Looking Ahead/Decisions

        OK. We all know Dwight is going to say he wants to stay in Orlando, (given we can improve our roster), this may or may not be true. If I am in the front office of the Orlando Magic, I have to think about the way the league is going. There is going to be probably a lot of elite teams next year. You've got your obvious, Heat, Lakers, Mavs, Thunder, maybe Celtics if they find some youth, the Knicks and they can add a few supporting cast players, the Bulls if they can add some scoring help to take a load off Derrick Rose, Memphis is only going to get better with age and adding Rudy Gayto the mix, the Hawks are going to have that potential. I mean, the competition is going to be at high level again, it's notjust 3 or 4 teams with a chance. They're players out there such as Dwight, CP3, Deron Williams, who are as of right now on teams that can't compete at the level of the elite teams, but have a superstar. The Heat have really set the standard this year, especially since they're making a run at the title.

      I posted a post a few weeks ago about how the Magic should plan for the Summer of 2012. Similar to the way Pat Riley did in Miami for 2010. I threw in a few trades, ridding us of Turkoglu's contract, moving Nelson while he still has some value, and a few other pieces in order to bring people in who will keep us competitive in 2011-12 season, but not get us over the hump. I just don't think there are any moves out there for us this summer or before the deadline that can actually get us to a Title team. We don't have assets to acquire CP3 or Deron Williams ( notthat New Jersey would trade him now.) If we really want to be serious about keeping Dwight, and making a run at the title for the next decade, then we have to plan ahead, no more desperation trades!! (OTIS SMITH)  (On a side note: I don't understand how he could possibly still have a job; all he did was blow up a team that made it to the championship, ruined chemistry among the team, brought in his buddy (Gilber Arenas), who if anyone saw his twitter tweets recently can see just how he's not all there  (mentally). Now he's got the Magic in a position to lose possibly the best big man for the next decade. 

     Back to what I was saying, (I'm sorry I just really haven't liked one move Otis has done since he's been with the Magic.)  PLAN AHEAD. There are teams out there who WILL take Turkoglu, he's still a very capable player, we just ask him to do too much beyond his ability in Orlando. He's a very solid 3rd or 4th option on a team.  The Trade I very well think the Magic could make happen is Turkoglu/Redick for Kaman/Foye. If that's not enough for the Clippers to bite, then throw in Ryan Anderson, I remind you my friends not get attatched to ANYONE we have on the team right now besides Dwight. We have to think Big Picture here, which would be summer of 2012. The other Trade I proposed was Nelson/Orton and/or Anderson to Denver for Felton/Koufos. If the Amensty clause is passed and we can rid ourselves of Arenas' awful contract, then the plan falls into place. There is no reason for these teams not to make these trades, I'm not just making them up because the numbers work. The Clippers need a SF and shooting and would be getting both in Turkoglu and Redick. Turkoglu probably would be a very a good player for the Clippers throwing alley-oops to Blake Griffin, plus they have Griffin, Eric Gordon, Deandre Jordan, Turk would provide a good Veteran Presence around that team. The Denver trade, how could Denver complain? They're getting a proven scorer in Jameer Nelson and young talent in either Orton, and/or Anderson, for a player who doesn't want to play the backup role anymore in Felton, (he's no taking Ty Lawson's starting job). 

     So where does this leave us? Well, first let me say I think we should re-sign Earl Clark right now, to a nice in-expensive contract because his potential is very high. So with that said, come the summer of 2012, (If no other deals are made), we would have Bass (4mil), Duhon(3.5mil), Richardson (2.8mil), Clark (est. 2-4 mil) and that's all. Simple Math: 12-14 million on the books. So if the New Cap is around 40-50 million, that leaves us with somewhere around 30-35 million in Cap Room. (Dwight Howard will opt out of his contract, the same way Wade did last summer) That's enough to bring back Dwight, and either CP3 or D-Will, or both if they all agreed to take less money the way the Heat Trio did. This is a dream scenario, but not a Dream scenario. This is very, very do-able. There are no ridiculous one-sided trades involved, just very well thought out planning ahead. You can tell my Key words for this post are PLANNING AHEAD. If we want to compete for a championship and be serious about keeping Dwight, then this is what needs to be done. Not trading for Iggy or Brandon Roy, NO. Those are a couple more desperation moves, we've seen enough of those, it's time for our front office, to calm down, write out a plan, and execute. We need to make this happen, and it's very possible. What do you guys think?