What could have been??

[mattyBoi]

Ok ill start this off by saying, that by no means am I trying to start up another bash Otis fume thread.

Ive already voiced my views on that subject in other threads.

This thread is simply in the interest of something interesting.

So what could have been this past summer?

What if we didnt use the full cap space all on Rashard?

Hindsight is wonderful but this is what couldve been...


Gerald Wallace, Mo Williams, Andrae Blatche, Grant Hill>>>>Rashard Lewis

What do you guys think?

What combination would have been best...Or was signing Rashard our best option?

[lovehoops01]

I don't believe Grant Hill was going to re-sign with the Magic. I believe he signed with Phoenix because he believes he has a shot at winning a title with the Suns this season and did not see that happening in Orlando this season. And he never knows when his career will be finished right now.

As far as the other guys go....Mo Williams is taking the Bucks a long way. Ditto for Andray Blatche with the Wizards. What position would he play for the Magic anyway? Is he any bigger than Rashard?

I have no idea whether Gerald Wallace had any interest at all in leaving Charlotte and playing in Orlando.

[mattyBoi]

Grant said publicly that he wanted to return to his natural position, and even had a verbal commitment to the magic at one point.

Mo Williams is an AWESOME point guard and it wouldve allowed us to either let Jameer go or sign him for cheap.

Blatche is a PF with huge potential.

And everyone knows we couldve had Wallace.

Anyways though, so you think signing Rashard was the best option?

[lovehoops01]

I am just saying that neither Mo Williams nor Andray Blatche has put their teams in position to win anything. Mo is playing with Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva, all guys coveted by some here on this board. For most of the season, Blatche has been playing with all-stars Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, who at least by reputation are more all-stars than the Magic have on their roster, and they do not have a better record right now. That is even without Arenas being there all season. Plus, Blatche still is only averaging 7.2 and 5.3 rebounds, even with Etan Thomas out all season. To me, Blatche wasn't on anyone's radar. The Wizards didn't even rush to re-sign him (and he was restricted anyway).

Gerald Wallace is a good player in his own right and I would have been OK with signing him. My main concern with him was he had a tendency to be kind of injury prone.

I heard Grant say all those things, but he didn't end up here, did he? And Hedo wasn't going anywhere so if the Magic were going to be any good, then one of the two of them was going to end up playing shooting guard. Gerald Wallace is a small forward, too. So you would've had the same problem with him.

The Magic are doing better this season with Rashard than we did last season with Grant -- though Van Gundy's style of coaching might have something to do with that, too. Did the Magic pay a lot for Rashard? Yes. Would they have been better if they had signed someone else instead? I don't know. At this point, I can't change it, and it could have been worse. Maybe they wouldn't have signed Rashard and Grant would have left for Phoenix and Gerald Wallace would have stayed in Charlotte.

[Cammo101]

Blatche can't even start for big man starved Washington. Grant Hill is like 1000 years old and just wanted to go to a contender. Mo Williams is an average PG who puts up hollow stats on bad teams. Gerald Wallace is a good player but not close to as good as Shard. I would not trade Shard for all 4 of these guys, not that it matters because there is no way we could have gotten them. It would not work financially.

[Illuminati]

Otis is doing an amazing job. What could have been?

You may have been able to sign Maurice Williams. I'm still happy with Shard as is.

[Cammo101]

Threads like this are why no one takes Matty seriously.

[mattyBoi]

Threads like this are why no one takes Matty seriously.

Haha i somehow knew either you or lovehoops would try to take a shot at me because of this thread.

I stated right at the beginning that i am not trying to bash otis with this thread, i am merely interested in the conversation.

This is all hindsight and i realize that.

Yet you try to turn it into something its not.

Back to the point...I think we ALL should know that Mo is better than Jameer yet the difference in their salaries in a couple mil.

My opinion is that this combination of Grant Hill return to his SF position, Blatche as a spark off the bench, Mo as a starter would be a better situation than Jameer and it would have allowed us to better evaluate Jameer's role with the team, and Gerald Wallace would have shored up the SG position.

Williams/Jameer/Arroyo
Wallace/Ariza
Hill/Turkaglu
Battie/Blatche
Howard/Foyle

IMO would have been a better team coming out of the offseason than the team that we ultimately had.

[TooNice00]

maybe i am wrong but we didn't even have enough money to sign all those players. thats at least 20 million dollars in signings. and to lure them from all their respective teams you would spend more. so this isn't even realistic.

[maginno]

I have no idea whether Gerald Wallace had any interest at all in leaving Charlotte and playing in Orlando.

He was scheduled for a meeting with the magic a few days after We maxed out on Rashard so he had some interest. Wallace and Kapono would have been good if not great given the extra defense Gerald gives you,

However getting someone else is not even the greatest issue. IF you got Shard at a reasonable price you continue to have trade options. GM 101 tells you the only one you pay dollars in excess of being tradeable is to your franchise player or someone who is going to be the last piece to winning multiple championships. Shard is neither.

I said long ago that the cost of not having a tradeable player would be sitting down and watching others get better without having a shot at players that would become available. I was right faster than I thought and theres still years to go. What could have been? We could have signed Rashard to a price that would have left us open to keeping or trading for anyone of the players that were available or any of those that will become aailable over the next few years. Horrid move which is the consensus across the league

[maginno]

Haha i somehow knew either you or lovehoops would try to take a shot at me because of this thread.

You haven't seen anything yet. Observe.

[theTHIEF]

when was the last time you played a game of poker and had everything play out exactly the way you wanted or expected?

[maginno]

when was the last time you played a game of poker and had everything play out exactly the way you wanted or expected?

Given otis's track record I suggest he stop playing poker.

[theTHIEF]

oh zing...sike

it always amazes me how some people can read things and just take a small part of it to magnify...

how many NBA GM's do we have here on the site?

[KingRobb02]

I am just saying that neither Mo Williams nor Andray Blatche has put their teams in position to win anything. Mo is playing with Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva, all guys coveted by some here on this board. For most of the season, Blatche has been playing with all-stars Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, who at least by reputation are more all-stars than the Magic have on their roster, and they do not have a better record right now. That is even without Arenas being there all season. Plus, Blatche still is only averaging 7.2 and 5.3 rebounds, even with Etan Thomas out all season. To me, Blatche wasn't on anyone's radar. The Wizards didn't even rush to re-sign him (and he was restricted anyway).

Gerald Wallace is a good player in his own right and I would have been OK with signing him. My main concern with him was he had a tendency to be kind of injury prone.

I heard Grant say all those things, but he didn't end up here, did he? And Hedo wasn't going anywhere so if the Magic were going to be any good, then one of the two of them was going to end up playing shooting guard. Gerald Wallace is a small forward, too. So you would've had the same problem with him.

The Magic are doing better this season with Rashard than we did last season with Grant -- though Van Gundy's style of coaching might have something to do with that, too. Did the Magic pay a lot for Rashard? Yes. Would they have been better if they had signed someone else instead? I don't know. At this point, I can't change it, and it could have been worse. Maybe they wouldn't have signed Rashard and Grant would have left for Phoenix and Gerald Wallace would have stayed in Charlotte.

Mo williams is a quality starter at the point. If Miami had got him this summer, we would have been in trouble. Good thing we get to watch Chris Quinn suck it up for the rest of the year.

Blatche is a solid big man now, who can be great by the end of his deal. He has like 4 years after this one and he makes only $3 Million annually. The only reason he went so late, and at a discount, is because he got into some legal trouble right around they time they were attempting to close the deal. He is 6'11" 250 and has great timing on rebounding and blocks. the reason he doesn't play more is because Jamison is an All-Star and Haywood is having a great year. The guy was born in 1986. Getting him could have gave us a solid front line for the next decade if we played it right.

We probably wouldn't have been able to sign them both outright, but if we would have tried to sign and trade using guys like Nelson, Darko, Battie, Arroyo or Ariza as bait, maybe that would have enticed their tems to let them go.

[Jigish]

oh zing...sike

it always amazes me how some people can read things and just take a small part of it to magnify...

how many NBA GM's do we have here on the site?

/me died laughing......


As far as this Otis hate goes people just need to calm down. Last year we barely made the play off, this year we are looking to have home court advantage. The wheels are rolling, I am sure we will make some meaningful upgrades this summer. I doubt they paid Lewis his 100 million without thinking about the future. Even though we have no cap room, if teams like LA and New York won't hesitate to go over the cap, I'm sure we'll work something out. Winning makes you more marketable, the more marketable you are the more money you make. It's a catch-22 and I am sure the owners realize that, in other words, they will cop out the dough when the time comes.

[Devin 1L]

Threads like this are why no one takes Matty seriously.

Haha i somehow knew either you or lovehoops would try to take a shot at me because of this thread.

I stated right at the beginning that i am not trying to bash otis with this thread, i am merely interested in the conversation.

This is all hindsight and i realize that.

Yet you try to turn it into something its not.

Back to the point...I think we ALL should know that Mo is better than Jameer yet the difference in their salaries in a couple mil.

My opinion is that this combination of Grant Hill return to his SF position, Blatche as a spark off the bench, Mo as a starter would be a better situation than Jameer and it would have allowed us to better evaluate Jameer's role with the team, and Gerald Wallace would have shored up the SG position.

Williams/Jameer/Arroyo
Wallace/Ariza
Hill/Turkaglu
Battie/Blatche
Howard/Foyle

IMO would have been a better team coming out of the offseason than the team that we ultimately had.

It's pretty hard to take this seriously when 99% of your posts consist of bashing Otis.

[magicfanejc42]

cammo, I agreed with you up until Shard is better than Wallace, NO, and to be honest, if we had Wallace starting there would be NO such thing as bad defense on this team.... Because with Wallace we wouldn't have lost Ariza...

Nelson
Redick/Ariza
Wallace
Hedo
Dwight

That team has the three point threat the Lewis brings in Redick...Hedo's consistant game, and now a GREAT defender in Wallace and a good rebounder in either wallace or Ariza... I love Evans and Cook, do not get more wrong, But I still have alot of faith that Ariza turns int oa very good player. I mean he was showing signs of it unitl the injury bug hit LA....

Anyway, Wallace is a MUCH better player than shard all around..

20.9 pts 6.4 rebs 3.6 assists 2.2 stls 1.0 blk 39.7 mins

Lewis-18.3 pts 5.1 rebs 2.4 assists 1.1stl .5 blk 39.0 mins

Not to mention Lewis is 29 and Wallace is 25 turning 26 this year. On a MUCH smaller contract and getting better game by game... Just sayin'

[Cammo101]

cammo, I agreed with you up until Shard is better than Wallace, NO, and to be honest, if we had Wallace starting there would be NO such thing as bad defense on this team.... Because with Wallace we wouldn't have lost Ariza...

Nelson
Redick/Ariza
Wallace
Hedo
Dwight

That team has the three point threat the Lewis brings in Redick...Hedo's consistant game, and now a GREAT defender in Wallace and a good rebounder in either wallace or Ariza... I love Evans and Cook, do not get more wrong, But I still have alot of faith that Ariza turns int oa very good player. I mean he was showing signs of it unitl the injury bug hit LA....

Anyway, Wallace is a MUCH better player than shard all around..

20.9 pts 6.4 rebs 3.6 assists 2.2 stls 1.0 blk 39.7 mins

Lewis-18.3 pts 5.1 rebs 2.4 assists 1.1stl .5 blk 39.0 mins

Not to mention Lewis is 29 and Wallace is 25 turning 26 this year. On a MUCH smaller contract and getting better game by game... Just sayin'

Wallace is putting up those numbers on a terrible team. A terrible team he was supposed to put in the playoffs this year. Even if he is better than Shard (which I do not agree with), he certainly is not better for our team than Shard.

[MagicalMan]

oh what couldve been. Tmac and Dwight. Or man if we couldve landed Duncan and Tmac. Or if we held on to Billups and Big Ben.