Write On Sports LLC - "Orlando's newest dynamic (but probably unsuccessful) duo" by Jake Lloyd

Orlando's newest dynamic (but probably unsuccessful) duo

2007-07-05 22:34:20 | By: Jake Lloyd

The city of Orlando "obviously" is not content with being the home of Disney World and Tiger Woods, his model wife and Sam Alexis.

It needs a professional sports championship. And after its arena football team was doused from the AFL playoffs last Friday, the burden was placed on the Orlando Magic, a franchise that has danced in and out of success "but not championship success" during its 18-year existence in the NBA.

In the early 1990s, the Magic were blessed by the NBA lottery, gaining No. 1 picks in consecutive years, which led to the arrival of Shaquille O'Neal and the trade for Anfernee "just call him "Penny"" Hardaway. Yet that set of magicians couldn't recover from Nick Anderson's two missed free throws in Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals, and O'Neal left town after the '96 season, leaving Hardaway a skeleton of his former self.

Then there were the early 2000s, when the arrival of Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill sparked a renewed optimism in Tiger's hometown. But that duo didn't even come close to bringing the Magic to the top of the NBA's kingdom. They couldn't even haul Orlando out of the first round. And a boatload of money and McGrady said, "Bye, bye." (Hill is likely to leave this off-season after seven seasons and about 13 ankle operations in Orlando).

And now there is born a third duo to attempt to bring the Magic the Larry O'Brien trophy, to attempt to soothe all those Orlando citizens who I'm sure cannot sleep at night because their city is devoid of a major championship.

Rashard Lewis, a 27-year-old Alief, Texas, native has joined up with big man, Dwight Howard, to try to catapult the Magic to the top of the dismal Eastern Conference. Orlando didn't play conservatively in fishing for Lewis, either, offering him a maximum contract, which is believed to be worth between $75 and $85 million for five seasons.

Saying the Magic is overpaying Lewis would be akin to saying it rains in Lewis' former home of Seattle. Lewis is a good player. But he's only good at one thing scoring. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 20-plus points the past three seasons, but he has never averaged more than seven rebounds a game and his 2.4 assists per game last year was a career-best.

Paying maximum money for a one-dimensional player, who has never been a team leader (Ray Allen kind of held that tag in Seattle) and has never helped his team past the second round of the playoffs borders on ludicrous.

Now you might say that McGrady is similar in that he's never taken a team out of the first round of the playoffs. But McGrady is a complete player he can run the point; he even averaged 6.5 assists per game last year and a better scorer. It's only a matter of time before he and Yao Ming carry Houston deep into the postseason.

Despite the ridiculous amount of money Orlando's putting in Lewis' bank account, I can't completely dismiss the signing as inane. I credit the Magic for being aggressive in free agency, something certain franchises (um, Minnesota, maybe?) haven't done to appease their stars. Howard now has a legitimate sidekick to help shoulder the scoring load.

But are Howard and Lewis going to lead the Magic to an NBA championship during the next five years? I highly doubt it.

A big reason? Championship teams always have very solid point guard play. While Jameer Nelson is decent, he doesn't play close to the level of a Tony Parker or a Chauncey Billups. Which is why the Magic should have offered that max contract to Billups instead of Lewis.

Sure, it would have been a risk. The Magic could have lost Lewis. But adding Billups would have made the Magic instant title contenders. Lewis doesn't do that. Apparently, the Pistons are offering Billups between $11 and $13 million for four years. That's not even close to the $15 to $17 million Lewis, reportedly, will earn.

I know that Billups wants to return to Detroit. But if Orlando had baited him with that extra cash â€” not to mention a chance to escape Michigan's cold winters for the sun, fun and company of Woods in Orlando â€” I think he at least would have considered a deal. Then if Orlando had gotten a negative vibe from Billups, it could have quickly changed its focus to Lewis.

It could have worked. But we'll never know what a Billups-Howard combo could have achieved. Instead, Billups is almost definitely going to re-sign for those four years with the Pistons, making them an arch nemesis of Orlando in the years to come.

Another negative of the Lewis signing is that Darko Milicic's agent says there is no chance the 7-footer, now an unrestricted free agent, will return. If this is true, the Magic will be very thin on the front line, with Tony Battie and Pat Garrity Howard's main two accomplices down low.

With Hill's likely departure, the Magic isn't much deeper on the outside. It will have to rely on the likes of Keyon Dooling and second-year man J.J. Redick to get the job done.

Doesn't sound like the formula for a championship team to me.

Even Shaq & Kobe had Robert Horry and Derek Fisher. Even Jordan & Pippen had Paxson, then Kerr. The list goes on and on.

While having a dynamic duo is sexy and will probably fill the seats, although that's not a certainty in there's-several-other-things-to-do-besides-watch-a-basketball-game Florida, it doesn't automatically breed success.

The Orlando Magic should know that from past experiences.

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