Watson Wants Orlando and Orlando Wants Watson

CJ Watson is young, having just turned 25 years old. He had a good season last year, playing in 77 games, starting 18. He averaged 9.5 PPG, 2.7 APG and 2.5 RPG. The other day, I mentioned that Watson was rated as the 9th best backup PG in the NBA by the Official Examiner. He has only played 2 seasons, so he is almost sure to improve on those numbers. Watson’s big at 6’2 and he uses his size to give opposing PGs fits. He’s a very fundamentally sound player. He has good range and is a good shooter. He was an excellent floor leader. He would be among the best backups PGs in the league and would provide much-needed depth behind starter Jameer Nelson, who has an injury history and missed over half of the games the Magic played last season before returning in the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Watson has stated though his twitter that he really wants to join the Magic and is just a solid all-around PG.

Sounds great, right?

Unfortunately for Watson and Orlando’s fans, acquiring Watson just doesn’t seem feasible. And Watson knows it.

Magic fans I hope we can get this thing done and ill be moving there soon but its a business and some things sumtimes don’t work out

This is Watson said through his twitter (@quietstorm_32) last night.

After the Magic worked out a 2-year deal with Matt Barnes, it doesn’t look like the Magic will be able to afford Watson. Even if they could, he is a restricted Free Agent and would most likely have his offer matched by the Warriors. This isn’t a good situation for Orlando or Watson, but there’s really nothing either party could do about it unless the Magic did not sign Matt Barnes and Barnes was the more important signing. Otis Smith told the Orlando Sentinel that he really wants to sign another PG.

“I still need a point guard,” Smith said. “… Some time we’ll get a point guard whether it’s Watson or somebody else.”

The other day, I made a small list of possible options at PG and all of these players are still available. According to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, the Portland Trail-Blazers are in talks with Andre Miller after they missed out on Hedo Turkoglu and Paul Millsap. Now, they are competing with New York for 76ers PG Andre Miller. They are dangling Jerryd Bayless. Bayless is a very intriguing player and was the 11th overall pick in the 2008 draft. He was a bit disappointing in his rookie season, averaging just 4.3 PPG in 55 games. He only earned 12:24 MPG, but he is a big guy (6’3) and is extremely talented. With all that being said, the Magic probably don’t have the assets or money.

Otis Smith has pulled off some shocking moves this offseason, so maybe he can pull another coup and wind up with CJ Watson. It would make CJ Watson happy, that’s for sure.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger.Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily. Check out his ACC Coastal Division Football preview here.)