NBA Offseason: Where the Contenders Will Go from Here----Part 2

Outside of Evans, there is a strong likelihood everyone else will be gone. The Magic might try to hold on to either Dooling or Arroyo, but they can find serviceable back up point guards for much less than those two, or they could try to draft one and groom him.

In the final piece of offseason news, J.J. Redick has reiterated his desire to be traded before the start of next season.

If you remember, this was the season Redick was supposed to break out and be a sniper for the Magic, instead his bad man-to-man defense and nagging injuries kept him buried.

The Magic might still want to hold on to him in case a light goes on in his head, but I would trade him. His value is at its highest right now, and they could probably get a late draft pick or even another serviceable backup big man to play behind Howard, the kind of depth they lacked when they were dismantled by the Pistons.

9. Phoenix Suns:

Everyone and their mother knew that if the Suns didn't win the title this year, the team would get blown up, starting with the head coach.

Exit Mike D'Antoni to the New York Knicks, enter Terry Porter with a career record of 71-93 (.433) as the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, and a guy who walks into a world filled with expectations and a "win now" mentality.

The Suns have a lot of free agents, but none of them are worth much except maybe Grant Hill. But Phoenix is not getting any younger. Raja Bell, Shaq, Steve Nash, and Hill are all well into their 30s, and if they don't win soon, it might never come.

They will most likely only try to retain Hill out of a free agent crop of Hill, Eric Piatkowski, Gordan Giricek, Linton Johnson, Brian Skinner, and Sean Marks.

Giricek and Skinner are relatively inexpensive and could be inexpensive again for another two years, so they are the most likely after Hill to be seen next year in a Suns uniform.  Clearly the Suns aren't excited about their choices.

What the Suns would really like to do is get the old Boris Diaw of 2006 back, re-teach Leandro Barbosa how to shoot and play defense, or trade one of the two in order to try and move pieces around.

Ideally, the Suns would like Diaw to go, he is only 26, but they must be regretting paying him $9 million per year and now watching him average nine points and four assists per game.

There might be teams out there that would want him, but most likely the best move they could make would be to turn Diaw into some expiring contracts and set themselves up nicely for a run at the big names free agents in 2009.

But that doesn't help them or Terry Porter who needs help.

I guess he could always ask Shaq for help on how better to deal with his rising mortgage crisis...

10. Philadelphia 76ers:

The Sixers and new GM Ed Stefanski have a great deal of decisions to make before next season rolls around.

Philadelphia could have as much as $20 million worth of cap space coming to it to spend on top tier free agents, but in order to free up that much space they would have to say goodbye to Andre Igoudala and Louis Williams—both of whom were key contributors to their run to the playoffs in the second half of the season.

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