<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Count Drew Gooden as yet another talented young player the Magic organization wasted. Gooden looked like he had the potential to be a star when he was acquired midway through the 2003 season, but he became a basket case last year when the Magic signed an older, less-talented Juwan Howard to play power forward and relegated Gooden to the bench. With that said, Gooden had to be traded because he would have been a major distraction pouting and moping on the bench behind rookie Dwight Howard next year. As far as trading Gooden to Cleveland for Tony Battie, the Magic get a downgrade in talent but an upgrade in size, attitude and energy. This is just another example of Magic GM John Weisbrod remaking the team in his own image. Battie, along with Howard and Kelvin Cato, give the Magic three new shot-blocking, defensive-minded big men. But one question: Where are the points going to come from? Let me put it this way: Next season, the Magic will have more trouble scoring than Linda Tripp on prom night. . . .</div> Full Story
I agree with what was siad in the article that gooden hadto go, but the way he went was wrong. We could have explored much better trade options for gooden then what we recieved from the cavs. He is a young talented player which alot of teams were intrested in. There are teams like the mavs who were intrested in him. They offered a much better trade then we received from the cavs that would have also givin us an upgrade in size and wouldnt have traded gooden to a eastern conference rival who we may end up fighting with for playoff positioning. This trade was one of the worst in the magics history and that is saying alot considering all the bad trades that have happened. If gooden developes his post up game a little more and his inside toughness this could be a big lose for the orlando magic franchise.
The Magic are trying to change their image, and getting rid of Gooden seems like it was priority #1 after trading McGrady. It turns out that Gooden is more into partying than playing. http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindeale...49347207480.xml
Tired of the downplay on Drew Gooden.. You can't fault him for the Magic signing Juwan Howard and starting him all year over him. He hasn't had a steady chance since the season the Magic almost knocked Detroit off. Infact, he was a huge reason that they could of in game 7. If only the guy that was in the second round played better. I may dislike the Cavs, but I hope that Drew Gooden starts, and I hope he makes the Magic pay for Signing Juwan Howard and slowing down his playing time. I agree he had to be traded, cause the Magic can't have Drew Gooden and Dwight Howard sharing time. But like previously stated, 1 Million times, This wasn't the best trade they could have gotten. and the only reason they did it is cause John Weisbrod and everyother Magic GM we have had(Hmm) are in love with Big Men that are going to be useless but get more playing time than the people who should get it. Hopefully Battie and Declerq ride the bench this year though..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ZeroToOne50182:</div><div class="quote_post">John Weisbrod and everyother Magic GM we have had(Hmm) are in love with Big Men that are going to be useless but get more playing time than the people who should get it.</div> For one, there has only been one other Magic GM - John Gabriel. And yes, he made a couple bad mistakes when it came to the Magic's frontcourt (John Amaechi, letting Ben Wallace leave, allowing Shaq to leave all come to mind), but you can't fault the decisions that much since at one point or another, all of the big men that he hyped up produced something for the Magic. Really, the only real big mistake the Magic made was trading Ben Wallace to Detroit when they could have traded Amaechi to them instead. I don't care what anyone says, Gabriel was a good GM and whatever team eventually picks him up is getting one hell of a GM. He took the Magic to the Finals with the personnel he picked and I think that he would have made the Magic contenders again. As for Weisbrod, I haven't seen this offseason as an indicator of him not knowing what to do with the frontcourt. If anything, all of the moves that he has made have been smart. We got Kelvin Cato, Dwight Howard, and Tony Battie who will all give the Magic an amazing defensive presence in the paint. I'm excited about seeing this frontcourt play and I think that a lot of people will be happy with this team in the fall.
Many people don't realize that there in fact is a big reason why coaches like DeClerq. He is a no-nonsense hustler who does what is asked of him. He understands the plays drawn up, and does a pretty good job of getting into place in time. Granted he has weaknesses, but all around is a pretty decent player figuring he is slightly undersized at Center and has no 'star power' as far as calls go. Battie is similar in attitude and better in athleticism, and will play both C and PF this year. Certainly it would be nice to have a dominating center like Shaq or Yao, but they are a rare commodity. You make do with the budget your allotted, and try to piece together a great team from what's available to you. Ben Wallace would have been nice to keep, but we got Grant Hill in return! If he had been his normal self (as expected), we wouldn't be hearing all of these gripes about losing Big Ben. As for Weisbrod, I'll say that seeing him in interviews hasn't impressed me much. I will though give him a chance figuring he's Brand New on the job. Maybe the slams could wait until say 3 months into the season... just like any other respectable job would.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ZeroToOne50182:</div><div class="quote_post"> I may dislike the Cavs, but I hope that Drew Gooden starts, and I hope he makes the Magic pay for Signing Juwan Howard and slowing down his playing time. </div> I agree with you. Everyone, stay away from the local Beirut tournaments, for Drew Gooden will make us all look like fools
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting LakerSource:</div><div class="quote_post">Has the magic pick up any new players that are good?</div> The only real notable pickup through free agency has been the signing of Turkoglu. We got the players out of the T-Mac trade and the draft to fill most of our needs.
Well from last year, we picked up Dwight Howard, Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, Kelvin Cato, Jameer Nelson, and Hedo Turkoglu. So I would say we picked up plenty of good players.
