Last Thursday in the hours leading up to the NBA Draft, the Orlando Magic and the New Jersey Nets finalized a trade that brought Vince Carter and Ryan Andersen to Orlando. In exchange the Magic gave up Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston and Tony Battie. Looking at the trade and its immediate repurcussions the Magic effectively traded Courtney Lee and Hedo Turkoglu for Air Canada.
Can Vince Carter play second fiddle to Orlando's Dwight Howard?
The Magic will be now depending on Vince Carter to be an important cog in a system centered around Dwight Howard. The phrase “addition by subtraction” is often times used when a team benefits by losing a key player, which allows other players on the team to emerge. In this case the Magic while adding an incredibly talented, All-Star caliber player in Vince Carter at the cost of a very good swingman and a rookie shooting guard will certainly be taking away from their overall success as a team.
Turkoglu is almost certain to not sign with the Magic again and should cash in elsewhere on his playoff heroics in helping the Magic reaching the NBA Finals. GM Otis Smith also made this trade with that knowledge as Turkoglu had already turned down a 4-year, $35 million contract at the time that the trade was consummated.
Trading away Alston should also not be a problem given Jameer Nelson’s recovery from injury and Anthony Johnson’s consistent play at the backup point guard spot. Giving away Battie may give them some problems as they are also not expected to match any offers for Marcin Gortat north of $5 million which he is likely to get. Though I feel they would be better served re-signing him to the mid-level exception the Magic will surely be in the market for veteran big men during free agency. Nonetheless Battie’s production, or lack thereof, will not be missed by Orlando.
Now back to the real heart of the trade. The Magic gave up two players, one a veteran scorer who came through with a number of clutch baskets in the playoff and the other, an emerging rookie who showed much promise in Orlando’s playoff run. In return they receive an aging veteran shooting guard, who has a penchant for holding on to the ball and jacking up an inordinate amound of threes considering his natural ability to get into the lane.
My biggest issue with this is the Magic breaking up a team that seemed to have a breakthrough in this year’s playoffs and had tremendous chemistry. Their ball movement in the postseason, particularly from Game 7 against the Celtics onwards, was fluid and served them well with players at all four positions able to hit the three. Turkoglu was deadly playing the pick and roll with Dwight Howard, because of his ability to either drive the ball to the basket, pop a jumper or find the open man, something the Cavs can attest too.
Turkoglu also was the Magic’s finisher come playoff time. He came up with a crucial game winner in Game 4 against the Sixers in the first round and a near game-winner that was topped by a miracle shot by Lebron in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Additionally Courtney Lee was an excellent perimeter defender who often times found himself guarding the likes of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant in the playoffs and not backing down. Lee was particularly effective against Ray Allen against the Celtics hounding him all series long, averaging only 13.4 points a game in the series. Lee also had a decent offensive game and seemed to find his rhythm from the second half of the season onwards and provided another decent scoring option for the Magic.
The Magic will hope that Mickael Pietrus can stay healthy and provide the kind of perimeter shooting and defensive play that he was able to summon off the bench in the playoffs all year in the starting lineup. They can also expect Andersen, who had a decent rookie campaign and is only 20 years old, to provide an option in the frontcourt off the bench.
Carter has never been part of a team where he is not the primary scorer. In Toronto he was the franchise player. When he got traded to the Nets, Jason Kidd was the point guard, but Carter did most of the scoring. In fact Carter’s addition took away from Richard Jefferson’ success. This can be attributed to both of them being slashers and is less a product of Carter’s failures as a player and more about Rod Thorn rolling the dice and looking to give the Nets another crack at an NBA Finals berth.
Trading Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee will hurt Orlando's depth and they must find a way to replace their production.
Nonetheless Carter throughout his career has been a noted chucker, who has lost the courage to drive to the rim at the slightest hint of physical play. Carter tends to hold on to the ball for extended periods of time, which is not suited for Orlando’s pick and roll offense, predicated on players finding the open man for a three or dumping it into the post to Howard.
Carter’s defense is essentially non-existant which could pose a concern for the Magic, though Dwight Howard’s ability to alter shots in the lane has helped shape them into the best defensive unit in basketball. All Carter will have to do is funnel his opposing number into the middle of the lane towards Howard and make correct rotations when necessary which could be a problem.
Looking at the trade, it seems to me the Magic would be have been better off re-signing Turkoglu to a deal for around 9-10 million anual for four years and then using the mid-level exception to re-sign Gortat. Instead they will now be paying Carter $16.3 million next year, $17.3 million the year after that and $18 million the next. They will also be inserting a second-year player in Ryan Andersen into their frontcourt rotation, while also hurting their depth at both the shooting guard and small forward positions, placing more pressure on Pietrus to perform this year.
They could have moved Alston’s and Battie’s expiring contracts later in the summer, or perhaps at the deadline next year to address any issues of need. Looking at this trade as a whole, while the Magic definitely won in terms of talent, it looks like come playoff time next year the results will tell a different story.