By Josh Robbins / The Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Magic haven’t just tweaked their roster.
They’ve overhauled it after they finalized two major trades on Saturday.
The Magic and the Washington Wizards agreed to a deal that will bring guard Gilbert Arenas to Orlando in exchange for forward Rashard Lewis.
The Magic also have agreed to a deal with the Phoenix Suns that will bring forward Hedo Turkoglu, guard Jason Richardson and forward Earl Clark to Orlando in exchange for guard Vince Carter, center Marcin Gortat, small forward Mickael Pietrus, a first-round pick and cash.
The acquisition of Arenas, 28, is a calculated risk.
Arenas is owed about $62 million in the three seasons after this one, according to the website ShamSports.com, which tracks players’ salaries.
He’s also been dogged by controversy.
Last January, Arenas and then-Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton were suspended by Commissioner David Stern without pay for the remainder of the 2009-10 season for bringing guns into the Wizards’ locker room at the Verizon Center and showing them to each other following an argument on the team plane.
But Smith and Arenas go back to their days with the Golden State Warriors, when Smith was beginning his career as a front-office NBA executive and Arenas was drafted out of the University of Arizona in 2001.
Smith has likened his relationship with Arenas to that of a father and son, and Smith does not appear to be concerned about Arenas’ penchant for controversy.
“The length of his contract and health probably have been more of my concerns,” Smith said at a press availability Saturday morning, before the deal was finalized.
“With the length of his contract, you’re always concerned about taking on more, of course. That’s always been one of my concerns. I know a little bit more detail about Gilbert off the court and who he is as a person. He’s probably similar to the guys we have in the locker room right now. I would say that sometimes good people make dumb decisions, and he’s one of those guys.”
Turkoglu, 31, also holds a monster contract, and his performance dropped off last season with the Toronto Raptors and has been spotty this season with the Suns.
But Turkoglu excelled in the Magic’s system as a playmaker in coach Stan Van Gundy’s system. He was an integral piece on the Magic team that reached the NBA Finals in 2009.
With the moves, the Magic have jettisoned two aging players, Carter and Lewis, whose performance has trailed off in recent years.
Carter, 33, had an awful series in last May’s Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics [team stats], and he played poorly this season in Orlando’s first meeting against the Miami Heat.
Lewis, 31, has seen his production fall dramatically in each of the past two seasons.
He sent out a message on Twitter about his trade.
He wrote: “Yo boy off to DC it was fun playing in Orlando had a great time trying to win it all got close but not close enough but it’s been real.”
Smith’s interest in making changes appears to have increased once the Magic lost five of their last six games, including three of four on their recently completed West Coast road trip.
“I circled the West Coast trip on our schedule a long time ago,” Smith said on Saturday morning. “The West Coast trip, to me, was going to decide whether or not we’re going to either fix our woes or continue down the same path. I don’t think we’ve played particularly well leading up to the West Coast trip. So, we were on the West Coast trip and some of our woes continued, so you start to explore opportunities that are out there.”
Gortat, 26, was one of the Magic’s most coveted trade chips.
He’s a 6-foot-11 center who ranked among the league’s top backups at his position.
Now, he’ll get an opportunity to play more often.
“I can tell you he’s very excited,” said Guy Zucker, Gortat’s agent.
“First of all, he’s extremely thankful to the Magic because that’s where he got his start. But he’s particularly appreciative that Orlando agreed to trade him to a team where he will have a legitimate opportunity to compete for meaningful minutes. It also goes without saying that any big man would salivate over the possibility to play with Steve Nash.”
