Friday afternoon, John Denton of Florida Today reported on the newspaper's forum that the Magic have contacted the agents of P.J. Brown and Chris Webber to gauge their interest in joining the team for the veteran's minimum salary of $1.2 million. Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel later reported the same story in Saturday's edition.
I covered both of these players in my big-men free-agent post a few weeks ago, and my opinions of them haven't changed: that is, Brown would be a decent addition if he could play for two seasons and Webber should be avoided because of his attitude. GM Otis Smith told Povtak that he was only looking for a guy who could play for 12-15 minutes a night, and both those players seem to fit the bill. It's hard to muster enthusiasm for spending $1.2 million on an over-the-hill role player, but it was good enough for Phoenix.
Photo by Leigh Shelle Robertus, the East Valley Tribune
I see nothing to get excited about regarding P.J. Brown. In his prime, he could be relied upon for a double-double each night. Now? He's another Tony Battie. We already have two Hedo Turkoglus; we don't need two Tony Batties. What, are we building a team of duplicates here? Jeez.
It gets more interesting with Webber, and that's only because I'm a uniform freak. The Magic have never had a player who wore a uniform number higher than 55. Chris Webber wore no. 84 last year with Detroit; his customary no. 4 is retired to honor Joe Dumars. Here, Tony Battie has staked his claim for that number. With that in mind, might this jersey be for sale at the Amway Arena next year? And if so, would you buy it?
Photo manipulation with images from the NBA.com store
3 comments:
It was not too harsh. Grant Hill deserves any of those comments and more from basketball and especially Magic fans.
I would NEVER buy a Webber jersey. Talk about a waste of money. If that was the case, I would have bought a Ewing and Kemp jersey when they were here! But that didn't happen, and I wouldn't waste my money on this one either. Interesting thought though...
I saw a guy wearing a Ewing jersey outside Amway Arena before Game 3 this year, and during the T-Mac era I saw a guy in the arena with a Kemp jersey. It was unreal. Why would they make those? It's like when I see kids wearing Rodney Carney (76ers) jerseys. I don't get it.
Considering the limited options out there, I'm all for the Magic signing Webber (though it looks doubtful).
He was a very solid presence for the Pistons last season, especially in the first round of the playoffs against us.
Plus, since Shaq and Penny are back together, it would only seem fitting that the guy we originally drafted in '93 be back with the Magic as well, lol...
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