bqr: you’ve been a very gracious adversary in a very heated series, so don’t take this the wrong way when i say you’re high if you think you’re getting more than a bag of rocksalt for jj “roses are” reddick. however, despite my above posts, i do think if you’re a magic fan, you have a lot to be enthusiastic about going forward. best center in the game who’s only going to get better. fantastic coach. really tall dudes who can play inside and out. if i were you though, i would wake up in cold sweats knowing that otis smith has a daily opportunity to screw it all up.

I’m pretty sure the luxury tax kicks in when your payroll hits the low-to-mid $60 millions, though there’s an endless list of complicated exceptions and stuff that I really don’t understand that I believe can keep you from paying the luxury tax. All I know is, Portland’s payroll is fairly low for the NBA so they must have a ton of money to spend.

Source - http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/contracts

I’m sure to cover J.J. trade possibilities this offseason. Better get on that. In all likelihood, it starts Wednesday.

As for the Stuckey deal… we’ll see how that turns out. Initially, it looks bad for the Magic — Stuckey and Cato’s contract for 1.5 years of Darko and 2.5 years of Arroyo?!??! — but it’s not a total disaster. Not yet, anyway.

The real test for Otis is what he can do with J.J. this summer. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s finished here.

If it’s not obvious already, yes I have a man crush on Kevin Pritchard for his work as GM in Portland and I love the TrailBlazers team he’s put together. Think about this: besides Raef LaFrentz (7 years/$70 million, uch, but not Pritchard’s work), Portland’s highest cap hit is Pryzbilla’s 5 year/$32 million deal that expires in 2011, one I would still consider fairly reasonable. Despite all the tight spending and the colossal injury to Oden, Pritchard amassed a team that went .500 in the West. Now that Darius Miles’s contract no longer counts against their salary cap, this team has an insane amount of cap space. The Blazers are probably one starting PG (perhaps Jose Calderon, free agent this summer? I dunno that Arenas is the right fit in Portland) and one backup SG (Matt Barnes or perhaps a probably bargain basement priced Kirk Snyder?) away from ascending to elite status in the West.

And before anyone tells me I’m insane (though to be fair, my argument is predicated on them augmenting their team), New Orleans went from being the 10th place team in the west (39-43 record, only 3 games back of 8 seed Golden State) to finishing 2nd in the West this year with a 56-26 record. What changed? A healthy Peja Stojakovic and a pickup of Morris Peterson (as well as the seemingly inconsequential pickup of Melvin Ely), and the ascent of Chris Paul. Who’s to say Portland couldn’t make a similar change this year with a healthy Oden, the further ascent of some of its current cast of characters, and a free agent or two? Simply put, they absolutely can. And it’s all thanks to Kevin Pritchard. Okay, I’m done fawning for now.

Also, failing to get Kurt Thomas from Seattle even though they were offering a better deal than the Spurs is kind of weird. Maybe not entirely Smith’s fault, but it happened on his watch.

http://www.thirdquartercollapse.com/2008/2/28/131511/558

He’s also the guy who drafted Adonal Foyle over Tracy McGrady, if memory serves.

In Otis’ defense, his trades have been excellent. I know you guys don’t think much of Mo Evans (from what I gather, you like him, given how hard he played for you, but recognize his limitations as a player), but acquiring him from the Lakers was a great move. Give Trevor Ariza’s minutes to Evans and the Magic aren’t the three-point shooting threat they are now.

But the point is Redick, who may even be a better shooter than Kerr, but is completely useless in today’s league that now puts much greater emphasis on athleticism and less on pure shooting touch. He’s especially useless on a Magic squad that has a bunch of three-point shooters who may not shoot as well as him but do so much more offensively that it becomes a “What’s the point of Redick?” situation. Selecting Redick: dumb, dumb, dumb. Just look at the glut of guards selected after him in that draft who contribute on their respective teams now. Don’t try to count Will Blalock though, that’s homeristic cheating!

I’m not sure if there was a way Smith could know/sense Vazquez would stay overseas this long and he simply didn’t pick up on it because he’s a foolish GM. I think if Vazquez came over now or better yet, a couple of years ago, it would make a huge difference on this current Magic team. Vazquez is apparently locked in to ACB league ball through at least next year though. So basically, this is a “if my grandma had a certain male-only appendage, she’d be my grandpa” scenario.

The guy did draft Travis Diener 38th overall, and I don’t think Diener is too far from becoming as good (or better) than Jameer Nelson if he continues to develop under Jim O’Brien in Indiana. But yes, that hardly saves face for Smith when he didn’t even bother to keep Diener around! So on the whole, his record is quite spotty. Hell, he didn’t even draft Howard. I think his worst transaction though, is hiring Billy Donovan. What an egg-on-face situation that more or less reinforces “Mickey Mouse” status.

and the lakers never had anyone at point guard during the jackson era because you don’t need a true 1 for a triangle offense. he’s never had a reputable point. bj armstrong maybe? derek fisher possibly?

lindsay hunter?