Real Hoops - Trade Take - Panic in the Magic Kingdom

Phoenix Suns-Orlando Magic Deal: Magic send Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, a 2011 first-round pick and cash considerations to the Suns for Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Earl Clark;

Magic-Wizards Deal:  Magic send Rashard Lewis to the Wizards for Gilbert Arenas.

And the NBA trade season is officially underway with our first head scratching deal.  As is the case with most NBA trades, this one is about two things: (1) Panic; and (2) Money.  The panic comes on the part of the Orlando Magic.  The money portion that impacts everyone. 

Orlando Magic

Sitting at 15-11, in the midst of a streak in which they lost 7 of 8 games, and looking up in standings at the streaking Miami Heat and the NBA-best Boston Celtics, the Magic figured there was no better time for a panic trade, freaking the hell out and tearing apart a team that made the Eastern Conference Finals Last year (after losing in the NBA Finals two seasons ago).

From a basketball standpoint, the deal has some merit, at least offensively.  The Magic have struggled significantly on offense this year due to their inability to create and make perimeter shots.  The two name players they gave up, Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter have both stunk in that area and are barreling down a 195 degree career decline and since neither of them plays a lick of defense, absent the ability to score consistently, they're relatively useless. Add in Vince's well deserved rep for being a quitter, someone who despite his physical gifts doesn't attack the rim and a guy who's afraid to take big shots, you can see why the Magic would want to move on.  The guys they got, Turkoglu and Arenas, are certainly better offensive players. 

While Arenas is never going to  bet he player he was before the knee injury and the suspension, there is some hope that he could regain some of his form on a new team where he feels wanted (he's been on the outs in Washington and has been eclipsed by John Wall as the franchise).  At the very least, he seems like a guy who can give them 20 ppg consistently.  Hedo, who figured to take over for Lewis at small forward, is, despite playing like a steaming pile of crap the last two years, more versatile due to his ball handling and passing and is a good enough deep shooter to keep teams honest.  Hedo also played the best basketball of his career during his time with the Magic and maybe being prodded constantly by Van Gundy will keep him focused (remember, the Magic made the finals two years ago with Hedo and without Nelson who was injured).  Both Arenas and Hedo have the potential to relieve some of the ball handling pressure on Jameer Nelson and those two, along with Richardson (who is an excellent 3 point shooter) will keep the floor spread for Dwight Howard.  So what's the big problem?

Well, in the process of improving on offense, the Magic further weakened what had been their calling card - Defense.  Because as the age-old adage goes, offense wins championships, right? 

The difference between Vince/Lewis and Gilbert/Hedo defensively is probably a wash but giving up Pietrus, their only permiter defender, and Gortat, their backup center, could be crippling.  Without Pietrus, the Magic defense is essentially Dwight Howard and the Matadors.  If you make this move, you make it for one reason, to beat the Heat and the Celts.  In games against those teams, who are these guys going to guard? 

Their crunch-time line-up with be some combination of Arenas, Nelson, Richardson, Hedo, Brandon Bass with Howard.  If you play Nelson and Arenas together the back court, they'll be too small and guys like Wade and Allen will destroy them.  Richardson has better size but he's no standout defender, either.  Think that's bad?  Imagine Hedo trying to deal with LeBron or Pierce.  We shudder at the thought.  Add in the undersized Brandon Bass matched up with Bosh and KG (or a small lineup with Hedo at the 4, Yikes!!) and that's a ton of pressure on Howard.  And since his back-up is gone, if Howard gets himself in foul trouble they'll be totally screwed.

The second big issue is chemistry - the unspoken key to winning in basketball.  It's not widely publicized but Jameer Nelson, in addition to being the starting point guard, is the leader of the team.  He's the guy who organizes off season training and all that other dumb crap that bad teams ignore and good teams do.  Now, you add in Arenas, a mercurial guy to say the least, who happens to play the same position and needs the ball in his hands.  Seems to us like a situation in which both guys are going to have their egos bruised on a routine basis.  Add in the fact that when Hedo was their before, their best plays involved him with the ball in crunch time, we're not sure how they're going to have enough touches to go around while still remembering they have the best, most physically dominating big in the game.  It's a recipe for disaster.

There's also the money they had to take on.  The Magic got rid of Vince's semi-expiring contract (he has a $4m buyout after the season) and Lewis absurd deal and took back Arenas who's signed for about $80m more over the next 4 years (about $24m more than is owed to Rashard Lewis) and Hedo's $40m owed.  Now they have something like $80m already committed for 2013 in what will be mostly 30+ players.  That's a ton of money to be paying an aging, no defense team.  Dwight is going to look good in  a Knick or Laker uniform, isn't he?

Oh, one final point, this essentially takes them out of any chance they might have had at snagging Carmelo, the perfect compliment to a team lead by Dwight Howard.  Too bad.
Phoenix and Washington Perspectives

Phoenix and Washington were basically the lucky opportunist beneficiaries of Orlando's decision to panic and recreate its lost magic (pun recognized).

Washington's main benefit is getting rid of the extra years of Arenas' contract (they would have given him away for a jar of olives).  From an on court perspective the move has no impact for Washington.  They stunk before the trade and they'll stink afterwards and Lewis becomes just another member of their stable of soft big guys.  Maybe it allow Wall to take more a leadership role with Arenas out of the way so we suppose that could be a tangential benefit.
For Phoenix, not only do they shed Hedo's bad contract (again, a jar of olives would have been sufficient) but they get a 1st rounder and a serviceable player.  No, we're not talking about Vince though he will probably score for them when paired with Nash (he may miss a month with knee surgery) but he'll be gone next year.  The real piece is Gortat, a 6-11 center, with good mobility who has been viewed as starter material for the last few years.  He'll improve their rebounding and might be an interesting pick and roll partner for Nash as the Suns essentially admit they whiffed on letting Amare go.  Pietrus, as we mentioned before, is a good defender and can hit the outside shot.  It won't change their season outlook (they're a borderline playoff team at best either way) but they got a starting center while shedding salary, a tough trick in today's NBA.