One week before Christmas, the Orlando Magic were feeling the pressure.

Two seasons ago, the Magic made a surprise appearance in the NBA Finals.  That year, Orlando dispensed of two teams who fans gave a better chance of advancing to the Finals – the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics (albeit without Kevin Garnett, who was injured at the time).  The team from South Florida did it with relative ease, earning a championship date with the Lakers.  Although they were unable to cash in on the ultimate prize, a line had been drawn in the sand.  The expectations were high, and fans and analysts began to tag the Magic as a franchise to reckon with for the forseeable future.

But what happened next?  The business of the National Basketball Association took priority over the continued development of the franchise. 

Much of the team’s dismantling came at the hands of Hedo Turkoglu.  He was the driving force behind Orlando’s postseason surge in 2009 and, predictably, was in the final year of his contract.   What Turkoglu did was no different from what players do frequently – outperform their normal standard level of play, and make a splash in the free-agent market.  And the Turkish import did just that, landing an overpriced, 5-year, $53-million deal with the Toronto Raptors. 

The Magic, realizing that they now had a playmaker void on their roster, traded for the athletically talented, poorly driven Vince Carter.  While he and Dwight Howard might have been a match made in video game heaven, the promise that general manager Otis Smith hoped for never materialized.  Orlando perhaps experienced its worse nightmare – that their decision to let Turkoglu walk had turned around and bit them on the backside.

Yesterday, they banked on yet another hope – that the franchise could rekindle the magic that existed when Turkoglu was on its roster.  Orlando made two notable trades, and let’s take a look at the potential impact of each one:

Magic get Turkoglu, J-Rich and Earl Clark for Vinsanity, Pietrus and Gortat

Jason Richardson, doing what he does best these days...

Otis Smith gets his man (Turkoglu), but the cost was way too steep.  Let’s just assume that Turkoglu was still playing at the level that he did when he left Orlando.  In that case, this deal would be understandable.  However, even if Orlando got the old Turk back, what the Magic coughed up for him may have still been considered a bit too much.

At this point, we’d be safe to ignore the unproven Earl Clark in this transaction.  In addition to Turkoglu, the Suns gave up Jason Richardson for the combination of Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus and Marcin Gortat.  Carter and Richardson are high-flying, 3-point shooting scorers who have very similar styles…and in the same offense, should produce very similar results.  Right now, that looks like a fairly even swap.  But the deal gets sticky from here. 

Turkoglu for his former teammates Pietrus and Gortat?  That’s basically trading one skill set for another.  In the long run the Magic have to ask themselves “do we have anyone on our roster who will attempt to play tough defense against a player like LeBron James?”  They did until yesterday.  Or perhaps they need to ask themselves “do we have another capable big who knows our system to back up Howard?”  Once again, they traded that person away.  Pietrus, in particular, is an effective two-way player.  His long-range ability also adds a great fit as yet another floor spacer, which is one of the biggest assets on a team built around a bruising center.  But since Stan Van Gundy had limited playoff success last year without Turkoglu, he may be willing to part ways with the team’s existing offense to adopt a different scheme.  Seeing that Hedo was money on pick-and-rolls, the team may revert to more movement.

Magic get Gilbert Arenas and send away Rashard Lewis

The universe – or at least those in the Washington D.C. metro area – were wondering when the other shoes was going to drop for the Wizards.  Washington finally got rid of the high-priced shoe, and they managed to get a fairly good return (as far as talent level goes).  So from Washington’s perspective this deal was a must because it allows them to get help at the small forward position (and based on the matchups, possibly power forward), while enabling sharpshooter Nick Young to get more guaranteed burn.

It’s a little more baffling from Orlando’s perspective.  Van Gundy will need to quickly decipher how, when and where he will play Agent Zero.  Orlando has more traditional positional players filling the point guard (Jameer Nelson) and shooting guard (Jason Richardson?, J.J. Redick)spots, therefore, it remains to be seen as to whether Arenas will be providing firepower off the bench.  But one thing about Gilbert – he will be much more assertive in key moments than VInce Carter could ever dream of.  And that may be the single attribute that was imperative to the Magic.

Can Arenas' game-changing abilities make Orlando forget about Rashard Lewis' big shots?

Overall Assessment:  Orlando may have hurt itself.  Over the past year and a half, there’s no evidence that Hedo Turkoglu even remembers how well he played when he was a member of the Magic.  Can he really pick up where he left of at the drop of a hat?

The separate deals seems to be solely focused on one aspect of the game – offense.  Neither Arenas, Richardson nor Turkoglu pride themselves on defense, yet they got rid of two tough guys who did – Pietrus and Gortat.  The new offensively minded players come into town to complement a roster that is already heavily offensive.  Including Matt Barnes over the summer, Orlando has now parted way with three key defensive-minded role players. 

Is it any wonder why Van Gundy can’t return this team to greatness?  Can a team really expect to dethrone the Celtics without rugged defenders?  How would Orlando plan to thwart the superior athleticism displayed by the Heat’s trio of James, Wade and Bosh?

With these deals Orlando may have wielded their wands, but it’ll take some real magic for this new unit to achieve the desired goal of an NBA Championship.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author