Orlando Magic: Better Safe than Sorry?
You know that old saying, “it’s better to be safe than sorry”. While I know there is a lot of wisdom behind those words, it doesn’t always hold true. This really can be the case in a competitive environment like the NBA. And after the Draft Thursday night, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a philosophy Magic GM Otis Smith lives by….or at least does business by.
Now I’m not saying I’m disappointed in the Magic selecting Courtney Lee. I really like the pick and I’m interested to see how he’ll fit in. Granted, it was far too predictable, even with some of the players that slipped, and if Lee doesn’t eventually start, the pick is a failure. But that’s the decision they made, and I understand why. What I don’t understand is why that is the only thing that happened for the Orlando Magic on Draft night?
The question: How easy would it have been to just buy a second-round pick?
The answer: Pretty easy.
The reason I’m disappointed is that there were some quality players with plenty of potential that went in the second round. Florida Today’s John Denton asked the Magic why they didn’t get a second-rounder. Someone in the war room responded by saying “the cost was deemed to high to buy a second round pick”.
Do you know what that cost was? It was reported that teams wanted $200,000 to buy into the top half of the second-round and $150,000 for a late second-round selection.
That’s all?
Don’t get me wrong, I know $200,000 is a nice chunk of change, but not in the world of the NBA where they throw around cash in the way that a common man would pass on picking up a penny.
What makes this even harder for me to understand is that this is the same franchise that maxed out a nine-season one time all-star Rashard Lewis.
So again tell me why we didn’t buy a second-round pick?
It was known that the Magic were interested in D.J. White and Joey Dorsey. They ended up going 29 and 33, and that’s probably the best reason I can think of. But I would just like to imagine they made a strong effort to get an early second-round pick (#33 Dorsey, #34 Chalmers, #35 Jordan, #36 Asik, and #40 CDR). These are all players would have been a potential asset to the Orlando Magic, now, or in the future.
The risk was minimal. The potential was great. My only question is, why not roll the dice? It just doesn’t make sense to me.
My hope now falls onto the rest of the off-season. Will the Magic make a deal? I’m thinking no. More importantly, will they re-sign the right players? Will they make a splash in free agency?
The ball is in your court Otis Smith, what are you going to do with it?
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16 Responses to “Orlando Magic: Better Safe than Sorry?”
June 28th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Nice article and i agree with every word. This is one of those questionable moves by otis smith. Theres no risk in buying a second round pick and drafting any of the guys you mentioned, only reward. In fact, i think we should’ve tried to get TWO second round picks to draft Mario chalmers and Joey dorsey.
June 28th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
ill tell you what i think that spending 200 grand to nab dj white or joey dorsey
June 29th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Great job as always Damien.
Otis usually plays it safe and while it is usually good to do so, I wrote earlier this month that you have to gamble to win, you have to be aggressive (i.e Boston, L.A).
Orlando will almost 100% not make a trade, as you said. They wont overpay for one of their own free agents either. As far as a free agent, I am pretty sure that the MLE and Vet Exception will be used this off-season.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:04 am
By the way, not trading for a 2nd rounder with alll of the talent that was there is really one of the biggest head scratchers I have seen sense Fran probably.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
remember all the busts guards we recently picked in the draft jeryl sasser, reece gains, travis diener, and i can even go out on a limb and say reddick. remember back in the 90-91 season when good ol scott sciles had 30 assists in one game against the the warriors? will we ever have another player who can contribute like he did in 1990? i sure hope so, but with our recent draft history its making me start to wonder oabout out pick of courtney lee. when is the last time we drafted a guard in the first round and they actually contributed? anfernee hardaway maybee, or maybee even our very first overall pic nick anderson? go back and acually look at who we drafted since then and not to many names are recognizeable unless you are a magic fan
June 29th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
1989 nick andrerson 2004 jameer nelson
1990 dennis scott 2005 fran vasquez
1991 brian williams 2006 jj reddick
1991 stanley roberts 2007 courtney lee
1992 shaquille oneal
1993 anfernee hardaway
1994 borrks thompson
1995 david vaughn
1996 brian evans
1997 johnny taylor
1998 matt harpring
1998 mike doleac
1999 corey maggette
2000 mike miller
2001 steven hunter
2001 jeryl sasser
2002 ryan humphrey
2003 reece gains
2004 dwight howard
June 29th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
now i can count 7 out of the 22 draft pics that actually made a contribution to the team which hopefully you all no their names, but what does the rest 15 players have to say about our drafts selections? Brendon i feel an article coming on bro hook it up!!!!!
June 29th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
It was puzzling but the fact is it seems that Augie is better than what they could have picked (they tendered him an offer), and Fran may be closer to coming over than we think. After really looking into Lee I have to say I was wrong about him and I now think he was a great pick, even worth passing on those guys that I liked more at the time. More action would have been nice but at the same time I am not really that critical of the decision to stand pat either.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
i agree the more time i think about the pic i am starting to think that it was a smart decision.. he is a pretty good defender which van gundy loves, he isnt selfish which also gets in good with the coach, and he can shoot the ball like jeff said at the draft he loves a player that can shoot the midrange shot.. all in all i think they knew he was a van gundy kind of guy and drafted him because of that.. This pick was for jeff dont you agree?
June 30th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
i just read that sources close to the clippers are reporting that maggette might opt out of his deal with the clippers to except his MLE contract and sign a deal with the magic reportidley worth 40 million over a 5 year span. He will only get 5.8 million in his first year. what is that to say about lee? maggette has until today to opt out of LA. i figured if we drafted a SG he would start, now if we get maggette, who we drafted 9 years ago that puts lee behind him, and reddick never getting any playing time. Damien, Brendan whats the word on this deal anything yet?
June 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
i just also read that dwight howard is nursing a stress fracture in his sternum a result of the series against the pistons. he was held out of practice today at the USA team practice
June 30th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
i just read that dwight howard has a stress fracture in his sternum resultin in him to miss practice for the USA team today, it was reported that he recieved the injury during the detroit series, but it is not deemed too serious? we all hope so
June 30th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
posted twice sorry!
June 30th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Dean, it was all over the web and local papers. If we could land Maggette, that was sweet. I really think it would make us a contender.
It would pretty much mean that Evans would not be resigned. Redick would likely be traded.
Like I said before, I expect Bogans and Lee to be here next season regardless.
As many options as we had last season at the shooting guard position, and even with adding Lee; we don’t have a “sure thing” there. By adding Maggette we would have a sure thing.
Maggette has all but publicly stated he would like to comeback to Orlando. Otis Smith is a fool if he’s not preparing to try and find a way to get Corey on this team.
Downside: He was set to make 7 million next season, and at 28 might be looking for a big pay day.
Upside: He wants to win and wants to play here. Also, I really don’t think there are not a lot of teams that will or can pay him.
You also got to think, Maggette knows what the Magic have to work with. A sign and trade could always be worked, but Otis can’t turn water into wine. But because Maggette knows the situation, and he’s still stating he would like to come here, he might be willing to take less.
Landing a player like Corey Maggette on a team on the verge of contending for a championship is the type of move that will make the difference.
If he opts out, there is no excuse for Otis not to be calling him at 12:01.
June 30th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
If we could land Maggette that would instantly make us a contender. All of our positions would be set.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
but i dont think they can sign a player until july 9th or so, so we will have to wait and see. i would love to get rid of reddick, but keeping dooling as our backup PG is very important.. he is key and alot of teams are interested like miami, and i have heard new jersey likes him as well, so we will have to wait and see.
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