Well I was going to address with with Dave as an I told you so, but I will rather wait for everything to get out....But if you prefer to know how things have led up to this point I can explain that easily.
Detroit approached the Magic about Cato back in November. The deal was primarily to get Arroyo off the books and the Magic wanted Darko. However, Cato was hurt and it was early in the season so neither team really had an idea of what they had as a team.
The deal was only in a "discussion" at that point and nothing real hot about it.
In Late December Dumars approached the Magic again about Cato's health and it was thought at that point that Cato would be back soon. Had he returned and played well, the deal was to go through for Darko/Carlos for Cato with the Magic and Detroit swapping this year pick with each other.
Since then the Magic found out he had a Broken Foot and would not return until AFTER the all star break. Dumars then approached Smith and the discussion was about Battie. Last I heard the idea was thrown out there by Dumars trying to trade for a package which included Battie and Hedo, but his main focus was on a front court player. Alot of ideas were thrown around to see what would stick. BUT whatever might stick Dumars wanted this years pick from the Magic with any Battie trade.
Now the way I understand it is that Dumars and Smith heated up talks again about Cato but instead of swapping this years picks, Smith offered this years pick UNCONDITIONALLY to Dumars. It is my understanding that the main reasons DUMARS is thinking about it is Cato return after the all-star break and his insistence on having DeShawn Stevenson included in the deal if Cato is not able to make a full recovery.
I am hearing that if this deal goes through, the Magic are going to DUMP Steve Francis contract to NY for Penny. This is the main reason the Denver deal did not go through, because the Magic put a stop to the Denver deal. The Magic want to develop around Dwight and Jameer and not bring in players that will not compliment that. Basically long term looking toward a free agent class where they can decided what players best fit around Dwight and Jameer. From what I hear, Crawford was not looked at as a good long term solution as a SG, nor did they want to deal with the possiblity of the injured Nene, as well as the contracts that went along with the deal.
In the end we could have ended up trading Penny in 1999 for Garrity, CapSpace(McGrady/Hill), Darko, Arroyo & 2005-2006 Cap Sapce.
Or you can just say we traded Penny 1999 for Tmac 2004 for Darko/Penny 2005
Now les see how things play out until Feb 23.
