Brian Schmitz has the story for the Sentinel.
The loss of a mediocre big-man wouldn't worry most teams, but it has to worry us. Battie's value is not that he's a good player, but that he's better than everyone else the Magic have at power forward; that is, he keeps even worse players off the floor. Pat Garrity is going to have to dust-off his sneakers and get ready to play again, and rookie Marcin Gortat and seven-minute NBA veteran James Augustine are going to also get in the game.
As you can imagine, teams with venerable frontcourts -- I'm thinking specifically of Utah with Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur; New York with Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph; and Phoenix with Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion -- now have their teams' game-days against the Magic circled on their calendars.
Suddenly, the Southeast doesn't look so winnable...