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| Ewing |
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Orlando Magic, gambling that Patrick Ewing can solve their problems in the pivot, signed the free agent
center to a contract Wednesday.
Ewing, who made $14 million with Seattle last season, will earn
about $2.25 million with the Magic.
"It wasn't a money issue," Ewing said. "It's about being
somewhere where you're wanted, somewhere where you can make a
difference, somewhere where you can be happy."
Orlando signed power forward Horace Grant, formerly of
the Los Angeles Lakers, on Thursday. ESPN's David Aldridge reported that Grant had agreed to a deal worth $7.425 million over three years.
Ewing, 38, and Grant, 36, would bring a combined 30 years of NBA
experience to Orlando. Ewing is an 11-time All-Star, and Grant has
four championship rings.
"We have a lot of talent on this team, but we did need some
experience," said Orlando coach Doc Rivers, who played with Ewing
for three seasons in New York. "We needed guys who have gone
through the wars of the playoffs, who could tell our young guys
what it's going to be like."
Ewing played with the New York Knicks for 15 seasons before
being traded to Seattle last summer. With the Sonics, the 7-foot
Ewing posted career-lows in scoring (9.6 points per game), rebounds
(7.4) and shooting (43 percent).
Ewing said his advanced age won't be a liability.
"Age is a state of mind," said Ewing, who turns 39 on Aug. 5.
"Naturally, I'm not the same athlete I was when I was younger, but
in some ways I think I'm better than I was then. I know the game
better, I'm mentally stronger."
This would be Grant's second stint in Orlando. He played with
the Magic from 1994-99 before being traded to Seattle on draft
night in 1999.
This past season, the 6-foot-10 Grant started for the NBA
champion Los Angeles Lakers. He averaged 8.5 points and 7.1
rebounds and ranked 12th in the NBA in offensive rebounding.
Grant earned another three championship rings as a member of the
Chicago Bulls from 1987-94.
Neither Ewing nor Grant was among Orlando's first choices. But
when the Magic found it impossible to clear salary-cap space for a
run at Toronto center Antonio Davis, the team was forced to find
cheaper alternatives.
"In some ways, when you add all the players, the price becomes
the same; it's maybe just not given to one player," Magic general
manager John Gabriel said. "It would be unfair to call this a Plan
B."
Davis, unswayed by the Magic's zealous wooing, eventually
re-signed with the Raptors for more than $60 million over five
years.
Upgrading the roster's big men was a priority of the Magic this
off-season, and the team has tried to address the problem through
free-agency and the draft.
"Watching the Magic play in the playoffs, I'm like, 'This team,
it needs a center,"' Ewing said. "I think I will fit in good on
this team."
On draft night, the Magic selected DePaul center/power forward
Steven Hunter, a 7-footer, with the 15th pick of the first round.
Orlando followed that by trading for the rights to North Carolina
center Brendan Haywood, another 7-footer who was Cleveland's
first-round pick at No. 20.
Last year, the three-man center rotation of starter Andrew
DeClercq and reserves John Amaechi and Michael Doleac was adequate
on defense and poor on offense.
Doleac is gone, sent to Cleveland for Haywood, and Amaechi, a three-year veteran, agreed to a multiyear contract with the Jazz on Thursday. It's possible DeClercq won't be back either. He hasn't yet said whether he'll return
by exercising the one-year option on his contract.
At power forward, starter Bo Outlaw provided defense and
rebounding last season, but was a non-scorer sometimes thrust into
an offensive role because there were few other options.
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