The Orlando Magic almost rebuilt their team with two important trades completed almost at the same time.
The first trade was made with the Phoenix Suns: the Magic sent them guard Vince Carter, center Marcin Gortat, forward Mickael Pietrus, a 2011 first-round pick, and cash in exchange for guard Jason Richardson, forward Hedo Turkoglu, and guard Earl Clark.
The Magic got rid of Vince Carter, who has a big contract but for next season is only guaranteed for $4 million. Lately Mickael Pietrus had fallen out of favour with coach Stan Van Gundy so he got useful as a bargaining chip. Marcin Gortat was useful to come from the bench to replace Dwight Howard but he was sacrificed to have Hedo Turkoglu back: he had played very well for the Magic but did much worse with the Raptors and wasn’t able to do better with the Suns. Jason Richardson is a very well known guard who was scoring almost 20 points per game during this season.
The Phoenix Suns obviously hope they found players who can fit into their playing style better as the Turkoglu experiment failed. With Gortat they also find a big man under the basket.
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The second trade was made with the Washington Wizards: the Magic sent them forward Rashard Lewis in exchange for guard Gilbert Arenas.
This trade arrives almost one year after Arenas had a confrontation with his former teammate Javaris Crittenton that ended with the new Magic bringing a gun in the locker room. The incident led to a 50-games suspension for Arenas which, together with his injuries and his big contract, made him almost impossible to trade.
Magic general manager Otis Smith was a Golden State Warriors executive when Gilbert Arenas was a young player frustrated because he didn’t play and Smith was his mentor. This relationship is certainly the key to try and bring Arenas back to his top level and make him a fundamental player for his new team.
The Washington Wizards got rid of a player who had become a big baggage for them and in exchange received a great player such as Rashard Lewis.
The Orlando Magic decided to make big changes to try and be back to top level. After the NBA final played in 2009 the team couldn’t repeat and in the start of this season their level seemed lower than the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Coach Van Gundy commented the trades stating that now the team is a bit younger and a bit more athletic with some players who could put the ball on the floor and make play.
Certainly the Magic are taking a big risk but the season is still young and if they want to compete with the two big Eastern Conference rivals it was obvious that they needed to do something. I don’t know if these trades will be enough but I think that it’s worth a try!
