Article: $10 Million For Five Players?

[Howard Mass]

I just finished a piece on Free Agency for The Magic.

It explains how tight this team is up against the luxury tax and what effects it will have this offseason.

Let me know if you have any questions/comments and enjoy.

http://magic.realgm.com/articles/64/200 ... e_players/

[DMannOC]

Great read!

[silent4418]

All the more reason for us to have gone after a second rounder or two, yeah?

[lovehoops01]

That's a good question.

Howard, if the Magic had purchased a second-round pick, would the price they paid for the pick (not the players' contract) have counted against their LLE or MLE or something like that?

I don't know that the Magic will get much of a big man for half the MLE. That's not much.

So, if you're figuring the luxury tax will be about $70 million, that would be just a little more than $2 million more than last season.

They might be able to create a little more space if they traded Brian Cook. His contract alone is worth $3.5 million. If for some reason, they didn't end up re-signing Augustine, that could be about $4.2 million more. Of course, they also would have two more roster spots (or maybe only one if they got a player back for Cook). If they don't do anything, I figured the total now at just shy of $59 million, counting Courtney Lee's rookie contract.

[DMannOC]

All the more reason for us to have gone after a second rounder or two, yeah?

Hakuna Matata

[Devin 1L]

That's a good question.

Howard, if the Magic had purchased a second-round pick, would the price they paid for the pick (not the players' contract) have counted against their LLE or MLE or something like that?

I don't know that the Magic will get much of a big man for half the MLE. That's not much.

So, if you're figuring the luxury tax will be about $70 million, that would be just a little more than $2 million more than last season.

They might be able to create a little more space if they traded Brian Cook. His contract alone is worth $3.5 million. If for some reason, they didn't end up re-signing Augustine, that could be about $4.2 million more. Of course, they also would have two more roster spots (or maybe only one if they got a player back for Cook). If they don't do anything, I figured the total now at just shy of $59 million, counting Courtney Lee's rookie contract.

No.

[drsd]

Are the Magic are willing to exceed the NBA’s luxury tax?

Mr. Amway has opened the wallet when it matters. THe Magic are on the cusp of greatness and the best way to fill seat in the new arena, and attract marketing options for the Magic, is to win ball games. So, for the right collection of FA signees, one must answer the question as: Yes.

Under Contract (10 players)

Of course any of the ten Magicians could be traded which has obvious knock-ons to your math.

Keith Bogans also has a player option but is not expected to opt out of his contract.

Marcin Gorcat’s contract for next season is not fully guaranteed. He is expected to be back and after July, his contract will become completely guaranteed.

As today is July 1st, it looks to be ten.

James Augustine is a restricted free agent. The Magic can match any offer he receives. It is unlikely he will return though.

Augustine was tendered a qualifying offer. If he signs that deal, he's a Magician. Full stop.

Orlando is going to curb their spending to fill out their roster They are going to have to find players who can fit their system at lower costs to stay under the luxury and have enough for the $4-6 million bump in Hedo Turkoglu’s salary for next season when he will opt out and sign a new deal.

Bogans and Redick expire during this time frame, and that's the 4-5 M bump.



Nice story!

[MagicFan32]

more proof that giving Lewis that extra 30 million dollars was stupid.

[lovehoops01]

The amount of Rashard's contract grows by the day when people are talking about him.

Regarding the luxury tax.....if you believe the Sentinel, no. The Magic do not want to pay luxury tax.

And when they move into the new building, they might consider it to add to the excitement (then again, they might think the excitement of the new building is enough), but I would guess they would wait until the summer before the new building opens, which won't be until at least 2010.

[crazytown]

1st off, great read man.

Personally, I'd prefer if we dump J.J and Cook and then go from there. Maybe sign Dooling and Maggette.

[The Effect]

Is Hedo at the 2 REALLY an option they are looking at?

[craig01]

Good article.

The Magic will have some tough $$$$$$ decisions to make.

Let's hope that "penny pinching" is just a rumor.

[spinedoc]

Not bad Howard, but we shouldn't feel like we are so locked into that scenario. We have some maneuverability here. We all know that JJ is wasted money at this point and Bogans is an attractive expiring contract. Cook is also expendable with his 3.5M. He was serviceable for a time, but he clearly doesn't put the power in pf that we need. Teams like GS and LA would be stupid not to take any of these guys in a sign and trade for Pietrus or Maggette knowing that these two will eventually have to take the mle from someone. With only two to three teams able to spend more, and the available free agents higher on the food chain, its almost a given that they will end up playing for that amount. Also as the mle contracts dry up, there will be more good bargains to be had for short term minimum contracts to fill our roster. Its not so cut and dry imo, and if Otis shows just a little creativity, we can get something done beyond simply resigning our own mediocre free agents. If we are that tight on funds, I hope we just let Evans and Dooling walk.

[maginno]

Nice balanced read. I agree that JJ has got to go but see no scenario under which LA would be sane to take our 2 guard scrubs for Maggette. He's a 20+ player so you have to think someone is going to make a better offer in a sign and trade. Magette wants to make his move now to get the last big contract of his career and I'd be shocked if he is even considering an MLE. Pietrus? Maybe.

I'm in two minds about the luxury cap and the Magic. You would think that a team that throws a 118 million dollar contract to the likes of Rashard would be willing to go over the salary cap but the second round draft fiasco sems to say otherwise. If money was no consideration then it would be hard to calculate why we didn't take a pick.

[Magicalltheway]

Are the Magic are willing to exceed the NBA’s luxury tax?

second are should be deleted.

The later will likely be filled by a training camp invite

I think you mean the latter.

full MLE so he is off the arket for Orlando

market.

Sorry, couldn't help it. Very nice read, you pointed out the important issues.

[eyriq]

Good article though it reads a little choppy. Maybe some editing?

Getting Pietrus for half the MLE would be a steal, and if Corey is available for the full MLE than they have to bite. They can have him on the books for the full MLE and re-sign Hedo next year, though they'd be in the luxury for a season until Battie comes off the following year. I guess the main problem with that is it locks Lewis into the 4 spot longterm. If they don't go after a 2 with the full MLE than that is why, unless they don't think Hedo can play the 2, in which case he's gone.

I'm pretty sure Augie will be back now that we tendered him an offer. I'm seeing that as the reason we didn't grab another pick, at least once Dorsey was off the board I guess they thought Augie was better than what was out there.

Dooling is a must, but for the rest of our free agents, bye bye.

[Versubio]

Good article though it reads a little choppy. Maybe some editing?

Getting Pietrus for half the MLE would be a steal, and if Corey is available for the full MLE than they have to bite. They can have him on the books for the full MLE and re-sign Hedo next year, though they'd be in the luxury for a season until Battie comes off the following year. I guess the main problem with that is it locks Lewis into the 4 spot longterm. If they don't go after a 2 with the full MLE than that is why, unless they don't think Hedo can play the 2, in which case he's gone.

I'm pretty sure Augie will be back now that we tendered him an offer. I'm seeing that as the reason we didn't grab another pick, at least once Dorsey was off the board I guess they thought Augie was better than what was out there.

Dooling is a must, but for the rest of our free agents, bye bye.

We can do much better than Dooling. He's horrible at PG.

[Just Plain Mark]

Thanks for putting this info together, I'd say the biggest area of misunderstanding for me is cap stuff.

This info just reinforces my belief and echoes what was mentioned earlier about a 2nd round pick. I don't believe that every 2nd round pick can save a franchise, but given the relatively low risk and the tight financial constraints, and the failure to capitalize on the draft in recent years, the Magic have to be more aggressive with the draft IMO.

I am a huge fan of Lee though, and I wonder how prudent it is to spend money on a guy like Pietrus who hardly seems like an improvement over Lee, Bogans or Evans. Also, given the frontcourt situation and the general rule that bigs cost more, it seems that the Magic should focus on the frontcourt and see how Lee pans out before making a move for another SG.

I'd also be reluctant to commit more money to Dooling than he earned on this previous contract. All the good playoff teams use very cheap backups for PG, and even though they have better starting PG's than Orlando, to me it won't make that much difference to sign Dooling or to sign somebody else, as long as the contract is good.

[UCFJayBird]

people complaining about "penny pinching" need to take a step back and realize how much the organization is spending on the Arena. IMO, it's understandable why they'd not want to go over the luxury tax, because essentially every dollar over that threshold counts double.

But after giving Rashard that much money I can understand people complaining about not spending on other FAs. I just wish people would stop bringing it up every day. Can't we just get past it and accept the fact he got overpaid and move on?

If the Magic can get Maggette with the MLE, awesome, then resign Dooling and trade JJ Redick for a big, or sign a big with the LLE, though I'd prefer to use that on a player like Duhon or Pennargo.

If Maggs won't come for the MLE (the more likely scenario), still resign Dooling, try and split the MLE among a big and a wing like Francisco Elson and Chris Duhon (may demand more than the LLE), use the LLE on another player, wing or big.

[Cammo101]

Very nice article, but i kind of disagree with the Maggette stuff. The article makes it sound like resigning Dooling and/or Evans is more important than signing Maggette. While i like both Dooling and Evans, if we can get Mags for the MLE we have to do it. Neither Dooling or Evans are irreplaceable. I would gladly sign 2 players for the vet minimum if we can grab Maggette. If Boston taught us anything last year it is that if you build a contender, role player will show up and play for cheap.