Over the weekend the Orlando Magic made several roster moves in an effort to rework their lineup that had been underachieving over the past few weeks. The first move they sent Rashard Lewis the NBA’s second highest paid player to the Washington Wizards for Gilbert Areans AKA “Agent Zero”, a move that was an easy one for Otis Smith to make because of his existing relationship with Arenas. The second deal involved sending Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus, and Marcin Gortat to the Phoenix Suns for Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu.
Magic GM Otis Smith was the mastermind behind these moves, and it is believed that these moves were done largely in response to fear that Dwight Howard was unhappy about the supporting cast and would opt to play for another team when his contract is up. The Magic don’t want to be in a scenario where Howard would leave the team, and if he did leave the team they would get nothing in return if he decided he did not want to be in Orlando. Many see it as a panic move, but in reality it was probably the best thing Smith could do.
The Rashard Lewis contract never made sense; the Magic made him one of the highest paid players in the league hoping he would complement Dwight Howard’s game. The problem is Lewis does not have a strong low post game for being 6’ 11”, he does not rebound, and is basically a spot up shooter who sits on the perimeter. Vince Carter is a shadow of his former self, and has lost the ability to score consistently by creating his own shot. Mickael Pietrus was mainly a defensive “stopper” who would occasionally contribute on the offensive end in the form of three point shooting, and Marcin Gortat was really the only one that was a piece that will be difficult for the Magic to replace.
This was the only way the Magic were going to be able to compete with the likes of the Boston and Miami in the Eastern Conference as everyone saw how inferior this roster was to the Boston Celtics in the playoffs last season. With all of the added offensive firepower the Magic will now be able to keep up with teams when they go cold from the three point line, and this should prevent those lopsided losses against defensive minded clubs. This is all contingent on the Magic finding a big man to go alone with Dwight Howard 
with the ouster of Gortat from the team.
The New Look Magi debuted against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night, and lost 81 – 91 with a team that largely looked out of sync (which is to be expected). The encouraging sign is that for as bad as the Magic looked with all these new pieces trying to get used to each other they still had a chance to win the game against a good Atlanta Hawks team. Imagine what will happen when this team puts it together and all of these new arrivals are clicking on all cylinders with the existing pieces the Magic have acquired. This is the first time all of them have been on the floor together, they have not even had time to practice together which tells you just how raw they are as a unit right now.
We will see how the Magic do going forward, but give these new pieces about a month to get used to each other’s style of play before passing judgment. Regardless of how the season turns out these moves had to be made because the team they came into the season with was not going to win a championship, now there is hope that the pieces may be in place for a championship run.
