Did The Orlando Magic Upgrade Or Downgrade Their Team When They "Swapped" Hedo Turkoglu For Vince Carter?

HacheMan · Jul 21, 2009

There was no official swap or trade of course, but Orlando basically let Turkoglu go by signing Carter.

Despite the stat sheet that can be compared between Vince & Hedo, I personally think the Magic took a step backwards, but they have since improved & added depth by bringing in Brandon Bass from Dallas & now Matt Barnes from Phoenix........

<TABLE width="100%" align=center><TBODY><TR><TD class=vaLabel vAlign=top align=middle width=100 rowSpan=5>

</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=subHead vAlign=top colSpan=3>Matt Barnes agrees to two-year deal w/ Magic </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=vaLabel colSpan=3>Matt Barnes - G/F - ORL - Jul. 21

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Free agent Matt Barnes and the Magic have agreed in principal to a two-year deal.
Barnes' agent, Aaron Goodwin, confirmed the deal early Tuesday morning. "He has agreed to a two-year deal, and I believe that Dwight's (Howard) recruitment of him truly sealed the deal," Goodwin said in a text to the Orlando Sentinel. Barnes could start at small forward for the Magic, but it depends on whether they choose to go with Brandon Bass or Rashard Lewis at power forward.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
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SundayTiger · Jul 21, 2009

Well one thing is for sure about the Magic's offseason. The matching of Gortat's contract was a terrible move. That is way too much money to commit to a guy who is only going to see the floor 10-13 minutes a night at his position, the 5. Howard is going to play at least 35 minutes a night over the course of the season.

alalha · Jul 21, 2009

SundayTiger said:
Well one thing is for sure about the Magic's offseason. The matching of Gortat's contract was a terrible move. That is way too much money to commit to a guy who is only going to see the floor 10-13 minutes a night at his position, the 5. Howard is going to play at least 35 minutes a night over the course of the season.

i disagree. i think signing gortat was a good move even though they had to pay alot. did you not see how many times dwight got into a foul trouble and gortat's presence was huge in winning a lot of games.

SundayTiger · Jul 22, 2009

alalha said:
i disagree. i think signing gortat was a good move even though they had to pay alot. did you not see how many times dwight got into a foul trouble and gortat's presence was huge in winning a lot of games.

Gortat aint much better than Oberto. You could have signed Oberto for 2 years 4 million. You can't tell me that Gortat is worth 3 million more a year at 13 minutes a game. Plus they locked it up for 5 years. They will regret that contract in a couple years.

They could of used that extra 3 million to up Turks offer and maybe keep him for a couple more years.

Sammy439 · Jul 22, 2009

Carter is a big step down from Turk. Very big step down. Big enough to where the Magic will not be contenders next season.

Turk was their only guy who could break down the defense and create his own shot. Other than the PG's. Turk was the only tall guy that could do this. Lewis is a spot up shooter.

They broke apart a championship caliber team, and I don't know why?

Carter has half the heart that Turk had and is now a spot up shooter himself. He can't play many minutes either. He may not average 12 points a game next year.

A Vince Carter 12 years ago would have made them by far the team to beat in the NBA. But he is just too old.