# Otis disses Turk



## HB

*Ding Ding Ding!*



> After Hedo Turkoglu backed out of a verbal agreement with Portland in order to sign with the Raptors, many felt the Blazers let a top player slip away.
> 
> But Orlando Magic general manager Otis Smith didn't agree.
> *
> In a conversation with Blazers' general manager Kevin Pritchard, Smith told Pritchard that he had "caught a break" with Turkoglu signing elsewhere and made it clear the Blazers "weren't missing out on anything," sources tell RealGM's Alex Kennedy.*
> 
> Smith didn't feel that Turkoglu was worth the five-year, $50 million Portland was ready to spend.
> 
> Turkoglu spent five seasons in Orlando before signing with Toronto.


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## roux

Of course he did, he isnt on the team anymore, if Turk would have resigned with Orlando all you would hear about is how valuable he is. Its just another case of a gm talking out both sides of his mouth


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## Dre

They're really not. He's overrated, especially if you have to give him minutes at 4. No post game and way too inconsistent.


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## Zuca

In other news, Otis doesn't think that Rashard Lewis is overpaid. :wtf:


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## Stan Van Gundy

In other news, Hedo Turkoglu has averages of 12.3 PPG / 42% FG and a 15.1 PER over the course of his career and has had ONE 11 Mil / Per season in his 9-Year NBA Career.

More to come on this story at 10.


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## roux

he also came off the bench on those Kings teams before coming to Orlando, his potential as a starter may have been reached last year


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## John

Is he marketable? Let's be honest


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## Dre

Yeah, I don't think the general public is in a space where they can accept a Hedo Turkoglu record.


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## Idunkonyou

When you got idiots in the media calling you the MVP of your team, even though Howard, Nelson and Lewis are on that team, you are overrated. He wasn't worth that money and the Raptors will find out soon enough. Further more he let his wife lead the way in the signing. Look for Hedo to be considered overpayed by years end. He had it made playing beside Howard and Lewis in Orlando. He won't find it that pleasant in TO.


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## Jamel Irief

Otis thinks Hedo at 50 million for 5 years is bad, imagine signing Rashard Lewis for 120 million for 6 years!


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## WillFlight!

Jamel Irief said:


> Otis thinks Hedo at 50 million for 5 years is bad, imagine signing Rashard Lewis for 120 million for 6 years!


What, 120 million is not good money for a guy playing out of position and grabbing less than 6 rebounds per game as a power forward. 

10 million may be a bit too muck for Turk, but it is not a bad contract. He will fit in fine in Toronto and and be a valuable starter on a playoff team. Will he help Toronto get out of the first round? WE will have to wait and see. Will he be a solid player, yes.


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## Blue

Just picture that $120mil being Dwight's salary, and Dwight's $70-80mil being Rashard's and then it's alot easier to live with that contract..... Because if we never signed Rashard then there's no guarantee that Dwight re-upped w/ us... The commitment we showed in getting him help & the willingness to make bold moves showed Dwight that we were committed to do what it takes to try and win... We've already seen TMac & Shaq walk away cuz we were penny pinching, so I actually kind of agree with the Rashard move. Once we signed him, we immediately locked up Dwight & Jameer for another 5yrs in the process so there was a basis. It's more than fair value if you average all of 3 their salaries together, so that deal was not as crazy as it looks on the surface. 

Problem with Hedo's contract is his age... He's not that efficient of a player to begin with and he will be 35-36 when his contract runs up... You have to worry about how his efficiency will translate w/o Dwight there to clean up his mess on all those wild runners he likes throw up... And as his legs wear down, and I dont know if he will really be all that effective for more than 2 years as 'pseudo closer'... With Toronto not sure on their future and if they can/will keep Bosh, in that scenerio, Hedo could really mess up thier salary to pursue better guys ... 

In sum, Orlando actually had Dwight extended when we signed Shard so it was a move to appease our star and actually lock him down(It's easy to find role players). Toronto may keep Bosh, but they dont have him locked up yet... They better hope he re-signs, cuz 5yrs/10mil for Hedo @ 30 yrs old does not look like the greatest move if he bolts. Hedo's ok player who can some good things when he gets goin, but you guys will know what Otis means when you see TurkoFLU show up for the other half of the games this this season.


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## Adam

^You look absolutely retarded trying to rationalize a $120 million contract for Rashard Lewis. Nobody else even had cap space that year and the Sonics were already in cut-and-run scheming.


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## Blue

Lol, Rockets were pursiung him and could've easily signed in a deal if we fooled around. He's from Houston and he play'd his hand well.... We had to give him max deal or he could've just went to Houston, but according to you we gave him the max just for kicks & giggles?? Lol, I dont think so... It was a power move that put us with the elite out east. I dont know if signing Hedo will have the same effect for Toronto, but we'll see. With Shard, we went from borderline playoff team to top 3 in the east two years in a row. People act like we gave him that contract just for kicks, but the guy has gotten nothing but results...


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## Adam

Blue Magic said:


> Lol, Rockets were pursiung him and could've easily signed in a deal if we fooled around. He's from Houston and he play'd his hand well.... We had to give him max deal or he could've just went to Houston, but according to you we gave him the max just for kicks & giggles?? Lol, I dont think so... It was a power move that put us with the elite out east. I dont know if signing Hedo will have the same effect for Toronto, but we'll see. With Shard, we went from borderline playoff team to top 3 in the east two years in a row. People act like we gave him that contract just for kicks, but the guy has gotten nothing but results...


Houston only had the MLE homeboy. Your GM got owned.

You and I both know the score so don't try to deflect with psychobabble like that "People act like" stuff. Turk should have been an all-star two years ago but David Stern messed that up. However, Turk was better than Shard 2 years ago and made this team work. Last year, Jameer and Turk together were both the second option on most nights. Not one year has Shard been the 2nd option. He's just an offensive weapon who gives you versatility. That's not worth $120 million. Now he's on the wrong side of 30 and is he going to be the second option in the 3rd year after he has declined each other season? Tell me one thing, are you the Magic fan that predicted he would average 24 points after you signed him?


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## roux

hedo... turkeys 2nd best player behind my boy ersan.. well at least in the euro tourney


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## seifer0406

It's absolutely ridiculous how some people would make up nonsense to rationalize a bad contract. They overpaid the guy, period. It wasn't like the Magic just overshot by a mil or 2, they overpaid him by a good 6-7 mil or more. Nobody is saying that Magic shouldn't have signed him, but if they were a bit more patient they could've signed him to a much better contract.

It is always easy to look at the end result and just disregard all the mistakes along the way. It is the same thought process that made Joe Dumars seem like such a great GM when in fact a good portion of his moves have been duds. But at least the Pistons fans acknowledged that drafting Darko was a mistake, here we have guys that are trying to turn a mistake into something that actually have a positive meaning on the team's success. Under no circumstances does wasting cap space add to a team, and that's common logic. Just look at the Spurs and how they have been smart with their money, that's how it is suppose to be done. 

While we are on the topic of rationalizing. Let's try to rationalize the Fran Vazquez pick. If the Magic didn't pick Vazquez, they could've chosen Sean May(he wouldn't have those injuries because the weather is better in Florida) and then signed him to a huge contract, eliminating the possiblity of resigning Dwight Howard, thus destroying the franchise. Therefore by drafting Vazquez and him not coming over (additional cap space), it helped shift the organization in the right direction and eventually led the team to a conference championship.


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## Blue

The '93 Heat said:


> Houston only had the MLE homeboy. Your GM got owned.
> 
> You and I both know the score so don't try to deflect with psychobabble like that "People act like" stuff. Turk should have been an all-star two years ago but David Stern messed that up. However, Turk was better than Shard 2 years ago and made this team work. Last year, Jameer and Turk together were both the second option on most nights. Not one year has Shard been the 2nd option. He's just an offensive weapon who gives you versatility. That's not worth $120 million. Now he's on the wrong side of 30 and is he going to be the second option in the 3rd year after he has declined each other season? Tell me one thing, are you the Magic fan that predicted he would average 24 points after you signed him?


You never heard of sign & trades? Houston was pursuing Rashard, Knicks were pursuing Rashard, but please dont take my word for it... The fact is, we could've dragged it out and maybe got him for abit cheaper, but that came with with the risk of possibly not getting him at all... He was hot property that summer and his agent played his cards well... He knew we had the means and the willingness to pay max... As you probably know, our owner is a billionaire so money was not an object as long as we are winning... He's gotten more than enough return on his investment over the last two seasons, and most importantly both Dwight and the fans are happy, so where's the problem?

You to seem not understand that Rashard was never intended to come in and play like Kobe, he was signed to be a complementary piece... Like I said, just imagine to $120 going to Dwight and the balance of talent-salary ratio on our team is not that bad. That deal was part of a 5yr plan where we also locked in Dwight & Meer as well, which is our core that we are building around. We could've pursued Vince that summer, but we didn't want to stunt dwight's growth and confidence as a leader and a player... Now that Dwight is more established, we brought Vince in and have a legit squad, but you seem to be infatuated with Hedo. The same Hedo who has only had one year in his career where you could _argue_ he was better than Shard... Not only is Shard the more consistent and efficient player, he's had the more consistent and efficient career. 

Shard's ability to play the 4 is vastly underrated. People are always talking about how Hedo is this veratile player who made us great and is our MVP... Im sorry, he did some nice things but the guy is pretty overrated people start trying to call him our MVP. We'll see how his poor efficiency and shot selection translates now that he doesn't have a guy like Dwight to clean up his mess... I'll take Shard's low post versatility and mismatch at the 4 over Hedo. Shard's mismatch is clearly the more valuable of the two, and VC should more than suffice what Hedo brought. Hedo may have 'arguably' been the 2nd option two years ago, but last season Jameer and Shard were clearly 2 & 3 we were running healthy(hence the all-star nom).... Any intelligent fan knows that it's Shard's ability to play the 4 that makes Orlando's versatility unique. Hedo is really nothing more than a glorified Mke Miller.



seifer0406 said:


> It's absolutely ridiculous how some people would make up nonsense to rationalize a bad contract. They overpaid the guy, period. It wasn't like the Magic just overshot by a mil or 2, they overpaid him by a good 6-7 mil or more. Nobody is saying that Magic shouldn't have signed him, but if they were a bit more patient they could've signed him to a much better contract.
> 
> It is always easy to look at the end result and just disregard all the mistakes along the way. It is the same thought process that made Joe Dumars seem like such a great GM when in fact a good portion of his moves have been duds. But at least the Pistons fans acknowledged that drafting Darko was a mistake, here we have guys that are trying to turn a mistake into something that actually have a positive meaning on the team's success. Under no circumstances does wasting cap space add to a team, and that's common logic. Just look at the Spurs and how they have been smart with their money, that's how it is suppose to be done.
> 
> While we are on the topic of rationalizing. Let's try to rationalize the Fran Vazquez pick. If the Magic didn't pick Vazquez, they could've chosen Sean May(he wouldn't have those injuries because the weather is better in Florida) and then signed him to a huge contract, eliminating the possiblity of resigning Dwight Howard, thus destroying the franchise. Therefore by drafting Vazquez and him not coming over (additional cap space), it helped shift the organization in the right direction and eventually led the team to a conference championship.


Lol, Sean May?? I'd much rather we selected Danny Granger or Monta Ellis than the Pillsbury Doughboy if you want to talk about who we SHOULD have taken... :lol: In reality, Vasquez is STILL a better pick than Ma...Not that it matters, they all would've been on rookie contracts regardless... The capspace that year came with Grant Hill/Darko(yea we had Darko) coming off the books, whoever we picked in the draft had no influence on that as we could've singed them AFTER we signed Lewis anyway... Funny thing, Fran's contract should be up after this year so he not be a complete waste after all if he decides to finally come over... Ricky Rubio just pulled a similar stunt in Minnesota, and considering that they both singed to the same team(Barcelona), Minny probably wont see Rubio for another 3-4 yrs either... What can you do?


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## Adam

^He was satirizing your fail attempt to rationalize that contract...

You say how any intelligent fan knows Shard's versatility as if I didn't point that out verbatim in my post. 

Houston had no pieces to sign and trade for Lewis. Also, Daryl Morey wasn't stupid enough to sign and trade for Rashard at that price. They offered him the MLE. Alllllllllllllso, the Sonics would not want Houston's garbage role players in return because incoming contracts have to equal outgoing contracts in this league chief. The Sonics were in cut-and-run mode as I previously stated.


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## seifer0406

Blue Magic said:


> Lol, Sean May?? I'd much rather we selected Danny Granger or Monta Ellis than the Pillsbury Doughboy if you want to talk about who we SHOULD have taken... :lol: In reality, Vasquez is STILL a better pick than Ma...Not that it matters, they all would've been on rookie contracts regardless... The capspace that year came with Grant Hill/Darko(yea we had Darko) coming off the books, whoever we picked in the draft had no influence on that as we could've singed them AFTER we signed Lewis anyway... Funny thing, Fran's contract should be up after this year so he not be a complete waste after all if he decides to finally come over... Ricky Rubio just pulled a similar stunt in Minnesota, and considering that they both singed to the same team(Barcelona), Minny probably wont see Rubio for another 3-4 yrs either... What can you do?


Good job at completely missing the point. Read my post again, that's what a blinded homer would say about the Fran Vazquez pick. If you still dont' get it, I can't help you.

Like I said, the guy is overpaid by a good 6-7 mil(or more, since personally I wouldn't give him more than Turkoglu money). I don't care what kind of competition you have in terms of signing him, there is no reason to overpay a guy by that much money. You act as if 93' Heat is giving you a breaking news on the event when in fact almost all the sportswriters out there acknowledge the fact that the Magic made a huge mistake.

Nobody is knocking Lewis's ability as a player, but he is by no means a max money guy especially at his age. Money does not equate ability. Even if Bill Gates walked into a McDonald's he wouldn't pay $20 for a big mac because nobody else pays $20 for a big mac. If the Magic paid a lot more money then what everyone else was willing to pay, they have made a mistake. The only difference here is that they don't have more money than other teams like Bill Gates against me and you.


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## Blue

Well we know that there were @ least two teams that wanted Lewis and there's no telling how is agent play'd his hand.... Im not saying that his contract isn't inflated because it is, i'm just saying that you need to look @ the bigger picture of what Orlando was/is doing... Orlando wanted him as priority #1, and knowing this his agent could have easily just said we're is going to sign with New York or Houston if they offer us this amount because of 'such and such' reasons(In which Orlando would have to spend their entire summer negotiating against and Rashard could've just spurned us at the end)... http://clutchfans.net/news/1407/rashard_lewis/

Im sure Orlando just wanting to secure our guy and not ****ing around with Dwight's future just gave him the max possibly up front eliminating the need to even think about dealing with other teams. If we were willing to go that high and had the capspace to do it, then why **** around when we already have our franchise guy in Dwight?? Yes of course that puts us in a tight cap situation, but with Dwight, Shard & Meer locked up for the same exact years, do will really need to spend more than the MLE in any of the next 5 summers?? I dont think so... Considering that we just went to the finals this past year and have a new arena opening in the next, we are now more than financially able to go into the luxury w/o substantially hurting our owners pockets... We are not the San Antonio Spurs, we have highly marketable guys in Dwight/Vince/JWill who will sell merchandise and have large folowings...

Rashard is a VERY important part of the team tho(he's no Darko), and he is extremely classy guy. I'm trying to tell you something that most people don't realize and that is that his contract ends the same year as Meer/Dwight's... Between those 3 contracts ending, thats about 50 million in cap space, more than enough to resign Dwight and bring in another big name... Vince's contract expires the year before, and is can also be dumped to a team looking for a large expiring if things arent going right... The fact is, if Orlando can win one championship in Rashard's contract, and then turn that over into another young fresh budding player, It'd be a winning situation. That's exactly the opposite of "crippling" a franchise, it's taking a risk and winning. We now have a core guys who are all locked in for acouple good runs, and then we retool when their time is done. Vince,Meer, Shard, Dwight for 2-3 more years is a win regardless of their salary's. That team is gonna win games a move merchandise.


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## Blue

The '93 Heat said:


> You say how any intelligent fan knows Shard's versatility as if I didn't point that out verbatim in my post.


Except you imply that Hedo is more valuable, while I imply that Rashard is more valuable. Fundamental difference in the points we were making, but I see you dont understand that. We'll see how much Turk is missed this year in Orlando(doubt it will be much). Honestly im tired of hearing about how good that guy is... Everybody hated on us when he played for us, but once he's gone he's our freaking MVP? Lol, GTFO good riddance. Tired of hearing how that guy is better for us than Vince, lmao ******* people who only watched us in the playoffs are the only people who think that is a credible arguement



seifer0406 said:


> Good job at completely missing the point. Read my post again, that's what a blinded homer would say about the Fran Vazquez pick. If you still dont' get it, I can't help you.


Just to clarify, you do realize that May might not even make an NBA roster and cant stay in shape even when he is healthy... On potential alone, I dont see how his value is higher than Fran's right now and I really do not know why you brought him up... The Lewis contract isn't anything like Dumars drafting Darko as Lewis is actually an integral part to our success... Darko is just a bust who they took over Carmelo because they didn't want to mess with chemistry, or whatever their rationale was... Nothing alike, of course Darko was a mistake.... Was Fran a mistake?? You could say that, but if you suggesting that May was the alternative, i'd honestly have Fran's rights....


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## seifer0406

Blue Magic said:


> Just to clarify, you do realize that May might not even make an NBA roster and cant stay in shape even when he is healthy... On potential alone, I dont see how his value is higher than Fran's right now and I really do not know why you brought him up... The Lewis contract isn't anything like Dumars drafting Darko as Lewis is actually an integral part to our success... Darko is just a bust who they took over Carmelo because they didn't want to mess with chemistry, or whatever their rationale was... Nothing alike, of course Darko was a mistake.... Was Fran a mistake?? You could say that, but if you suggesting that May was the alternative, i'd honestly have Fran's rights....


:lol:

You still don't see it lol....Just forget it, I'll remember to dumb down from now on.


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## Blue

I dont get it cause your analogy is horrific. Your so vague in the fact that you mention Sean May and signing him to big contract, which just leaves me scratching my head... He would've been on a rookie contract, so that's just dumb 1st & foremost. Wtf are you talking about? Please dumb it down for me, cause Im not even remotely following your logic.... I'd rather have Eddy Curry than Sean May. And I'd rather have Vasquez's rights than either... Really, please help me. wtf are u talking about??


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## seifer0406

Can somebody out there give this guy a hand lol, I'm sorry I just can't stop laughing :lol:

I said just forget it. I'll remember your name and dumb down from now on.


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## Dre

Blue Magic could be the mayor of Trenton, New Jersey and make it seem like Paris on the stump.


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## seifer0406

you need one of this guy in your life


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## Blue

Lololololo, that it was supposed to be a sarcastic shot @ me, but your analogy was just soo flawed that I don't even know where to begin... Rashard's contract is inflated, but he is a highly contributive member to the teams success. So to compare his contract's impact on team to taking Darko over Melo, Bosh, & Wade is just dumb... Darko has done absolutely nothing for the city of Detroit so it's easy for fans to throw him under the bus and call him a mistake.... ****, I can trash JJ Redick all day long if you want me to, that's easy... Rashard's contract is not even a remotely similar situation because he is actually key to what we do... To call his signing a mistake or a 'dud' really would not be accurate... We wouldn't be the same caliber team we are w/o him, and we HAD to overpay to get him or face losing him altogether.... Even if we didn't sign him that summer, we would've been over the cap the following summer due to Meer/Dwight extentions and the likely re-signing of Darko....

So to call his signing 'wasting' capspace, is really insincere to the situation..... To assume that simply playing a little hardball would've just resulted in a more fair contract and a happy ending if we were just 'patient' is niave... If that's how you feel, then that's where you lost me in your analogy cause imo Shard was gonna make bank $100+mil wherever he ended up that summer... True, best case scenario we may have been able to _maybe_ squeeze him for $10-15 mil less or so, but I doubt we could've got him for much less then that. All things equal, the decision would've been in his hands there's no telling if he wouldve chose to play for us over a NY or a hometown Houston if we were all offering the same exact money... So why **** around??? Is that $10-15mil worth possibly not getting him and then being stuck in the middle of the pack for the next 5yrs with nothing but MLE caliber talent available to surround Dwight?? I dont think so, which is why im perfectly fine with that contract... We were gonna be overpaying him either way, so what is $10-$15mil @ that point?? There were @ least 2-3 other teams IN the picture and dude was making $10-12mil on his previous contract... After 3 consecutive 20+ppg seasons @ the age of 27, the guy was gonna get paid... It was just a matter of who, not if and Orlando is one of the few teams/situations where he may very well be worth the salary he's getting looking at how he impacts the overall team situation and helps improve the oppurtunity to win a championship. Is Shard's individual talent worth that contract in a vacuum?? No. Is Shard's impact on this particular teams chance to win a championship worth that contract?? Yeah, i'd say so....


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## HB

Thing is, so far Rashard's contract has been justified cause the team has progressed every single season he has been there. I think it becomes a big deal when his production begins to falter and they cant move him.


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## seifer0406

Nobody was offering Lewis more than 12 mil a year, go look it up on various articles that suggest so.

And I wasn't comparing signing him to a big contract to the Darko pick, but of course if you couldn't pick up something like the Sean May thing it's obviously impossible for you to understand what I said about the Detroit situation.

Like I said, because the Magic are winning games people are going to say that everything Otis Smith did is correct just like how people were all over Joe Dumars back when Detroit was winning. If in a few years the Magic still hasn't won a championship, these signings/trades will be the reason why they couldn't do more with a superstar like Dwight Howard.


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## Blue

So we cant reload when Shard's contract is up?? That's news to me... Dwight is our cornerstone and he is locked in and happy(unlike alot of other star players). He is only 23 bro, so how can say that if we dont win in 4 years it's all Rashards fault?? Only one team can win it, and Rashard is key reason why we are soo successful so I'd rather have him than naughtth... We got our core locked in for the next 3-4 years(which is the length of Shards contract,last year partially guaranteed)... There's not really any glaring holes or needs on the roster that would require more than MLE to address... When Dwight is 26-27, Shard Meer & VC will all be off the books and Dwight will still be in his prime and we can give it another go with a clean slate... I just dont see the same doom & gloom image that you're trying to project because of this contract...

You're basically saying that we'd be better off under the luxury and w/o Shard in the long run than over the luxury and w/ him... Idk if I agre w/ that. Yeah his contract is inflated, but since our CORE is already locked in we dont need to make any major FA splashes anyway... I dont know why you dont get this... You say that his contract will be looked @ as why Dwight never won, but his impact on the game is a key reason why Orlando is where we're at and why we can do some of the things that we do that allowed us to become a contender...


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## Dre

Type one of those posts in all caps and I think you'll be the most entertaining poster on the site.


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## seifer0406

I don't know why it is so difficult to convince somebody that not overspending is better than overspending. Why does it matter whether or not the Magic can reload when Lewis contract is over, of course they can reload, IN FOUR YEARS. The fact of the matter is if they were smarter with their money they could've added other pieces along the way if the team falls short. With Lewis overpaid like that they are simply not going to be as good as they could be. All that myself and 93' Heat have been pointing out is that Otis Smith made a mistake and that the team could be better than what it is now, but you just have to be so butt hurt about people pointing out your team's short comings and come up with non-sense trying to rationalize the mistake. I don't see how this can be any simpler. 

Just cut the nonsense unless you're trying to look retarded. You overpaid the guy, period. Whatever success your team will have you would've had more if you didn't overpay him. If the Magic stack up on championships then all will be forgotten but if they don't, of the things that held them back Lewis's contract will be the first of that list.


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## Diable

If the subject is Hedo's contract I don't see how to fault him.If it's me I would have been disenchanted by the contract that Orlando was giving Rashard when he's certainly no more important to the team than he was.What he got in Toronto was just a little bit over his market value.If Hedo gets older and his production slips that contract might look bad.Right now it's pretty much market value for a player of his caliber.Right now that's what he's worth when you compare his value to other guys with that sort of pay.It's the NBA and good players make a lot of money in it.Hedo isn't going to get another chance to sign a 50 million$ contract and I don't see why anyone else in the nba would expect him to do less.


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## Blue

seifer0406 said:


> I don't know why it is so difficult to convince somebody that not overspending is better than overspending. Why does it matter whether or not the Magic can reload when Lewis contract is over, of course they can reload, IN FOUR YEARS. The fact of the matter is if they were smarter with their money they could've added other pieces along the way if the team falls short. With Lewis overpaid like that they are simply not going to be as good as they could be. All that myself and 93' Heat have been pointing out is that Otis Smith made a mistake and that the team could be better than what it is now, but you just have to be so butt hurt about people pointing out your team's short comings and come up with non-sense trying to rationalize the mistake. I don't see how this can be any simpler.
> 
> Just cut the nonsense unless you're trying to look retarded. You overpaid the guy, period. Whatever success your team will have you would've had more if you didn't overpay him. If the Magic stack up on championships then all will be forgotten but if they don't, of the things that held them back Lewis's contract will be the first of that list.


Your assuming that we still get him if we dont overpay?? Ok, you can go ahead and make that assumption but I dont assume that... I'd rather have him and overpay him, than NOT have him but have that oh so valuable cap flexibility that you claim we'd have... **** that. That fact is, if we signed him or not we'd only be working with the MLE for next 6yrs because Dwight/Meer's extensions were gonna put us over the cap, regardless... So we went out and spent that money on an actual impact player instead of letting it waste and tweaking every year with MLE players & picks....(We can/do do that anyways). The benifits of not signing him simply would NOT be greater the benifits of signing him(IMO).... Clearly you dont think that and though and think we'd be better off both w/o him and his salary... I just respectfully disagree. You make jokes, but I'd rather be a contender and be handcuffed, then be mediocre and have cap flexibility... 

Is he worth that salary as an individual talent? Never did I say he was, broham... But for our team and our situation, he was a worthy investment at that point in time for what he allows our team to do... He hasn't stopped us from making moves when we've fallen short(See MP, Vince, Barnes, Bass, Gortat, Andersen, etc.), so idk what your referring too. As soon as his contract is up, Dwight is gonna be making max money and we're gonna be right back in the same situation again... We will have huge expirings in VC & Shard in the next 2-3 years that can be moved if things just go catastrophically wrong and the team falls apart(but I just dont see that happening)... Clearly the owner is ready to spend that little extra to win a ring, and if you dont see that I cant help you... Otherwise, we certainly wouldn't have brought in Vince and we would NOT have signed Gortat if we were in the mindset of being monetarily conservative throughout Dwight's career. We have a 3 year window with this core right now though. It's Championship or Bust, then we re-load. It's not that hard to grasp. Dwight has plenty of time and Rashard will not handcuff Dwight's entire career buddy. Sorry.


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