Orlando Magic Sign Jason Williams: The Morning After

In case you missed it, here's Eddy's questions for Jason Williams from this morning's media availability session, which the Orlando Magic hosted at their practice facility/headquarters in Maitland.

And now, reaction to Williams' signing with the Magic from around the blogosphere:

• JWill Signing Makes Us Question The Meaning of 'Controversy'
  There's plenty to love about Matt Moore's take on the likelihood of Williams challenging Jameer Nelson for the starting job, but this line is tops, at least to me:

  Apparently, if you were popular at some point in the early to mid 00's, you now qualify as a threat to a 27 year old All-Star.

• Jason Williams joins the Orlando Magic
  Kelly Dwyer is dubious about Williams' ability to contribute--he notes that Williams averaged only 8.8 points and 4.6 assists for a 15-win team in his last full season--but hopes it all works out. He also gives us a bit of a history lesson:

  Topping it off is the fact that Orlando, badly, wanted Williams as the final piece in what they saw as a Eastern Conference-contending puzzle heading into what we thought was going to be the 1998-99 season. Working with the 12th, 13th, and 15th picks in the 1998 Draft, Orlando assumed that Williams (who had been working out in Orlando for months by then, and had developed a solid friendship with Magic guard/forward Nick Anderson) would fall in their laps.

  Instead, the Sacramento Kings lapped him up with the seventh pick. Good fortune for all concerned. It'd be nice to see the full circle actually end with Williams' first second ring.

• Orlando Enlists White Chocolate
  Ryne Nelson, who thinks the signing is "a great move," notes Williams' similarities to another infamous pro athlete who came out of retirement:

  No, he's no Brett Favre, but the parallels are rather curious: both are American icons, lead the offense, and can't come to terms with retirement. Both guys you don't say 'no' to when they offer their wisdom and services for a season.

• Sizing up the real contenders, plus the real-life Juwanna Mann?
  Dime Magazine thinks the league's contenders are finished shuffling their rosters, now that Williams has signed:

  White Chocolate signing with the Magic yesterday likely signaled the last offseason move by any of the NBA's legit championship contenders before training camp.

  Dime also believes the Magic won't reach the Eastern Conference's first or second playoff seed, due to Rashard Lewis' 10-game suspension for testing positive for using a performance-enhancing substance.

• UPDATE: White Chocolate melted for Magic opportunity
  Ira Winderman, who covers the Miami Heat for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, thinks Williams' signing might push Anthony Johnson down on the Magic's depth chart. He believes Johnson makes sense for the Heat, and proposes some Magic/Heat trade possibilities:

  The Heat's interest in Johnson dates to when it tried to acquire him from Dallas at the trading deadline in 2007, with its offer trumped by Atlanta.

  Of course, adding Johnson by such means would double the luxury-tax hit, a hit that could be mitigated by sending Chris Quinn or Dorell Wright the other way. [Magic coach Stan] Van Gundy was no fan of Wright during his Heat tenure, but, then again, he also never seemed to be big a fan of Vince Carter, either.

  It seems unlikely (to me) that the Magic and Heat would conduct business, but if they should strongly consider unloading Johnson if it meant they could obtain the 25-year-old Quinn, a deft passer and three-point shooter.

• UPDATE 2: Orlando and selfishness
  The Curse of the Big Aristotle doesn't feel one way or the other about Williams, assessing the transaction thusly in a post about the Magic's team-oriented style of play:

  a signing I am so indifferent toward that I don't think it deserves a full analysis