2yr, $3m - a fair deal. Expected to compete for the starting point guard job with Reece Gaines. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...803,0,6975769.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines
Orlando has been doing good in the free agent market. Juwan Howard and Tyronn Lue...both good players. T-Mac must be delighted to be getting help.
Good signing. Takes good care of the ball, EXTREMELY quick, and a very pesky defender. mfclark- Is Armstrong perhaps available yet?
NIKEstrad - maybe, but the Magic historically carry 3 PGs and would like to be able to play Gaines at SG some. Then again, with Giricek moving to the bench...who knows. There's a lot of depth on the squad now. The holdup is the contract. Armstrong wants 3yr, $12m. The Magic don't want to give him but 2yr and fewer cash. Something's going to give...probably within the next week. Edit: the article was updated with new information specifically relating to Armstrong after I posted it. The Magic still appear to be interested in Armstrong, but it's moreso the years instead of the money - the Magic seem to be big on 2 year deals of late, but Armstrong wants 3-4 years. He's supposedly looking for at least half of the MCE to start off. Also, Reece Gaines has signed, Andrew DeClercq will re-sign next week (and be the starting center, allowing Howard to play SF and Gooden to play PF in a big starting 5), and 2nd rounders Keith Bogans and Zaza Pachulia (two of the stars of the Orlando summer league) will potentially both be signed next week. Plus, there were reports in the Boston and Orlando papers that the Magic may be able to sign Walter McCarty, though it looks less likely without the Hill medical exception. Not to mention the reports from the Magic themselves that had they received the exception, it's likely they would've introduced not only Howard but Olowokandi on Wednesday. It just feels strange to have depth on the roster. OK, that's all of the Magic stuff I've got
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...cdarrell072003,0,3787536.story?coll=orl-magic Atlanta and Washington are the front-runners, having shown interest in Darrell. New Orleans has also offered him a deal to back up Baron Davis at the $1.5m veteran's exception.
A couple of quick questions for you mfclark: I really like the moves the Magic have made this offseason, with the addition of Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, and especially Reece Gaines. That being said: 1) Do you think it's Gaines's job to lose (starting PG)? Will they put faith in the rookie or will they let him win the job from Lue? I think Lue is a decent PG, but Gaines has a great amount of potential, especially playing next to T-Mac. Either way, I see him starting after the All-Star break, at latest. 2) With the addition of Juwan Howard, the Magic look like a real contender in the East. However, where does that leave Drew Gooden? Will he be forced to play the 3 slot (wasn't that the reason he wanted out of Memphis, so he could play his natural 4?) I've seen this lineup proposed: PG- Gaines SG- Giricek SF- T-Mac PF- Gooden C- Howard as well as PG- Gaines SG- T-Mac SF- Gooden PF- Howard C- Kemp/Hunter What is your take on this?
tierre_brown... Hopefully this will help - 1) Nah, it's Lue's job to lose, but I won't go so far as to say that if Gaines has a stellar training camp, he wouldn't get the job. Lue's the starter just because of experience, but they do want to eventually phase Gaines into the starting role. How fast that comes depends on his play. 2) No, Howard will play the three position. The Magic's projected starting 5 is as follows: PG - Lue SG - McGrady SF - Howard PF - Gooden C - DeClercq With Gaines, Bogans, Giricek, Garrity, and Pachulia the projected backups at the five positions respectively. The Magic have some frontcourt depth, but most of it is at power forward. With respect to Gooden - he'll play moreso in the post because that is his strong suit. Howard's more of a player to score from 15' out facing the basket, so that shouldn't impede Gooden. If anything, Gooden should be able to learn from Howard...their styles of play are very similar and I've only heard glowing reports about how Howard tutored Nene in Denver last year. DeClercq's only the starter because the Magic prefer Giricek off of the bench. I don't know why, but that's the case. The Magic will often go small with Howard and Gooden in the frontcourt, however...or they could go really big if Pachulia can play half as well as he did in the summer league. I'm really not sure. To tell the truth, the Magic have more depth - despite not re-signing Armstrong - than anytime in the past 4+ seasons. If they don't contend for the East, then something is up...and I think it's Doc Rivers. Despite McGrady, I'm not sold on Rivers' ability as a playcaller. His playbook is very simple, though he has had to reinvent it on the fly the past three years with Hill in and out of the lineup. But, if the team does not perform this year, I think Rivers is out, I really do. Ok, enough rambling on my part about the Magic.
