Remember last season? You know, the one where it was all about Dwight and Hedo, all about the injury to Jameer and all about no depth in Orlando?
Seems like a long way in the past after the events of the last couple weeks, starting with the big deal to get Vince Carter to come down to Florida and culminating last week with a couple more big signings, albeit not quite with the star potential VC brings.
But the signing of Brandon Bass and the surprise agreement to match a big offer sheet from the Mavericks given to Marcin Gortat really does show that the Magic are keen not to go back into rebuilding mode.
Still, is everything as rosy as it seems? Will Basketball betting be expecting success for the Magic? All of a sudden there are only three guards on the roster and a load of depth up front, so what happens if Jameer or VC goes down again this year? (And given their respective histories there is a good chance of it!)
At the moment there is only Anthony Johnson and Mickael Pietrus on the books to back them up, and although the free agent market might enable the Magic to find something a little better, would they be able to afford someone like Ramon Sessions or even Allen Iverson because it's going to be impossible to find an unrestricted free agent to do anything other than fill a spot at the end of the bench.
The only possible help could come from Andre Miller (way too expensive) or Brevin Knight (injured more often than most) but it has to be a concern for Otis Smith that one injury could completely derail a season.
Luckily the big men seem likely to cover themselves. Gortat's end of season improvement should carry on into 2009/10, Bass was a superb signing and should take some of the rebounding off Dwight Howard, helping him look after himself a little more in the regular season.
And then there is Ryan Anderson, the apparent make-weight in the Carter deal.
Now he is making quite the impact in the Orlando Pro Summer League and could just be something of a diamond in the rough. Anderson was named to the team of the week after a 31-point 15-rebound effort against the Celtics and looks ideal to fill a role in reserve of Rashard Lewis.
So keep an eye on Smith and Stan Van over the next few weeks, but don't place any basketball bets on them signing any more forwards...please!
