I really should be a GM

So, apparently the Orlando Magic have decided to match Dallas's offer for Marcin Gortat. I'm pretty sure the offer was for the full MLE so probably ~$5.5 million. While I think the Polish Hammer is totally worth that in a vacuum, Orlando do already have Dwight. $5.5 mil is a whole a lot of money for 12 min. a night from your backup center. And consider the fact that the Magic also just signed Brandon Bass to a 4 year, $18 mil deal... that's $10 mil between Gortat and Bass. Two role players at best for the Magic.

Instead of those two deals, why not just cough up the extra million and keep Turkoglu instead? At first most thought the Magic wouldn't keep Turk because of salary and tax implications but they practically spent the same amount on Bass and Gortat combined. I would think a line up of Nelson/Carter/Turkoglu/Lewis/Howard is a whole lot scarier than Nelson/Carter/Lewis/Bass/Howard... with Gortat being like 9th man off the bench. (anybody want to take a bet that Pietrus, Riddick, and Anderson will all avg. more minutes in an ORL uni than Gortat?) I mean that first lineup would rival the Lakers in firepower and having four 3 point bombers around Dwight is a whole better than 3. Now, I'm sure the Magic will be fine... but the thing is, if they were willing to spend this much all along, they could have been SOOO much better.

On other GMing news around the league, apparently one of the richest owners in sports (ex-Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen) is playing hardball with Brandon Roy's extension. Roy thinks he deserves a max 5 year deal, but Portland is only offering a 4 year deal (though still maxed). Really? I don't even understand why this is an issue. Yeah, yeah, it's not my money... but Roy has shown that he's an elite player and easily top 10-15 in the entire league. How do you NOT max him? And to be petty over one year? IMHO, if your young superstar WANTS to stay with you for another year, that's a GOOD thing. Who doesn't think Cleveland or Miami would like to worry about James' or Wade's impending free agency until the summer of 2011? Now, I'm sure this is all just posturing by the Portland front office and eventually Roy will get his deal. But if that's true... why bother with these number games at all? It's just building unnecessary animosity between the player, organization, and fans.

And on a similar note... that 4 year number rears its ugly head again in the Millsap situation. To catch up... Portland offered Paul Millsap a 4 year, $32 million deal last Friday. It averages out to $8 mil a year, but is front loaded, so Millsap will get about ~$11 million in the first year with descending amounts in the next 3 years. While that it certainly a large offer it is by no mean unfair and not nearly "toxic" enough to persuade the Jazz not to match. Portland could have made it much more difficult for the Jazz by raising the average salary to $9-10 mil (Portland has the cap space after all) and/or adding a 5th year... which also allows them to "front-load" even more money.

IMHO, the Jazz will match and try to deal Boozer. If they can't get anything of value for Boozer... worst case they can do a straight salary dump. He's only due 1 year left at $12 mil for next season anyways. They were entirely prepared to just let Boozer walk earlier this summer so if I don't think the Jazz brass would be too upset if they had to just give him away. DET, OKC, and MEM are all still under the cap. No need for any teams to give up any picks or other young talents. Just Boozer for straight dump or maybe the other teams can even send back a small $3-4 mil unwanted contract to Utah (Kwame, Wilkins, etc.) to offset Boozer's 1 year salary a bit. Would all three say really "no" to Boozer if all they had to do was pay him for 1 year? I doubt it.