Denton: Final Roster Spot Comes Down to Outlaw or Augustine

Color me intrigued.

The Magic only need to cut one player to bring their roster to the league maximum of 15, but John Denton of Florida Today reports at the end of this article that Otis Smith wants to cut two players for "roster flexibility." Kevin Kruger will be one of the players cut, meaning that the final spot will come down to one of two power forwards: veteran Bo Outlaw or second-year man James Augustine.

I don't have a preference here. Bo actually wasn't too bad last season, and was arguably more effective than Tony Battie, albeit in small doses. Augustine hardly played in his rookie season -- seven minutes in two games -- so he's a question mark.

There are two opposing factors at work here: Bo is marketable, a fan-favorite, and a good character guy to have in the locker room; Augustine is a young, raw, athletic big who has shown promise, albeit in the D-League. Either way, whoever makes the team will probably only battle Pat Garrity for garbage-time duty anyway. Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, and Trevor Ariza will all spend time at the four, as will Dwight Howard. Between those four guys, there probably aren't going to be many other minutes to go around. Still, if the injury bug bites us, it's important to have a Plan B -- or, in this case, a Plan C.

More interesting about this situation is the fact that Otis wants to keep a roster spot open. Is he counting on a veteran (P.J. Brown?) to come out of the woodwork? Is he considering making a one-for-two trade? Or does he just prefer even numbers? Either way, this decision shows us that Otis has something up his sleeve. Time will tell exactly what it is.