NBA Free Agency Frenzy and How It Affects Orlando with Turkoglu and Gortat
Did we all give up the prospect of Hedo Turkoglu returning too soon? With the supposed $60 million offer from Toronto, the $50 million offer from Portland and the apparent rejection of a $35 million offer from Orlando, it appeared that there was absolutely no chance for the Magic to retain Hedo Turkoglu. That’s still probably true, but Magic fans can’t give up hope completely. There’s still a slight chance that Turkoglu will remain in Orlando even though the chance is very, very slim.
Lakers SF Trevor Ariza is as good as gone from LA. The Lakers want to re-sign Lamar Odom and Ariza wants to cash in and will ask for a contract that the Lakers just can’t afford. He would be a younger, cheaper and perhaps more interesting option for many teams. According to yahoo.com, Ariza is going to get between $32 and $40 million from the loser of the Turkoglu sweepstakes, whether it’d be Toronto or Portland. A conflicting report has said that the Raptors have turned their attention to Linas Kleiza of the Denver Nuggets and that they are out of the running to acquire the services of Turkoglu. The Raptors are also considering offering David Lee a huge contract which further leads me to believe that Turkoglu will not play for Toronto.
Detroit turned a lot of heads on day one of free agency by signing Bulls G Ben Gordon and Bucks F Charlie Villanueva. Sure, this may not seem like a huge deal to Magic fans, but it was originally thought that Turkoglu was Detroit’s first choice. By giving around $80 million to these two players, there is zero chance that Turk winds up a Piston.
That leaves only Portland who does have the resources to acquire Turkoglu, but they also have an unhappy Rudy Fernandez. As we mentioned earlier, Fernandez seems very displeased with all of the Turk to Portland rumors, but with Fernandez’s opportunities to play overseas, this shouldn’t stop Turk or the Blazers, which is quite unfortunate for Orlando. Unless Hedo decides to give Orlando a serious hometown discount, Otis Smith ups his ante or Turk decides that the ring’s the thing he’s after, which is something Orlando gives him a much better shot at than any other one of his suitors, he will most like be packing his bags for Oregon.
In other news, the Magic seem to have a better chance at retaining backup PF/C Marcin Gortat. Florida TodayMagicbeat writer John Denton seems to have changed his opinion on Gortat quite a bit in the last few days. I’m not so sure this is a good thing. Several teams are prepared to offer Gortat the mid level exception worth about $5.5 million per season.
"As the free-agent offers for Hedo Turkoglu reportedly continue to soar to as high as $50 million, the likelihood of reserve center Marcin Gortat returning to the Orlando Magic also has increased.But because Gortat, a two-year NBA player, is a restricted free agent, the Magic have the right to match any contract offer he receives. With heavy interest from Houston, Dallas, Indiana and New York, Gortat is trying to secure a deal for the NBA’s mid-level exception (worth approximately $5.5 million next season). A five-year deal could be worth approximately $35 million."
You can see the full article here. This would mean that the Magic have decided that they have lost Turkoglu and have given up on chasing PFs Rasheed Wallace and Brandon Bass, two superior players that fill much bigger needs than Gortat. It would also probably not be a bright idea to give a backup big man that only averaged 3.8 PPG and 4.5 RPG, a $35 million contract.
It was an exciting first day of Free Agency in the NBA and this is only the beginning.