Matt Barnes to sign with Orlando

^ Agree. For the amount the Magic signed him Barnes is a very good signing. To be honest I thought the Magic were doomed the moment they signed Rashard to that ridiculous contract, but since the Magic owners stepped up took the lux tax hit it wouldn't really matter. Losing Turkuglu hurts, but Carter can pick up most of the scoring slack. With Nelson coming back at full strength I actually see this as an upgrade, as this team is stacked. A lineup of Carter, Bass, Nelson, Rashard and DH is less gimicky than what they had last season, but I think it would be more effective as just getting Nelson back for Rafer is already a huge increase in talent. Now they also have quality depth at the big and swing positions with Barnes and Gortat.

 

That's a little bit of an overstatement, and my problem with the signing in the first place.

It's cheap, if you think about a highlight reel of his. If you take actual production, who knows? Because if the Magic do stay healthy, I don't see how Gortat gets enough minutes to figure out if he really can produce in more than backup minute stats. He didn't get a ton of PT last year, and that was before the team improved the frontcourt with Bass.

Plus, is his contract really that tradeable? It's not $10+ million a year, but does have some length on it. Moreover, in today's market, most teams will be looking for expirings around the deadline, right? The few teams who won't be will be those "in contention". But why would Orlando trade him to a team within their own conference that they'd be competing against in the playoffs, unless they were clearly filling a need of their own with a productive player.

I'm not saying a trade is impossible or even improbable. And I certainly understand the concept of not letting an asset just walk for nothing. They were able to match Gortat without using their MLE, which is why they did it - they kept the MLE to address other needs, like through the Barnes signing. But I was just trying to put on my GM/Owner hat for a moment. Even in a best case type scenario, where Gortat plays enough backup minutes to have some value, is traded for something in return that you think will be helpful, you still have to hope the trade works out for you on the court, and you still will have that salary on the roster...and the Magic are way way over the cap, and over the luxury tax threshold. And it's not just for this year...their projected team salary, in 2012/2013, 4 years away, is still $62 million.

If I was a Magic fan, I'm happy for the all the marbles approach, glad that there is some Dwight injury insurance, don't care how much extra luxury tax money the owner wants to spend (not my money, right) and would have my fingers crossed for next year. I'm not their GM, right, and surely would make mistakes if I was, anyway.

But I kind of view their center position as a NFL quarterback. Dwight has a lot of improving to do, but if he goes down, it's great you have that insurance, but don't expect to win it all. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have a good backup (the Patriots filled in a year nicely with Cassell - missed the playoffs, right, but the organization as a whole didn't take an steps back or anything), but at what price?