Hill, McGrady Enter Magic Kingdom
Aug. 4, 2000 -- Rather than sign each other’s players with no compensation,Orlando, Detroit and Toronto made nice Thursday.
The Magic worked out sign-and-trade deals with the Pistons andRaptors, resulting in a nice extra chunk of cash for Grant Hill andTracy McGrady.
Both players signed seven-year, maximum salary deals worth $93million with their old teams, then were traded to the Magic. Theyjoin Tim Duncan and Jalen Rose as the biggest financial winners ofthis summer’s free agent class.
Free agents Chucky Atkins and Ben Wallace, who were alreadyprepared to sign with Detroit, ended up signing with the Magic andthen being traded to the Pistons for Hill.
“I kind of felt all along that if I left Detroit, this is whereI wanted to come. When we played against them, they would just playso hard. That really impressed me,” Hill said.
No. 1 Pick for McGrady
McGrady, who was prepared to sign a six-year deal with Orlandocontaining 10 percent annual raises, instead gets a seven-year dealstarting at $9.6 million with annual raises of 12.5 percent.
Orlando sent a future No. 1 pick to Toronto for McGrady.
The Magic also made a trade with Cleveland, sending smallforward Matt Harpring to the Cavaliers for center Andrew DeClercq.
The Magic’s maneuverings were the biggest story on a day whenmost of the other signings were minor.
The San Antonio Spurs signed their remaining two free agents,Avery Johnson and Antonio Daniels, the Vancouver Grizzlies signedfree agent forward Tony Massenburg of the Houston Rockets, the NewJersey Nets re-signed forward Johnny Newman, Boston signed freeagent guard Randy Brown from the Chicago Bulls and Phoenixre-signed forward Corie Blount.
28 Free Agents Signed
A total of 28 free agents have signed contracts during the firstthree days since the NBA’s one-month moratorium on trades and freeagent signings expired.
Among the best players still available are forward MauriceTaylor and guard Derek Anderson of the Los Angeles Clippers, Bostonforward Danny Fortson, Charlotte center Brad Miller, Indiana guardsReggie Miller and Mark Jackson, Lakers forward Glen Rice, Miamiguard Tim Hardaway, New Jersey swingman Kendall Gill, Philadelphiaforward Toni Kukoc, Portland forward Brian Grant and Utah guardHoward Eisley.
The trades of Hill and McGrady climaxed a tense three days inOrlando as the Magic tried to find a power forward to man the frontline along with Hill and center John Amaechi.
Orlando was interested in Taylor, who is anxious to leave theClippers after three seasons, but no deal could be worked out.
Hill had already verbally committed to Orlando, while Atkins andWallace had committed to Detroit.
‘A Big Loss’
“We still have some work to do. Losing Grant Hill. That’s a bigloss,” Pistons coach George Irvine said. “We’re not trying tofill Grant’s shoes ... what we are trying to do is improve at everyposition.”
Orlando’s news conference to announce the deals for Hill,McGrady and DeClercq was held up for more than three hours forunspecified reasons.
When it finally happened, Hill explained his thinking in takinga seven-year deal (with an opt-out after five years).
“Every time I came down here I seemed to add a year (to thecontract). It started out as four years and wound up at seven,”Hill said. “This is just where I want to be. I didn’t want to gothrough this again.”
The first-round pick that Orlando sent to Toronto for McGrady ispartially lottery-protected. Raptors general manager Glen Grunwaldsaid his team may not be able to use it for several years.
Search for Small Forward
The Pistons are still in the market for a small forwardfollowing Hill’s departure, but neither Irvine nor team presidentJoe Dumars would comment on who might fill that role.
Thursday’s deal gives Detroit room to maneuver under the salarycap.
Wallace averaged 4.8 points on 50.3 percent shooting with 8.2rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 24.2 minutes per game. Atkins averaged9.5 points on 42.4 percent shooting with 3.7 assists in 19.8minutes off the bench for Orlando last year.
Hill, a five-time All-Star, is coming off his best season as apro when he averaged 25.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists.After working on his long-range jumper last summer, Hill made 343-pointers—12 more than he had made during his first five yearsin the league combined.
McGrady, 21, moved into the starting lineup for Toronto late inthe season as he averaged 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.3assists.