Darko Milicic No Longer In Magic's Plans

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http://forums.floridatoday.com/viewtopic.php?t=41647&sid=e4e37d94d5c0741feca38b3e63652557

By John Denton
FLORIDA TODAY
ORLANDO _ Darko Milicic’s time with the Orlando Magic is apparently over.

``He’s moved on and we’ve moved on, too,’’ Magic general manager Otis Smith said Tuesday.

The Magic withdrew a $6.8 million qualifying offer from Milicic last week, making him an unrestricted free agent. The Magic had still hoped to retain the 22-year-old Serbian center, but those plans to a major detour when Marc Cornstein, Milicic’s agent, blasted the Magic for not courting his client harder.

Smith hasn’t talked to Cornstein and has instead left the negotiating to assistant general manager Dave Twardzik. He is in Las Vegas, scouting the summer league there, and has held several conversations with Cornstein.

The Magic pursued coveted free-agent forward Rashard Lewis on July 1 and reached an agreement with him last week on a maximum contract. Lewis, who turns 28 next month, will officially sign a five- or six-year deal with the Magic on Wednesday.

``We hope to sign a big free agent tomorrow and then that leaves Darko free and clear,’’ said Smith, who isn’t allowed to talk about Lewis until the league’s moratorium is lifted tonight at midnight.

To land Lewis, the Magic still have to clear cap room. One possible option would be renouncing Milicic, meaning the Magic give up all their rights to him.

The Magic have tried to execute a sign-and-trade deal with Milicic around the league, but no team has been willing to offer him a contract starting at more than the mid-level exception ($5.5 million). Milicic can get that deal without needing sign-and-trade assistance from the Magic.

``There just hasn’t been a deal come up that makes sense to us,’’ Smith said.

The exact worth of Lewis’ deal is still unknown because the NBA won't announce the new salary-cap figures until today. Lewis and the Magic agreed last week that he would receive a maximum contract, meaning he will be entitled to 30 percent of next year's salary cap.

If the cap is set at $56 million, as Magic officials expect, that would mean Lewis' starting salary would be $16.8 million. His yearly pay would rise all the way to $22.1 million by the 2011-2012 season when he will be 32 years old. If he signs with the Magic for five years, he's entitled to 8 percent annual raises and his contract would be worth $97.4 million.

If Orlando can execute a sign-and-trade with Seattle, it would be extremely beneficial to Lewis. That kind of deal would give Lewis 10.5 percent annual raises, meaning his contract would go from $16.8 million to $18.5 million to $20.3 million to $22 million to $23.8 million to $25.6 million. The six-year pact would be worth a staggering $127.2 million.

Magic franchise center Dwight Howard is expected to sign his five-year contract extension on Thursday. Howard will get at least $85 million, and the fifth year will be at Howard’s option. The exact amount of his contract won’t be decided until next July when the salary cap for the 2008-09 season is set.
_________________
John Denton is a FLORIDA TODAY sports reporter and the Orlando Magic beat writer
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I still can't believe they are going to give Rashard Lewis a max deal :confused: . Seems like they were bidding against themselves as no one else was going to do it.
 
Warhawk said:
Holy cow are they overpaying.....
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Yes, as wiht Peja last year. Now consider the possible ramidfications with Kevin next summer. :eek: Seems that the salary stratification is failing -- everybody who can sniff 20pts is going in and asking to be paid like a superstar. Kobe's worht on the open market? $15mil. LeBron's worth? $15mil. Rashard's worth $15mil??
 
kingzzzfan4ever said:
The Kings should sign Darko. It would be nice to have three seven foot C's on the roster. :)
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It would, however signing a guy who never lived up to the potential, or quite frankly not even close to his potential to a supposedly $8-10 million dollar a year deal would probably be a mistake. Especially when you see the guy on the court half hustling a lot of times.
 
This doesn't make any sense. What is Smith doing, going after Mchale, Knight, King et al in "Worst GM" competition? One thing is overpaying for Lewis (while it probably easy to guess that Sonics won't offer him 6 year or anything near the max with Durrant on board), and completely another thing is giving up Darko for free, because otherwise they cannot pay Lewis? So, Lewis deal becomes max deal plus Darko.

Whatever you may think about Darko, however bad he may be, he still had some value to Orlando until now. Magic could not sign and trade him when the rest of the league knew that magic will have to renounce him tomorrow in order to complete Lewis deal and at the same time the only teams with more then MLE to offer are out of Darko stakes...I have to wander if magic could either wait and see with Lewis or try to sign and trade Darko first...then offer Lewis the max.

At any rate this may work out well for Darko, he will have to play for MLE, so probably short term deal, and he will really have to prove himself as an NBA player and not sulk at being No 2 pick who is not starting....
 
If there are no offers at above the MLE out there, it might actually bring us into play. At that point I would think he'd be looking for minutes/starting spot, and there are only a handful of teams out there that can offer that -- New Jersey, maybe Philly, Houston, maybe us (although again we are clogged with old guys who want minutes).

And if he was looking for a short term deal -- let's say 2 years, that could fit in with outr 08-09 strategy too (althoguh the truth is that adding his salary, and then having him come up due that summer would likely wipe out our cap room unless we find some way to move the sorry long term deals we have stacked up).
 
hiero said:
It would, however signing a guy who never lived up to the potential, or quite frankly not even close to his potential to a supposedly $8-10 million dollar a year deal would probably be a mistake. Especially when you see the guy on the court half hustling a lot of times.
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Unless it is a S&T, he's probably stuck with the MLE wherever he goes....
 
The magic missed up simple as is. Lewis is not a max player giving him that kind of money will have a long term effect on the team. They plan on giving Lewis and Dwight max contract putting them over the the cap and making it impossible to resign future f/a's and their own. And really after losing Hill and Darko I have to question how much better the magic have become.

And i really hope Darko goes to a team that could just let him start for once, the man has talent but has never played for a team that will let him show it. I would love for him to go to Sac but i don't think they are in rebuild mode yet and will let him start over guys like Sar, Thomas and Brad. If Darko and his agent are smart enough they would sign with a team like Phi where they need a big, are rebuilding, and there is no pressure to win therefore he could play to his strengths.
 
DaMan said:
The magic missed up simple as is. Lewis is not a max player giving him that kind of money will have a long term effect on the team. They plan on giving Lewis and Dwight max contract putting them over the the cap and making it impossible to resign future f/a's and their own. And really after losing Hill and Darko I have to question how much better the magic have become.

And i really hope Darko goes to a team that could just let him start for once, the man has talent but has never played for a team that will let him show it. I would love for him to go to Sac but i don't think they are in rebuild mode yet and will let him start over guys like Sar, Thomas and Brad. If Darko and his agent are smart enough they would sign with a team like Phi where they need a big, are rebuilding, and there is no pressure to win therefore he could play to his strengths.
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yeah, the magic aren't thinking clearly lewis isn't a max player, but thats our opinion the league thinks otherwise, i believe the magic got desperate, and the only way to land lewis is a max contract. eh could be!
 
who was going to give lewis that kinda deal? no one... orlando should try to s&t darko to seattle for lewis with darko getting 6-7 mill... i doubt that sea does it though. they dont need darko...
 
the magic, if the 120million figure is true, have made one of the worst moves in recent history (the ones done by isiah are not in competition). now, if the raptors can somehow get their hands on darko and hedo (offering tj ford maybe), the all european team would come to existence. of course, with bosh around, darko is not that much needed, but who knows?
 
are the magic that desperate to get a young shooter? :eek: over $100 mill thru his contract is insane.. thats some lebron, wade, kobe $$$ there.. i wouldn't pay more than 8 mill/yr for a lewis type player.
 
Yep, there is an article out saying that the magic have completed a sign and trade deal that will pay Lewis 126.6 million dollars, lol. The magic are going to pay a guy who may not even be a top 30 player and just a good shooter 126 million dollars that is freaking KG and Shaq money, lol. Combine this with Dwight's max deal and this will set back the magic from improving for many years. Here is the article:

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070711/SPORTS/707110371/1002/SPORTS

The Magic will finalize a contract with Lewis, the most coveted small forward on the free-agent market, today. A news conference will be held this afternoon where the Magic will announce that Lewis has signed a six-year sign-and-trade deal worth a staggering $127.2 million. According to a source close to the negotiations who asked to remain anonymous, Orlando will send a second-round pick back to Seattle as compensation in the sign-and-trade deal.

Lewis, who turns 28 next month, will get a starting salary of $16.8 million next season -- the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement for a player with nine years of NBA experience. From there, he'll get 10.5 percent annual raises and the deal will be worth a whopping $25.6 million in the final season.

A five-year, $85 million contract extension for Howard, Orlando's franchise center, will be finalized by Thursday. Howard, who will make $6 million next season under the final year of his rookie contract, will see his salary jump to $14 million in 2008-09. He will have an option on the fifth year of the deal, meaning he could become a free agent again after the 2011-12 season.

Milicic's time with the Magic apparently is over. Orlando withdrew a $6.8 million qualifying offer from Milicic last week, and will apparently renounce its rights to the 22-year-old power forward/center today.

Assistant general manager Dave Twardzik has since handled all the negotiations with Milicic's camp. After several failed attempts to work a sign-and-trade deal in order to get compensation for Milicic, the Magic decided to cut ties with the Serbian shot-swatter.

"There just hasn't been a deal come up that makes sense to us," said Smith, who couldn't get into specifics until the NBA's moratorium was lifted at midnight early today. "We hope to sign a big free agent (today) and then that leaves Darko free and clear."

In Orlando, Lewis will often be designated as a power forward, but not in the traditional sense of the position. With Howard anchoring the post, the Magic want Lewis and the 6-foot-10 Turkoglu on the wings to spread the floor with their shooting ability.

Smith thinks that some combination of J.J. Redick, Keyon Dooling and Trevor Ariza can man the shooting guard slot and replace Hill, who will sign a two-year, $4 million deal with the Phoenix Suns.

And the Magic GM feels that point guard Jameer Nelson and Turkoglu will rebound from down seasons, making Orlando a more complete basketball team.
 
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That is stupid why do a s&T when they could sign him out right for 5 years? man the thier front office is stupid not only they lose a pick for nothing thiey pay Lewis an extra 2 million per year AND a extra year through a S&T deal. WTF no way lewis is worth 21 million per year.
 
nbrans said:
I guess they wanted to give Seattle a massive trade exception?
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Yeah, I'm still trying to figure that one out....

and gave up a 2nd round pick, too....

Should've just signed him to the cheaper 5-year deal and kept the pick.
 
I would love to see Darko on the team. We have to remember that the guy is only 22 years old and has lots of room for improvment.

If he would want to....play for the MLE for a couple years while we see how he pans out and clear cap space.
 
I agree with Amory. Darko is young and he's got time to get better. I think the Kings should give him a chance. I think Darko is just frustrated right now because he never got that many minutes to prove himself.
 
Capt. Factorial said:
The Kings don't really look to be a good fit for Darko - there are three veteran frontcourt players (Brad, Kenny, Shareef) demanding minutes, a promising rookie C in Hawes, and of course Kingsfans' own darling Justin Williams. Darko may be resigned to signing an MLE contract for one or two years, after which he could get his big deal by either re-signing or finding a team with cap space, but in the meantime he's going to want to increase his value by getting PT, which will be scarce here unless there's a major roster shake-up. Seems like there might be a good deal of frontcourt time available in Houston, though...
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There SHOULD be big minutes availble up front. Starters minutes. Whether there will be or not with all those contacts still on the roster is another question. But we clearly are a Top 5 team in the NBA as far as desperately needing a big minute PF. The presence of a variety of washed up sewer trout should not really matter.
 
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