I had so many new thoughts on the team that I thought I would share them here as opposed to posting bits & fragments in the various threads that Ben Q & ER have already started on the main page.

On the Vinsanity trade. This is difficult. On one hand, there is the potential that it might not work. After all, Vinsanity is a certain kind of player, and he can't do everything that Turkoglu can. But, he can do much of what Turkoglu does do. He's a better shooter, and better passer than Turkoglu is. Truthfuly, I think they're ability to handle is about equal. I think the ability of Vinsanity to need the ball less may be the most important "fit" factor after it's all said & done.

I also think, while losing Courtney Lee is tough, it's also a way to move forward with a different type of need. This Magic team has a pretty unusual weakness overall when you consider Dwight Howard and his high rebounding numbers: The team is well below average everywhere, with regards to rebounding, on the team when you take out Howard or Gortat.

Vince Carter is a better boardman than Turk as well. So, while you're the Magic and you can get 80-90% of that production from Vinsanity (from last season say), you're likely to be better. Especially, as Ben Q noted earlier today, that you can expect a reasonable improvement from Ryan Anderson as well. (He's a local kid from the east suburbs of Sacramento. So, he's another reason for me to root for the Magic even though I'll always root for C-Lee too.)

So, it's very easy to see how not re-signing Turk could be a wise decision for the Magic here.

But, what about other deals?

One I would propose the Magic should consider is trading Hedo in a Sign & Trade to Portland for Travis Outlaw, and the rights to Victor Claver and Joel Freeland. It would be one way for Portland to get Hedo at a reduced cost without giving up all their cap room to sign another player. (It would also eliminate the cap holds that both those picks would have on their cap as well.)

For those who aren't aware of Freeland, he's a PF that Portland took with the 30th overall pick in 2006. He's coming along, but he's somewhere between a project and nearly as good as Fran Vazquez already. (Vazquez is one of the best bigs in the ACB right now.) And, he might be much more willing to come over for a smaller price than Vazquez currently is. Claver is a guy the Magic could afford to wait on as he's all upside and potential. It's not like Rashard Lewis can play forever, and it never hurts a franchise over the cap to worry about having a cap hold on a player oversea's developing for free.

What would it cost? Probably buying out Travis Outlaw (at a cheap price), or simply trading him away to a team with cap room. Memphis, for instance, is one of those teams. (They have coveted him, reportedly, in the past.) Any S&T that Portland does will mean they have to trade something away, and that could mean Outlaw and the rights to both players.

One way to settle the deal for Portland is to make this a 3 way deal with Memphis and trade them Outlaw and the rights to Petteri Koponen, along with doing the S&T for Hedo and giving Orlando the rights to both Claver and Freeland.

Will Blazer fans squawk? Absolutely. It's what they do. Some of them are convinced the Blazers have 12 All-Stars and 16 coming in the next 2 seasons. I think we all know better, and so do many of the more "honest" fans of any team. It's the way the NBA works.

The better question is can the Blazers sign Turkoglu by himself. Looking at their salary it's easy to see how you can be misled into believing why would the Blazers even do that? Because, after all, they have so many roster spots, and only so many players they can play. They don't lose a lot to do these deal's to get a player that could help them get closer to a championship.

Would the Magic do it? Would the Grizzlies? It's hard to say. It's a complicated maneuver that Portland has to work out because of being screwed by Darius Miles in that whole deal. The only reason for Portland to do it because they want to bring in another veteran (maybe Mike Bibby) and do so by offering him a small deal to come back to the West Coast. (I doubt Bibby is returning to Atlanta now.) This could allow them to offer several small deals to a few players out there. Plus, they have 3 draft picks they can put on the roster that they could allow to develop. (They like young players right?)

It probably won't happen because it would take the Blazers be willing to give up all those prospects to get Hedo, and it may take convincing Kevin Pritchard that it's worth giving up all these guys to get Hedo and settle their own roster. (Apparently Nate McMillan and Tom Penn had to convince Pritchard and Paul Allen to be less aggressive in acquiring young players.) Memphis might want more to acquire Outlaw, and because they have so much cap room, they can afford to be stingy. Orlando might not want to bother unless they can get some kind of guarantee that they won't be taking on salary for this season when they have so much already committed to the rest of the roster elsewhere.

But, like anything, we'll see. If not for the Magic, or any other team, it will be at the least a very interesting summer.