<font size="3" face="Times New Roman, serif"><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>ORLANDO - Orlando Magic center/power forward Tony Battie has a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder and could need surgery that would keep him out most of the upcoming season.</font></p> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman, serif">Battie was to see doctors at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina on Thursday for a second opinion. Magic team doctors diagnosed the injury as a partial tear to the rotator cuff last week.</font></p> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman, serif">"It would be a real loss for us," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, referring to the possibility of losing Battie for the season. "Tony is a very good player. Right now we're just keeping our fingers crossed. After we get the prognosis back from the doctor we'll deal with it from there."</font></p> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman, serif">Battie, 31, started all 66 of the games he played in last season while averaging 6.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He is one of the Magic's best post defenders and is an unquestioned leader off the court.</font></p> <font size="3" face="Times New Roman, serif">The loss of Battie could heighten the Magic's willingness to pursue veteran power forwards Chris Webber and P.J. Brown. Orlando general manager Otis Smith spoke to representatives for both players earlier in the summer, but no agreement was reached. All the Magic can offer is a contract for the veteran's minimum of a player with 10-plus years in the NBA ($1.2 million). Webber has yet to sign with a team, while Brown is contemplating retirement.</div></font></p> <font size="3">Source</font> </p>
Talk about bad timing, because Esteban Batista would have been a fantastic replacement. There's still some options available to replace Battie on the free agent market.</p> Anderson Varejao PJ Brown Chris Webber These are the top 3 big men free agents still available.</p>
What a big loss for us. We were thin at big anyway and this just kills us even more. Marcin Gortat and James Augustine will be relied on to make a big impact. I hope Otis is looking for replacements right now.</p>
