Sign And Trade Dead On Arrival?

As is the case with news reporting by and large these days, the facts switch around every two seconds. This is why I fully expected to wake up this morning and see that the sign and trade deal for Rashard Lewis was dead.

Lo and behold the Sentinel this morning:

"Otis Smith said it appears a proposed sign-and-trade deal with Lewis' former team, the Seattle SuperSonics, is a no-go. The maneuver would have allowed the Magic to create cap space to perhaps re-sign Milicic and provide Lewis with a lucrative sixth year, but Smith contends Cornstein all but sabotaged the deal on his end with the Sonics."

Meanwhile John Denton is claiming that we ARE going to do a sign and trade, but it will only be for a 6th year for Lewis.

Between the two I would have to believe that the deal is dead. It wouldn't be beneficial to us to sign Rashard to that 6th year and lose stuff in the process. Signing Lewis outright hurts us in this free agency period because now all of our funds are basically used up and, outside of extending Jameer Nelson's contract, we can't do anything more. Some people are going to contend that we can trade Hedo Turkoglu, but I think if we do that we probably won't end up with equal value in return. An opening day lineup like this seems possible:

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PG: Nelson, Dooling, Arroyo

SG: Redick, Ariza

SF: Lewis, Turkoglu

PF: Battie, Garrity, Augustine

C: Howard, Gortat

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Yes, that was a shudder you felt as you looked at our backup PF. It is what we are left with after two of our most recent first round drafts went towards getting Power Forwards who wound up leaving us in the dust (Franny and Darko). There always is the chance of a trade for our expiring contracts, so we still have hope. This is a shame too since Rashard Lewis' arrival will most likely be a bittersweet affair. I think he will elevate himself to one of the best with the pairing of Dwight Howard and he deserves better, but sometimes fate...well, she's a bitch.