayed and is a projected seventh overall pick right now for 2009. Dyson has improved a lot and I think if they show maturity then they will be a top 10 team, if not better
June 27th, 2008 at 9:29 am
yeah dyson stepped up after almost being kicked out!!! lol thabeet will be great. i htink jeff adrien was a senior but imnot sure.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:30 am
i saw that dorsey was traded to houston so yeah thats done so damien was right one and done
June 27th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
He was (Damien is very good). I guess Otis was content because the he seemed very confident at one time that Orlando would trade into the second. Perhaps he feels the big man situation can be resolved via free ageny, or trade
June 27th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
When can the magics actually start making trades, because i am interested in Udonis haslem. And yea what a night for darrel arthur, 4 teams in 6 hours, amazing.
June 27th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
lets hope so i just read that stromile swift is an unrestricted free agent i wouldnt mind him at all, but there is news about us taking jason williams? why he is old. i guess we can use a veteran PG and PF but i would love to see swift, or even posey. lets hope that tony battie comes off of his injury productive, because he would be a great help on defense
June 27th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
If we have learned anything about Otis, it’s that he always plays it safe.
I think I feel an article brewing…
June 27th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
A Haslem trade would be great, I doubt that Pat let’s that happen though.
I’d prefer Anthony Carter to Williams, but there seems like there could be interest on both sides.
Otis has gambled at weird times, such as signing Nelson to such a long extension considering he hadnt proved much, drafting Fran and paying more than what was necessary for rashard lewis.
Looking forward to the article Damien
June 27th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I think it depends on how you look those situations.
For me, the Nelson extension is the closet thing to a “gamble”. I actually think it was just more stupid than anything. There was no need to extend him then. Nelson wasn’t going to go from what he was, to Chris Paul in his contract year. And for whatever reason, Otis panicked. The good thing with Nelson is, even if he only gets as good as he is now, he is not really overpaid…maybe a little, but there are plenty of other guards out there that are making his salary, if not more and I would not say they are “better” than Jameer. TJ Ford is the first that comes to mind… But like I said, it depends on how you think about it. Otis paid Jameer what he thought he was worth. He had a figure that he wouldn’t go over, and he didn’t (supposedly). So maybe he did go the safe route, because he wanted to make sure Jameer was here. At least for Otis, in his mind, it was the safe route.
The situation with Lewis was very similar in the sense of “panic and overpaying”, except on a much larger scale. It was like he was playing poker against himself. After all, who else could have offered Lewis money even close to the amount we offered? I can tell you, nobody. So instead of Otis making a Lewis lower yet respectable offer, and “calling his bluff” to see if he could go out and find anything close to the max; Smith decided to play it safe and stupid, and offered ALL the money he possibly could, in turn, way overspending. He just didn’t want to gamble on not getting him, but it wasn’t a smart financial decision. But again, in his mind he was playing it safe, because he wanted to make sure to get Lewis.
As for Fran, he was projected in most mock drafts as a top-seven pick, but he surprisingly plummeted on draft night to the Magic at 11. He was considered one of the most NBA ready players in the entire draft. He was projected to be an immediate rotation player, and an eventual starter at power forward. So as for the type of player he was suppose to be, he was the safe bet on the court, ala Courtney Lee. The difference was the curve ball he threw at us after we drafted him. Blame either Fran for changing his mind, his girlfriend, the money the Euro team offered him, or Otis for being stupid and not making sure he was committed to playing in the NBA.
Hmm, common theme… Maybe Otis isn’t the brightest bulb in the box. I’ve always thought he had a good direction. He has a certain type of team he wants to build, and he gets that. But when it comes to making a decision in the smartest of ways, I’m always left thinking if the deal, contract, whatever the case, could have been better.
So I don’t know, I just think it depends on how you look it. But it seems Otis typically does do the easier safer way out.
Another example, both G Hill and Darko had plenty of value throughout the final year of their contracts. He acted like he wanted to resign both of them, but in the end made no effort to do so. It was just stupid. I get it that you use that money, ALL of it to get Lewis. But you got to take in account that you traded for Darko, and gave up a first-rounder. You don’t just let that walk for nothing. For that matter, the same goes for Hill after enduring his 7 years of hell. A better GM that isn’t afraid to make bold moves would have found a way to deal them before the trade deadline. Maybe you chance another player who isn’t happy on his current team? Maybe you get a player, some expiring contracts, or draft picks? Who knows? I just think that in one way or another, because both Darko and Hill had expiring contracts, and both could play, that it was just disappointing that we didn’t even have some draft picks to show for them after the fact.
I guess in the end, I think Otis has a good sense of direction in regards to what kind of winning basketball team he wants to put on the court. He just doesn’t always go about doing things in the smartest of ways, which at some point, could end up costing us.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:53 am
that is very true Damien, otis smith has made some retarded moves at times, especially the Darko Milicic and carlos arroyo trade. If we never gave that first round pick to Detroit we could have had Rodney stuckey on our team. But he also made wise moves to like signing dwight howard and getting SVG to coach the magics. So i think we have to give credit to otis smith for the good moves he made, not only the bad.
June 28th, 2008 at 1:19 am
I agree with you Magic92. I wrote an article early in the season giving nothing but praise to Otis, so I understand where you’re coming from. Like I said, I think he’s making the right moves for the most part, just not in the smartest of ways. Does that make sense?
Signing Howard was major, but it was also a no brainier. A total retard would have known: Howard great…max contract we must offer… Fortunately for us, Howard is a good kid, and doesn’t have the ego or “Hollywood aspirations” of a guy like Shaq. I know sometimes history repeats itself, but that is something this organization cannot ever handle…ever.
As for SVG, that was a great scramble move. I think Billy was the PR move, especially because we were still trying to get the new arena deal done. But I think SVG is the better coach. Remember too, I don’t think there was any convincing needed. Stan wanted to coach here; he made that known, so he could be in Florida and close to his family.
So while it was a great “recovery” after Billy Hoe bailed, I don’t think it was anything Otis did. Stan was like a woman waiting to be proposed to, all that happen to was for him to ask. The answer was already known. We were just lucky that he hadn’t signed with anyone else, although he was close with the Kings.
June 28th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I understand what you mean damien. otis has made smart moves and retarded moves. lets just hope from now on he makes the smart signings and gets at least good production from his draft picks.
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