George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel says keeping Dwight Howard is on general managr Otis Smith:

&..."/> George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel says keeping Dwight Howard is on general managr Otis Smith:

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Orlando Magic Daily
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Orlando Magic News & Notes

By Andrew Melnick

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George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel says keeping Dwight Howard is on general managr Otis Smith:

"But the best way to keep you is to surround you with talent that can compete for an NBA title. And there’s currently not enough talent on the roster to do that.So consider this a favor Mr. Howard.We are putting the onus on Smith and the Magic to sweeten the deal by improving the roster to keep you in town."

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel talked to salary cap guru Larry Coon about Orlando’s situation:

"“They’re in bad shape, I think,” Coon said of the Magic.“Their payroll is the second-highest in the league behind the Lakers and they’ve got a couple of salary albatrosses in Gilbert Arenas and Hedo. What do you do when you have a guy on the roster [Arenas] who really isn’t a great contributor and is owed $62.4 million over the next three years and you’re trying to keep Dwight Howard and you’ve got Hedo Turkoglu on there and you’ve got other things that you’re trying to do? They don’t have a lot of flexibility.”Coon noted that the ongoing collective bargaining talks bring a huge variable into play. The owners want a far more restrictive cap. The players want a system that resembles the current structure."

Speaking of the cap, Zach Lowe of the Point Forward discussed a potential franchise tag in the NBA:

"The tag, however, would be very different from the NFL’s version, which allows a team to essentially block one of its free agents from entering the market by binding him to his incumbent team with a one-year contract that carries a high salary based on various parameters.The system the league has presented would not work this way, according to sources. Instead, a team would be allowed to designate one player for preferential contractual treatment, including more overall money, more guaranteed money and at least one extra year on his contract. A player would have to agree to such a designation. It is designed to work as an incentive to get a player to remain with his team rather than as a roadblock to free agency, the sources said."

Dan Savage of OrlandoMagic.com weighs in on Dwight Howard’s situation:

"It would be nice if our good friends at the Orlando Sentinel could lead the charge, instead of engaging in similar tactics to the ones that reportedly ran Shaquille O’Neal out of town.While I understand that they’re reporters and it’s their journalistic duty to report any significant updates in regards to Howard’s future, I fail to see how a dress-Dwight-in-other-uniforms website fits that criteria."

Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel evaluates Gilbert Arenas and Ryan Anderson.

Dan Savage also takes a look at how Magic players are training during the offseason:

"After participating in workouts with several of their teammates at Amway Center, guard Chris Duhon and forward Earl Clark joined Magic Strength-and-Conditioning Coach Joe Rogowski over at Gym Rat Boxing.The trio then participated in a strenuous hour and a half workout to help increase conditioning, core strength as well as improve their hand-eye coordination and footwork.“It helps with your core strength which is vital to everything that you do,” Duhon explained. “Hand-eye coordination and footwork, again which is relevant to what you do on the basketball court.”"

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and ESPN 1080’s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).