Some realism on Tmac
Les R. Popow
Sure hope Tmac doesn't read this. It could burst his bubble.
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Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady.
Not bad, but not good enough.
The Orlando Magic spent nearly two seasons finding ways to create enough
salary cap space to be able to sign two free agents. Well, it seems they
have their players.
The only problem is, they didn't get the one that could have won them a
title.
Hill and McGrady have said they will sign with the Magic, and they will help
Orlando win plenty of games over the next few seasons. But to win an NBA
championship, the Magic needed the one that got away.
Among free agents, Tim Duncan is the most dominant since Shaquille O'Neal
bolted from Orlando to Los Angeles in 1996.
Even though he helped lead the Spurs to the 1999 championship, and even
though the Spurs will move into a new arena in the next few years, Duncan
never gave any strong hints that he was leaning toward staying in San
Antonio.
Knowing the talented 7-footer would be leading a strong free-agent class,
Orlando undertook a risky rebuilding process. The Magic broke up a team that
tied for the best record in the Eastern Conference in 1999, beginning with
the trades of Penny Hardaway and three other starters.
The transactions continued through June's draft, leaving Orlando nearly $21
million under the salary cap and able to sign two free agents to maximum
allowable contracts.
They used that cap room to pursue Duncan and Hill, who together would have
formed a team that would have instantly become a championship favorite.
But after Hill gave his commitment to the Magic, Duncan announced he was
staying put. That meant that even when McGrady decided he would join Hill in
Florida, the rebuilding project was doomed to fall short.
Orlando's modus operandi, which included everything from trading players
during its chase for a playoff spot to dealing two of the first 13 picks in
the draft, was to build a team that could compete for the championship in
2000-01. Without Duncan, that's not happening.
"We tried to exhaust every opportunity. We tried to change his mind and sway
him," Orlando general manager John Gabriel said of his club's pursuit of
Duncan, who led San Antonio to a championship in just his second season.
"We made a battle out of it. We took the best shot that we could."
Duncan and Hill would have put Orlando in the same class with the Lakers and
Portland Trail Blazers at the top of the NBA. Now the Magic will surely be
an improved team, but then again, so will the Los Angeles Clippers and
Chicago Bulls.
With Hill and McGrady, the Magic have landed arguably the NBA's top small
forward and an above-average shooting guard with infinite upside. But before
Orlando fans get too excited about their championship prospects, they must
consider whether their new duo is even good enough to win the Eastern
Conference.
If everything in the East remains status quo, will the pairing of Hill and
McGrady be enough to get Orlando past the Indiana duo of Jalen Rose and
Reggie Miller or New York's Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston?
For that matter, is it really much better than what Detroit had last season
with Hill and Jerry Stackhouse, or what Toronto had with its pairing of
McGrady and Vince Carter? Both Detroit and Toronto, as you recall, were
swept out of the playoffs in the first round.
The duo of Hill and McGrady certainly won't be as good as Michael Jordan and
Scottie Pippen were in Chicago, and that was the only team in recent memory
centered around a shooting guard-small forward tandem to capture the
championship.
Hill, who is recovering from a broken ankle, has proven himself to be a star
in the NBA, but he has also proven he can't carry a team past the first
round of the postseason. For Orlando to be transformed into an instant
championship threat, the idea would have been for Hill to be the secondary
player behind Duncan.
And who knows how much help Hill will get from McGrady, who will someday be
a star but for now is only 21 and has started just 53 games in his
three-year career. In fact, if the Magic were going to win now they might
have been better with Charlotte's Eddie Jones, another free-agent guard who
is a three-time All-Star.
Orlando had high hopes going into the offseason. After losing O'Neal and
Hardaway in the last five years, the Magic could have landed two Olympians
and emerged as one of the biggest winners ever in free agency.
Instead, it seems they've spent a long time preparing for another long
summer.
---
Brian Mahoney is a writer for AP MegaSports. Write to him at
bmah...@ap.org.
AJT
offseason, have have promised huge paydays and long term deals to Amechi,
Wallace, and Outlaw. This should total about 20 mil over the Cap come next
offseason, and leave them capped out for a good 5-7 years. If they don't
win with this bunch of core players, they ain't ever going to win.
ajt
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