Letting The Cato Out Of The Bag

By the time I got to the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando this past Wednesday night, the trade winds were blowing at forty knots.

I was filling in for Paul Kennedy as the pregame and sideline host on Sun Sports that night. ESPN.com had been reporting all day that Detroit's Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo were heading for central Florida in exchange for Kelvin Cato and a draft pick. Speculation was rampant that Steve Francis would be next. Every newspaper and TV guy in Orlando was sniffing the air in the corridors of the O-rena. They smelled real news, something that doesn't happen too often around this basketball team.

About 45 minutes before the Magic would play the Heat - just fifteen minutes before I was to go live with the pregame - the team broadcasters were informed that the Pistons deal was imminent, but not finalized. As such, we could continue to address the rumor on the air, but we couldn't report it as done.

That was all well and good until halftime, when Cato bolted out of the Magic locker room, high-tops in hand, steaming towards the parking lot. In his wake were a dozen TV and print reporters, nipping at Cato's heels in an effort to get one decent quote. Unfortunately for them, Cato offered nothing more than typical "it's a business" boilerplate, the 20-inch rims on his Bentley serving as a highly polished reminder of why he could care less.

As Kelvin sped off into the night, the Cato was out of the bag.

Despite Cato's very public departure, The Magic still wanted to hold the news until after the game, when co-GM Otis Smith could address the media in a press conference. Right. Cato left the building, for the love of Christmas. Every media guy at the game was furiously working his cell phone, telling his editor or producer that the trade was afoot. Every sports outlet in the nation was reporting the deal. As the exclusive cable television partner of the Orlando Magic, Sun Sports could no longer play dumb.

So, after a quick chat with Joel Glass of Magic PR, I came on the air late in the third quarter and dutifully reported what I had seen and heard. David and Matt discussed the costs and benefits of the proposed deal, and the game went on.

Cable networks (like Sun Sports) that pay rights fees to pro sports franchises walk a thin line every night. As business partners, neither side wishes to sour the relationship, so mutual respect and cooperation are paramount. On the other hand, if we at Sun Sports are going to tout ourselves as "the home of" the Magic, Heat, and/or Lightning - a title that we pay for, via those rights fees - our credibility depends on giving the viewer exclusive access and insight.

In this example, we wanted to respect the wishes of the Magic and coach Brian Hill by keeping mum on the trade. However, once the news was out, we should have been the first to report it. Personally, I think we handled Wednesday's juggling act pretty well.

Now, about the trade: I like it. Cato, plagued by injury and attitude, brought nothing to the table this year in Orlando, and the salary cap room created by his departure could prove valuable. There's a pretty good chance that he'll never play for the Pistons anyway.

Carlos Arroyo has been a favorite of the Magic for a long time now, dating back to his understudy years with Jerry Sloan in Utah. He's not much for guarding anybody, but he's a pass-first true point guard, which makes him unique on the Magic roster. The Florida International University connection is a nice bonus, albeit a small one. It's worth noting that the Magic sold 150 single-game tickets on Thursday morning, after the deal was officially announced. In my view, that's not so much a reflection of the fan base's infatuation with Arroyo or Milicic as it is an expression of gratitude to the franchise for doing something - anything - to shake it up and improve the product.

Then there's Darko. The Mystery Man. Just twenty years old, he's best known for being That Guy in the 2003 Draft, the one that gave us LeBron, Carmelo, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade in the lottery. Never mind that the Pistons passed on the latter three on that list to get a player who never saw the floor during the Pistons' two successive trips to the NBA Finals.

Can he play? By all accounts, yes - in practice. What concerns me most are the stories from Detroit of Milicic's lax attitude during those rare moments when he was on the floor in a game. The Pistons didn't need him in winning an NBA Championship and reaching the Finals the following year, but they wanted him to prove that he deserved a shot. The popular story goes that he never did that, not under Larry Brown - who never plays rookies anyway - and not under Flip Saunders, who pretty much rolls out a basketball and swallows his whistle.

There's an old sportscaster cliche' that suggests that athletes often flourish with a "change of scenery" - a notion that has been reinforced in the last few days by Saunders, by Smith, by Hill, and even by Milicic's agent. They are all singing the same chorus, swearing that there's nothing wrong with this kid that 30 minutes a game can't cure, and Orlando is a chance for him to thrive.

I hope so. But then again, it's not like the Magic had to give up very much to find out - and Lord knows they had nothing to lose.

Now we wait for the other shoe to drop. Stay tuned.