Sorry 'Shard, you ain't worth 113 mil

There's a rumor going around from numerous sources that Magic 3 to be Lewis could ink a deal on Wed worth in the ballpark of 113 million when all is said and done (through sign and trade stuff). Now I, like any blue-blooded Magic fan, am very excited to get Shard in blue and white and think he would make an excellent addition to our young team. But, there's just one thing.

He ain't worth 113 million.

Shard is a good player. Not a great player. He is not a dominating, game-changing MVP like talent in the Nash, Duncan, Kobe landscape. He's a great compliment to other players on your team, but he's not gonna get you to the finals (Eastern Conference). He's just not.

Shard had his best season this past contract year, averaging a touch above 22 ppg, the most he's ever averaged. Now you tell me, does a player who has averaged over 20 only two seasons of his career, is a spotty defender and an underachieving rebounder worth a MAX deal and a cap-hobbling contract of well over 100 million.

See, here's the problem. The Magic even with Shard are still an all-star player away from the Finals. Adding his max deal to the one Howard is about to ink will put the Magic in some pretty tight monetary handcuffs come the next couple off-seasons. Meaning unless the cap sky-rockets above the project 56 million next year we are gonna be stuck with 2/3's of the puzzle completed and no way to get those last remaining pieces. Unlike teams with trade-able assets, the Magic have none. To no ones surprise Arroyo, Garrity, Bogans, Augustine and Battie aren't exactly setting the market on fire.

Here's my point, (which is really not a point at all), Otis Smith is doing the right thing by getting Shard, no one would question that. It is just unfortunate for us that this free agent period is lead by a guy who probably should be the third or forth best free agent in the league in a normal year. Can you imagine if the prize this year was Gilbert Arenas. No one would even think to question inking him to a max deal, or better yet KG or dare I say Duncan. It becomes a no-brainer. But, when the free agent crop is weak, which it is this year, and you get the best player available, which we did, it almost becomes a bittersweet victory. One in which we might be re-evaluating for years to come.

So, here it goes again. Wednesday marks the beginning of the Rashard Lewis era in O-town and with that might come a long period of trying to make ends meet. I just hope we didn't want to be good so bad, so quickly that we cashed in too early and hobbled our poor little city for years to come.

We definitely got the best player in free agency this year, but for what price?

I'm thinking the sticker on that #7 window was a bit too high.