The 6 Things On My Wish List For This Offseason

Monday began in the way most Mondays do: With people piling dirt on the Magic's grave.

Tim Duncan, apparently sensing that the Magic didn't have a rough enough week last week, took time out from his 80 zillionth NBA Finals appearance to say that he alllllllllllmost went to the Magic when they wanted to get him. He said David Robinson and Gregg Popovich swayed him to resign with the Spurs.

Ah well, no time to cry over spilled milk. We have a young team with a heralded new head coach and a wad of bills to spend this offseason. It's time to laugh at that spilled milk and give it the finger as we look to the future.

One thing that many Magic fans forgot, including myself, is that despite the coaching fiasco this offseason has just begun. We still have the draft, free agency, training camp, and all of that jazz. Everyone has their opinion on how they want this offseason to go, and I am no exception.

I present to you my hopes and wishes for this offseason, which I am hoping the Magic lay out on the table like a royal flush for the opposition next year:

1)The Magic should hire Stan Van Gundy. Check!

2)The Magic should try to resign Darko. The team has already said that this is their priority and I would have to agree with them. Darko might still prove to be a bust, but after making the brilliant move of aquiring him for Kelvin "Grimace from McDonaldland" Cato, the Magic need to see what he is capable of. I am convinced he can be a valuable asset if the team just allows him to open up his game like the would like and I think SVG will accomplish this. He was one of our best guys in the playoffs last year which is a good sign that he will only continue to get better.


3)The Magic should sign Rashard Lewis. If Lewis is not available, sign Gerald Wallace. I know what many of you are thinking: Where's the love for Vince Carter? Well, I am part of that group that thinks that Carter is on the downswing of his career and has about 3 years left in him before he is nothing more than a better than average role player who is getting paid top dollar. We all already know that Carter did poorly in the playoffs last year, but this overshadowed the larger problem in that he went through stretches last season when he just wasn't good. He was making poor shooting decisions, he looked apathetic in games, and had other problems in a year in which he was looking to impress potential suitors.

At this point I think Rashard Lewis is the top scorer on the market and that is exactly what Otis said that he wants to target this offseason. If Rashard is too pricey, we might go with Gerald Wallace, who is better defensively but not as prolific on offense. How we would clear money for these guys leads me to #4...

4)The Magic should trade Hedo Turkoglu. Anyone who knows me knows that I think Hedo is the most frustrating player on the team. Unlike other players, when he has a bad night he doesn't know when to stop shooting. This results in 1-14 nights from the floor. He also had a lot of the aformentioned 'bad nights' last year, blaming a phantom illness that no one seemed to be able to help. Bottom line is that he is a very streaky shooter that cannot be depended on except in spot minutes. So who would want him? I think a contender could use a shooter like Hedo to come off of the bench. When coaches gauge how hot he is on a given night, he can still be useful.


5)The Magic should finally get Marcin Gortat to play in America. Gortat did very well before the season started last year and most people expected him to add to our team's big man depth. These hopes were dashed when Brian Hill said that Marcin needed more time to develop and threw him back to Europe for another year. While I am sure that it helped Marcin, I was not very pleased with Hill's decision and likened it to when we let Dwight Howard's big man coach, Clifford Ray, go. I hope we bring Marcin over for this season as I think he could give our team a big spark off of the bench.

6)The Magic should get Dwight a big man coach, let Darko shoot outside more often, and actually let Diener play a bit. These three I lumped together because I think they were three things that I felt really held back our team under the Brian Hill era. I think if these three things are addressed it will help our team exponentially and give us some real promise out of the youth on our team.


So it would appear I am asking for a lot on my offseason Christmas list this year, but we are already 1/6th there. Hopefully Otis Claus has determined our team has been 'Nice' this past year and he throws these presents down the fans' chimneys.