After the Magic picked-up Vince Carter and his heavy contract many questions were raised regarding Orlando’s plan for this year’s off-season. Most importantly, the Magic are facing the decision whether to exceed the luxury tax threshold in order to make another run at the championship. Thus, it seemed highly unlikely that the Magic were going to match Marcin Gortat’s offer from the Mavericks for $5 million a year. After all, Gortat simply was their back-up center behind Dwight Howard and has not seen much playing time in the NBA yet.

However, the Magic had obviously changed their mind when GM Otis Smith announced that they decided to keep the restricted free agent with a multi-year deal contract for the full MLE. Likewise, the franchise acquired power forward Brandon Bass who spent the last few years in Dallas. Both players have proven to be solid contributors off the bench and can be expected to lead Orlando’s second unit through the 2009-10 season. Last year, Brandon Bass averaged 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in just 19 minutes on the floor. Gorat on the other hand managed to put up 3.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in only 12 minutes per contest. While these numbers may not look impressive one has to consider that Gortat may very well be able to average a double-double as a starter. Unfortunately, there is not going to be much playing time for him next year unless Dwight Howard gets hurt.

In contrast, the Mavericks do now find themselves in an awkward situation. Given their recent performance they clearly need a starting center to replace the aging Erick Dampier. Acquiring Gortat would have also meant that Dallas could wait for the best offer to trade Dampier’s valuable expiring contract for a shooting guard. Thus, Marc Cuban and the Mavericks’ management will now have to tackle the problem of how to acquire a center and shooting guard with solely their MLE and possibly trades. 

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