Called For Traveling

Just got back from Lakeland, where Mark Wise and I called all six state girls' high school basketball championship games. Check sunsportstv.com for the air dates for each of those games, as well as the boys' title games, which Mark and I will do next weekend. That's twelve high school title games in one week, in case you're scoring at home. Oh, and we'll be driving to Tampa next Sunday to call the NCAA Division II Sunshine State Conference title games, men and women, live on Sun Sports, for a grand total of 14 basketball games in nine days. In related news, my throat has just filed a lawsuit against my employers, and I have no idea what day this is.

So what did I miss?

Not much, actually. I was doing the pregame hosting duties for the Magic-Nets game on Sun Sports last Wednesday in New Jersey when the Steve Francis deal was announced (and yes, my schedule is approaching the inhuman level of Paul Kennedy, at least this month). Odd scenario there, as Steve-O was informed of the deal during the afternoon, just in time to catch a ride across the Hudson River for his introductory press conference at Madison Square Garden. Rather than play Six Degrees of the Tracy McGrady trade, as the Orlando Sentinel laid out with such innovation on Thursday, let me offer a couple of observations in the wake of Francis's departure from the Magic.

One, you're going to love Carlos Arroyo, but not as much as his teammates will. Having seen Arroyo get his first extended minutes for the Magic, it's obvious that his years in Utah under Jerry Sloan clearly taught him the nuances of the pick and roll, a staple of every offense in the league.

Flash back to the expansion days in Orlando, when the most effective weapon in the Magic's so-called arsenal was the pick and fade with Scott Skiles and Jeff Turner. Remember how often Turner found himself shooting a 15-footer with nobody in the same zip code? That happened because Skiles knew when to speed up, when to slow down, and when to make the pass.

Come back to now. Imagine that same set of instincts in a point guard whose primary target is Dwight Howard. That's why Arroyo was part of the Detroit trade. His career high 18 points in a much-needed win over Seattle on Friday night were fun to watch, but his skills as a quarterback will endear him to teammates and friends.

Sidebar: Arroyo is an idol in Puerto Rico, more so than most of us realize. Joey Colon, the Magic's Spanish radio announcer, told me in New Jersey that among the Latino fan base, Arroyo "is our John Stockton." Heady stuff. Personally, he could be John Crotty for all I care, as long as he gets the freaking ball to Howard.

Look, Kelvin Cato was a cancer, and Francis was ineffective, but getting them out of the Magic locker room was only part of the motivation for the trades. Those two contracts alone are worth $23 million dollars this season, a number which is now removed from the Magic's list of concerns. With the Penny Hardaway contract coming off the cap after this season, and Grant Hill's deal expiring after '06-'07, the Magic are in position to have more cap room than any team in the league.

But are the Magic doomed until then? Here, I disagree with my friends Mike Bianchi and Brian Schmitz at the Sentinel, who seem to think yes. I've got a funny feeling that this may be addition by subtraction. In Jersey on Wednesday, there was a palpable sense of relief among the Magic players, as shorthanded as they may have been. There was freedom, and spirit, and a sense of fun. These sort of upticks happen all the time in the NBA after a blockbuster trade, and it may only be a blip, but there's something to be said for a group of players who are enjoying themselves and each other. Plus, the Eastern Conference still sucks.

In the wake of these trades (and even earlier), I've fielded many an e-mail blasting Magic ownership, Brian Hill, Otis Smith, Stuff the Magic Dragon, and anyone else attached to this team, but I'm reserving judgement for now. Orlando has never had all its pieces healthy and on the floor at the same time this season. If Darko Milicic plays 30 minutes a game next to Howard, with Turkoglu, Nelson, Hill, Arroyo, Trevor Ariza, and everyone else out of suits and in uniform for more than a week at a time, and they STILL cannot win, you have my permission to fire away. Until then, the knee-jerk reaction to seeing all three players gone from the McGrady deal is just that.

The object is to win. Not win scoring titles, not win votes for an All-Star Game, but win games. If the Magic win, all is forgiven and forgotten. They didn't win with Francis, Mobley, and Cato. They didn't win with McGrady - in fact, they lost 61 games in one season, as I recall. If this combination wins, everything was worth it.

See you in Lakeland.