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Draft Day Deals: Shaq to the Cavs, $21 million. Clearing up your point guard controversy, dumping an aging center and not giving up any core players in return, priceless. The Magic acquired Vince Carter this afternoon for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee. I hate to see Lee go, but let's face that facts here people. The Magic needed to get rid of Alston or Jameer, check. The Magic needed to clear up their big man rotation and dump Battie's $6.2 million contract, check. The Magic would have to give up an asset in order to dump those players and pick up Carter. The goal here is to not give up a core player. Lee is not a core player - at least not at this point in his career. The move also allows the Magic to go into the luxury tax to resign Gortat and Hedo.

The Magic have aquired Rafer 'Skip to My Lou' Alston from the Rockets in a trade that sent a low 1st rounder to the Grizzlies and parted ways with Brian Cook. This trade is perfect for the Magic as Alston is a decent starting PG and will help this team immediately at the position. I'd expect Alston to be the starting PG after 3-5 games with the Magic. The trade still has to go through the front office as it barely made the 3pm deadline.

The Orlando Magic have finally unveiled the new jerseys for the upcoming seasons. Both the away and home jerseys have pinstripes - which many fans were hoping for. The text/numbers are similar to last years. The neck and shoulder areas are a bit more snug (at least on Howard) and the sides have a long black, flared out stripe. You can see a sneak at the top of the Orlando Magic Shop and I suppose sometime today they'll actually update the shop. Check here!

Update: Image finally posted:

A fan favorite among many, Trevor Ariza was traded to the LA Lakers for 6'9" forward Brian Cook and 6'5" guard Maurice Evans. Included in the deal was the $2.6 million injury exception the team received for Tony Battie. Bo Outlaw was released to make room on the roster. I hope Bo finds a spot in the Magic organization and management hinted that might be possible. It's great to have him around - maybe as a scout or assistant coach. I think this was a decent trade for the Magic and definitely a good move for Ariza. Ariza is a good player and he will be missed - but I rather see the kid get some playing time and he should fit in nicely with the Lakers.

With Grant Hill in and out of games this season, do you think we should explore trade offers for him? Personally, I'd like to keep Hill in Orlando for several more years - especially if we can get him to sign for the minimum after this year. Hill is a good influence to have in the locker room and a great role model for Orlando. Besides, I just get that feeling thinking about him playing out his career in Orlando. I think it just sucks for an ankle injury to take so much from a guy like Hill.

Steve Francis is no longer the "Franchise" in Orlando. Francis was sent to the New York Knicks for the expiring contract of Penny Hardaway and forward Trevor Ariza. Personally, I think this is a bad move for Orlando - even though they will more than likely waive Hardaway faster than you can spell "cap relief".

Orlando. I know what you are thinking. Orlando? Every major paper in the country has Steve Francis going somewhere before the trade deadline. But for the Magic to move Francis, they would want to either clear cap room or get someone in return that can contribute now. The free-agent talent pool for the summer of 2006 is nothing special, so I can't really see a cap-clearing measure to be of high importance to the Magic. That is unless, they are worried about the luxury tax this summer. However, our stellar ownership has assured us they would go pay the tax to improve this team. Additionally, the Magic would most likely look to bring in a shooting guard to increase scoring, especially in late game situations. I just don't see any team giving up a decent shooting guard anytime before the deadline.

With the addition of Carlos Arroyo, rumors are swirling about Steve Francis. Where will he end up? New York wants to unload Penny Hardaway's contract for Francis. I don't see this deal happening for the same reason we didn't keep Kelvin Cato on the books. There really aren't any outstanding players available this summer. The summer of 2007 looks to have a better crop of free agents. For this reason alone, I can see the Magic hanging on to Francis until the summer of 2007 when his contract might look attractive to potential sign-and-trade candidates.

Kelvin Cato and a first round draft pick were sent to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for forward Darko Milicic and guard Carlos Arroyo. The trade happened in the middle of the Miami Heat game - I actually got the text message shortly before halftime. This was a great trade for the Magic. While Cato's contract would have come off the books at the end of the year, they actually make the team better with this trade.

So, armchair GM - do you make a trade before the deadline? Personally, I leave the team as-is. The only way I would make a trade is if I was getting a defensive minded forward with good rebounding skills in exchange for Pat Garrity.