State of the Cap: Orlando MagicBy:

2010/11 Orlando Magic Payroll: $79.6 million
2010/11 NBA Salary Cap: $56.1 million
Roughly: $23.5 million over cap

The Good: How can someone who has three years and $58.5 million left on his contract be a bargain?  When he consistently puts up monster numbers as the best center in the league.  For Dwight Howard, stats like 18.3 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game are pretty standard, which is insane.  As a testament to his durability, he has only missed three games in his entire six-year career.  With Howard on their team, the Magic will always win a lot of games no matter who is around him.  To win a title, he will need some help as even Superman cannot do it alone. Howard is the guy you ride for the first 45 minutes, not the guy you go to for the final 3. Still, he is worth every penny for the kind of production and steady play he provides the Magic.

Now we go from an All-NBA talent to a minor but effective role player that gets just 14 minutes a game.  Ryan Anderson is a 6’10” forward who can hit threes, grab a few boards, and make some hustle plays.  He provides quality minutes off the bench, which are always important to championship caliber teams.  Plus, he works pretty cheap with a contract that will pay him just $1.4 million next season (with a $2.2 million team option for another season).  Anderson is young and still developing so he could earn a bigger role on this team very soon. 

The Bad: Back when Rashard Lewis was averaging about 18 points a game and helping lead Orlando to the NBA Finals, it was somewhat easier to ignore his hideously expensive contract.  Now that he averages 14.1 points and 4.4 rebounds, however, his contract just might be the worst in the league.  Lewis had his poorest season in nine years, which makes a mockery of the 3 years and $66 million left on his deal.  If you doubled Lewis’s stats, then his contract would make more sense.  He is still a great three point shooter, always hovering around 39%, but he is a complimentary player to Howard and Vince Carter and he has no business making that kind of cash.  Lewis’s contract is going to be very painful for the Magic in the years to come.

Vince Carter is not the superstar he once was, though that won’t stop him from being paid like one.  Carter will receive $35.3 million over the next two years.  It’s a princely sum for someone who only put up 16.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.  To make matters worse, he was terrible in the playoffs, a place where he was supposed to provide the clutch scoring that Hedo Turkoglu gave then last year.  Orlando is not getting a good return on their investment and there is no evidence that it will get better anytime soon.

It’s easy to see why the Magic would want to keep backup center Marcin Gortat.  He is a big, strong, smart player who can give the team some good minutes while Dwight Howard is getting some rest.  But, why in the world would you give him $33.8 million over 5 years?  Because of their All-Star center, Gortat can only get about 13 minutes a game.  Sure, he is an insurance policy in case Howard goes down, but Howard has never gone down and doesn’t have any kind of injury history to be worried about. Gortat’s contract simply defies logic.

The Future: Orlando spent a lot of money putting this team together in the hopes that it would finally win an NBA championship.  Even though they did get to the Eastern Conference Finals, the surprise loss to the Boston Celtics was a step back for the organization.  Vince Carter just doesn’t seem like he is the right answer.  Because of his gaudy contract, the Magic are probably forced to try him for one more season, but his history tells us that he won’t be able to step up and take them all the way.  How Orlando finishes next season depends solely on the performance of Vince Carter, which is a scary thought.

The rest of the team are pretty good complimentary pieces to have around Howard.  Jameer Nelson is a solid point guard who shoots the ball well and actually plays better in the playoffs.  He was fourth on the team in scoring in the regular season but their top scorer in the post season.  He also has a favorable contract that pays him about $7 million each of the next three years.  Mickael Pietrus is their defensive stopper at the 2 spot and a pretty good three point shooter.  He has two more years at $5.3 million each.  There is enough talent here to make deep playoffs runs, but the Magic are after the biggest prize. 

Their best move might be addition by subtraction.  If they can find a way to jettison Carter, they will be a better team for it.  The Magic could resign J.J. Redick to take some of his minutes now that Redick has improved tremendously and is a 40% shooter from the three point line.  They would also need Lewis to wake up and start earning that crazy paycheck.  If he doesn’t, and the Magic aren’t able to do anything about Carter, next season is doomed to be déjà vu all over again.

Grade: D+