Magic moving on from Glen Davis

It did not take long for the Magic to move on from Glen Davis' sudden and somewhat unexpected departure. The NBA schedule would not allow it. The games always come fast and furious.

There was not much time to think about the dearly departed as the team moved quickly after the trade deadline to buyout Glen Davis' contract.

"Any role that we would have asked him to fill, he would have gladly done it," Magic general manager Rob Hennigan said Friday about Glen Davis. "This was about trying to do right by him and helping him move forward in the proper way."

Glen Davis took to Twitter on Friday after the buyout was announced and thanked Magic fans:

This seemed purely to be a business decision for the Magic. Davis did not fit their future plans and they could not get anything of value in return for him. Rob Hennigan said he would not make a deal just to make a deal. Everything is about "the plan" and "the process."

It appears they have moved quickly to make their replacements for him. Friday, the Orlando Sentinel confirmed a Memphis Commercial Appeal report that the Magic would sign Adonis Thomas and Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported the Magic would also sign Dewayne Dedmon to fill up two oif the three roster spots on the Magic's roster.

Thomas is averaging 16.2 points per game on 46.9 percent 3-point shooting and 46.3 percent shooting from the floor for the Springfield Armor of the D-League. Dedmon is averaging 15.2 points and 13.5 rebounds per game for the Santa Cruz Warriors of the D-League. They are both very young players the Magic will take a look at for the rest of the season once the signings become official.

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All this was clearly set in motion by the Magic's inability to find a deal. Davis is owed $6.6 million next year and is owed $6.4 million for this entire year. The Magic have decided to eat that money as they waived another multi-year deal.

"I think it's our job always to look at ways to explore how to improve the team," Hennigan said. "Certainly around the trade deadline, those type of initiatives and exploratory talks ramp up. Were we looking for picks? Were we looking for players? We were just looking for ways to improve the team. We weren't able to find anythign that we felt did that, so we stood pat."

Davis undoubtedly had some issues. But he was a veteran in the locker room that provided some guidance to the younger guys. He has that postseason experience and that desire to win. He took losses these past two seasons as hard as anyone.

But he was also taking up a lot of minutes — and a lot of shots — from the young guys the Magic want to develop. Davis was clearly not in the team's future and would be moved along at some point. Now, seemed to be that point — especially if his attitude soured as attention on the young guys would grow.

"We value all the veterans we have on our team," Hennigan said. "They have an important role on our team. Yes, we have a very young team, but i think you need to be careful of becoming too young and having too much youth. Finding that balance of young, old and everything in the middle is important as we move forward."

The Magic are moving forward. They are getting younger by taking a look at some new, young players (it appears), and like last year, expect young players to get more playing time. Jameer Nelson sitting out fourth quarters could be a norm, especially if Victor Oladipo continues to improve the way he has.

What is clear is Rob Hennigan and Orlando have a plan in place. And they know at what time each piece of the puzle should fall. The Draft is clearly the next thing to fall that is out of their control.

Hennigan said things are heading in the right direction though.

"It's part of the process," Hennigan said. "I think we're moving in the right direction. We've still got a lot of work to do, but I think this is another step in the plan of building a team that can be together for a long time and be comeptitive for a long time."