<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It seems likely that Rashard Lewis will not accept the extension and will choose to opt out of his contract on July 1 and become an unrestricted free agent, according to Lewis? new agent, Tony Dutt. ?We?ll make a decision soon but we are leaning toward opting out,? said Dutt, whom Lewis hired over the All-Star break after parting ways with Kevin Poston. Sonics general manager Rick Sund declined to address Lewis?s contract, saying, ?I told Rashard from the beginning I would not discuss any negotiations I have had with him or his representatives.?</div> Source I think we should make a strong push for him this off-season. I like him more than Vince Carter and I think he would fit in with this team. I see him taking Hedo's place as our main three point thread which allows Turkoglu to become our sixth man again. I think we should start Trevor Ariza at shooting guard giving us a lineup of Jameer, Trevor, Rashard, Darko, and Dwight. Thoughts?
Yes, I'd love Rashard on this team. More than Vince at least. He's a tall SF with great shooting percentages, this year he's averaging 2.3 threes per game. He's been in the league 8 years too, so he can bring some veteran presence to this team. Plus he's 2 years younger than Vince. That'd be a sick lineup: PG - Jameer Nelson SG - Trevor Ariza SF - Rashard Lewis PF - Darko Milicic C - Dwight Howard
Uhhh, everybody in that lineup needs the ball to be effective except for Ariza (and Darko but he's a shoe-in), and you don't want somebody who can't shoot a jump shot as your starting SG. I want Rashard more than Vince, but he is still quite a gamble. I don't think he can create his own shot and his defense is supposedly lacking as well. And scores less than Vince?
You guys want Rashard Lewis more than Vince Carter? Rashard is a horrible defender (worse than Vince) and he isn't as good an offensive player.
imo carter is still orlando's best option... carter is a 1st option scorer and thats what the magic need... Rashard however i know is good but he imo is not capable of carrying the scoring load night in and night out
I'm on the fence with this so much. I look at who there is in the league, and I don't know who would be a good fit for this team that we can get. I don't think Lewis would be that guy we need though.
<div class="quote_poster">Bobcats Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">You guys want Rashard Lewis more than Vince Carter? Rashard is a horrible defender (worse than Vince) and he isn't as good an offensive player.</div> Rashard Lewis hasn't quit on a team before.
<div class="quote_poster">kobe23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">imo carter is still orlando's best option... carter is a 1st option scorer and thats what the magic need... Rashard however i know is good but he imo is not capable of carrying the scoring load night in and night out</div> That's the misconception, we don't need a #1 scorer now. Since the beginning of February(12 games) Dwight has averaged 22.83 points on 12.5 shots on 71.333%(107-150). The inconsistency of Dwight has not been as big, his lowest point total in this month has been 15 points and he's been under 20 only 3 times. (2 at the start of the month) In his last 10 games, he's put up 20 points in 9 of them. In those games he's avg 23.96 ppg on 72.66% shooting and 12.8 shots per game(93-128). In all 12 of these games, he has shot as low as 50% in one game(7-14) and 6-11 and 7-12 were his next 2 worst games. Dwight is a #1 caliber player RIGHT NOW. We just need to continue to feed it in to him and up his shot avg to 15-20 shots a game. Is it coincidence that Dwight has found his shooting touch and scoring ability ever since Darko began starting? Darko has now started 9 games, so his amazing streak pretty much started when Darko became the starter. We could use someone to help out down the stretch, since Dwight will get fouled if he touches it, but Grant Hill and Jameer Nelson have been taking that role. (not very successful) WE DO NOT NEED A #1 SCORER!
<div class="quote_poster">Bobcats Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">You guys want Rashard Lewis more than Vince Carter? Rashard is a horrible defender (worse than Vince) and he isn't as good an offensive player.</div> Rashard isn't as bad of a defender as alot of people think I mean he def. not a lock down defender but he's long (6'10) and he gets alot of steals ( 2/gm which our team needs) I would definatly take him before Vince. Personally I think hes a better offensive player than Vince simply because he takes better shots and makes more of his shots and remember he does play with Ray Allen and still scores 23 a game. I think he would be the perfect compliment to dwight because he can shoot anywhere on the court (not simply a 3pt shooter) Besides if we start Ariza Darko and Dwight (all good defenders) I think our defense will be pretty good. <div class="quote_poster">Riot:</div><div class="quote_post">Yes, I'd love Rashard on this team. More than Vince at least. He's a tall SF with great shooting percentages, this year he's averaging 2.3 threes per game. He's been in the league 8 years too, so he can bring some veteran presence to this team. Plus he's 2 years younger than Vince.</div> That'd be a sick lineup: PG - Jameer Nelson SG - Trevor Ariza SF - Rashard Lewis PF - Darko Milicic C - Dwight Howard Rashard would probly be a better fit at the 2 and Ariza at 3 but that would be a great lineup especially with Hedo and Grant coming off the bench. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting kobe23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">imo carter is still orlando's best option... carter is a 1st option scorer and thats what the magic need... Rashard however i know is good but he imo is not capable of carrying the scoring load night in and night out</div> He scores 23 a night without a low post presense imagine what he would do with Dwight getting doubled every time he touchs the ball. <font color=""Blue"">Use the edit button rather making multiple posts in a row. -Swish</font>
<div class="quote_poster">Riot Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yes, I'd love Rashard on this team. More than Vince at least. He's a tall SF with great shooting percentages, this year he's averaging 2.3 threes per game. He's been in the league 8 years too, so he can bring some veteran presence to this team. Plus he's 2 years younger than Vince. That'd be a sick lineup: PG - Jameer Nelson SG - Trevor Ariza SF - Rashard Lewis PF - Darko Milicic C - Dwight Howard</div> Rashard would probly be a better fit at the 2 and Ariza at 3 but that would be a great lineup especially with Hedo and Grant coming off the bench.
<div class="quote_poster">kobe23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">imo carter is still orlando's best option... carter is a 1st option scorer and thats what the magic need... Rashard however i know is good but he imo is not capable of carrying the scoring load night in and night out</div> He scores 23 a night without a low post presense imagine what he would do with Dwight getting doubled every time he touchs the ball.
<div class="quote_poster">Swish Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Rashard Lewis hasn't quit on a team before.</div> He is also not the star Vince is, or a guy who can carry an offense like Vince can or who can win games on his own. Shard over Vince? crazy. Not like Shard is a great rebounder for his size either. Dare I suggest It but the Magic need Chauncey Billups more than anybody else. They need a real floor general who can play defense. Jamaal Nelson although is a good player I don't think he will be anything more than just a pretty good back-up on any title contender team. Which is where the Magic want to get to.
<div class="quote_poster">AllNet Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">He is also not the star Vince is, or a guy who can carry an offense like Vince can or who can win games on his own. Shard over Vince? crazy. Not like Shard is a great rebounder for his size either. Dare I suggest It but the Magic need Chauncey Billups more than anybody else. They need a real floor general who can play defense. Jamaal Nelson although is a good player I don't think he will be anything more than just a pretty good back-up on any title contender team. Which is where the Magic want to get to.</div> What do you mean he isn't a good rebounder for his size? he averages 7 a game I mean yeah he's 6'10 but he is also 215 ibs Hedo's about the same size and I would def. be happy if he could get 7 a game. I've heard the Chauncey thing a couple times before and I see alot of Detroit Piston games (I live in Michigan) and personally I think he's wayyyyyyyyyy overrated I mean yes he's a good player but if I had a choice between him or Richard Hamilton I would def. take Rip. Chauncey takes alot of bad shots and shoots a really low fg%, his defense is overrated esspecially against quick Pg's and we all know he isn't getting any younger. Jammer can be a really goog Pg he just needs more time to develop his game if anything Chauncey is the perfect example of that.
Like Gators said, we don't need a first option on offense because Dwight is coming into his own this season and will only continue to improve. He's going to be our main option on offense for the next decade and I think everyone who actually watches Magic games on a regular basis realizes this. I don't like Vince's shot selection, injury past, effort, and attitude. I think Rashard Lewis would be a good second option because he has always had that role in Seattle. Also, he would be and upgrade over Hedo Turkoglu and would still provide a threat from behind the arc which we need in our starting lineup. As far as Chauncey Billups is concerned, I have said this before and I'll say it again, I would love to have Billups on the Magic. I think it was Gators who said our point guard position is our biggest weakness, not our wing position, and I couldn't agree more. Chauncey is everything we need in a point guard and would solve many of our problems. He is a veteran leader who has tons of postseason experience and he knows how to take a team all the way. He knows how to get big men involved on offense as well because he has played with Rasheed Wallace for the last couple of seasons. After seeing the way Jameer has regressed this season, I honestly think we should bring Chauncey in because he's better in every single aspect of the game. He is a good defender (while Jameer is a defensive liability), he doesn't average many turnovers (unlike Nelson), and he is a consistent shooter who usually torches Orlando each time we face him. You mentioned his age but I still think he could come in here and start for a few years while Jameer learns from him off the bench. I wouldn't mind moving Nelson into the sixth man role as he develops into a better playmaker. While you make think he's overrated and old, I would still love to have him because he's still way better than any point guards we have now.
We arent getting Billups thats for sure. I wouldnt mind Lewis, we dont need a #1 scoring option, we need a #2 option that can make shots. I think having Vince would hurt Dwights potential. I think Lewis would be a good fit for this team, he is a younger guy, with size that can shoot the long ball.
<div class="quote_poster">TheHighness Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">What do you mean he isn't a good rebounder for his size? he averages 7 a game I mean yeah he's 6'10 but he is also 215 ibs Hedo's about the same size and I would def. be happy if he could get 7 a game. I've heard the Chauncey thing a couple times before and I see alot of Detroit Piston games (I live in Michigan) and personally I think he's wayyyyyyyyyy overrated I mean yes he's a good player but if I had a choice between him or Richard Hamilton I would def. take Rip. Chauncey takes alot of bad shots and shoots a really low fg%, his defense is overrated esspecially against quick Pg's and we all know he isn't getting any younger. Jammer can be a really goog Pg he just needs more time to develop his game if anything Chauncey is the perfect example of that.</div> Don't care how much he weighs, under 7 rebounds for a guy 6'10 is below average. Billups Shoots a low %? he shoots just under 44% which is pretty good for a PG. He also shoots close to 37% from three which is also pretty good. He averages over 7 assists per game and isn't a bad rebounder for his position. He is also a very good post player for his position. One of the strongest in the league also. Overrated defensively? he has repeatly shut down or contended many guys he guards. Hense why he has been on the defensive teams over the past few years. He is a big reason why the Pistons D still remains so strong. Nelson doesn't have the vision Billups has or the defensive skills or strength to be what Billups is now. Nelson will be nothing more than a Barbosa type player. Not thats bad but not a guy you want running your offense.
<div class="quote_poster">AllNet Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Don't care how much he weighs, under 7 rebounds for a guy 6'10 is below average. Billups Shoots a low %? he shoots just under 44% which is pretty good for a PG. He also shoots close to 37% from three which is also pretty good. He averages over 7 assists per game and isn't a bad rebounder for his position. He is also a very good post player for his position. One of the strongest in the league also. Overrated defensively? he has repeatly shut down or contended many guys he guards. Hense why he has been on the defensive teams over the past few years. He is a big reason why the Pistons D still remains so strong. Nelson doesn't have the vision Billups has or the defensive skills or strength to be what Billups is now. Nelson will be nothing more than a Barbosa type player. Not thats bad but not a guy you want running your offense.</div> Billups is a career 41% shooter (which is what he shot last year) 44% is just average for any position. I'm not saying he's not a good player but if I could have either him or Rashard I would take Rashard. As far as 7 rebounds a game for Rashard, most of the starting Center's in the league don't get 7 a game and the fact that Rashard isn't really a post player makes 7 a game even better. Rasheed Wallace is only a 7rb/Gm player and he's much bigger than Rashard is. and what do you mean weight doesn't have anything to do with rebounding, it has just as much or more than height does. You mean if you have two 6'10 players and one of them weigh's 260 and the other is 215 the 215ibs player isn't at a disadvantage that's just crazy. Rashard is in the top 40 in the league in rebounding and I can almost guarantee you that there are more than 40 players above 6'10 starting in the league. to compare Hedo is 6'10 220 and he avaerages 3.5 a game. Cauncey is a good defender but the reason I say he is overrated is because he's just too big and slow to guard quick Pg's. I realize Jameer is nowhere near as good as Billups right now BUT how long did it take before he got that good when he came into the league he didn't have good court vision, wasn't a good defender and basically the only thing he could do is score and not as good as Jameer does right now. I'm just saying that I'm not ready to give up on Jameer yet it's only his 3rd year and he has great leadership skills and if he can get back to the way he was playing at the end of last year I will be extreamly happy.
Why wouldn't Rashard fit into this team?? He doesn't need to lead the team in scoring. We have Dwight Howard for that. We need a guy who is a playmaker and good shooter. Lewis fits that mold. I don't want Chauncey Billups at all. The guy's already getting up there in age and his defense is not that good at all. Sure he can shoot but so can JJ Redick. I'm sick of talking about VC because he isn't a good team player and isn't that good. He's overrated. I'm sorry you VC fans that think he's nasty but he really isn't. Rashard is just the player we need. If he opts out, the Magic should make a strong push for him.
Depending on how much we are willing to go over the salary cap, I'm estimating we'll have about $12-13 million to spend this year. Right now we are at $35,301,998 for next year. I'll go down in order on the moves I think we make this offseason..... Keyon Dooling picks up $3,596,000 player option- TOTAL-38,897,998 Free Agency----?????????? Dwight Howard gets a max deal extension. (I'm estimating that to be 13,000,002(just to get an even number). TOTAL-51,898,000 Jameer Nelson gets a $5,000,000 extension. TOTAL- 56,898,000 Last year when we had Steve Francis we had around 70,000,000 in salary, so I would guess our owner would be willing to pay close to $70,000,000 which will be a little more than $10,000,000 in luxury tax. So that means that we would have about $13,000,000 to spend this offseason and we can do it 3 ways.... 1) Sign Darko to $8-10 mil a year and have $3-5 mil to spend on other players. 2) Sign Vince Carter or Rashard Lewis and have maybe $1 million to spend on anything else and let Darko walk. 3) Sign several 2nd tier free agents for the $12-13 million and don't go after Rashard Lewis or VC and don't resign Darko. I choose #1 all day every day.
