Orlando Magic

GM Otis Smith (left) had two big gets: signing Rashard Lewis and hiring Stan Van Gundy (right). AP

What Went Right:

• Rashard Lewis arrived via sign-and-trade.
The free agent's outside shot could be the perfect complement to Dwight Howard's developing interior game. Having averaged more than 20 points a game in each of the past three seasons, Lewis can only help what last year was one of the league's more anemic offenses.

• Stan's the man.
Before he was shoved into the front office in Miami, Stan Van Gundy had proven to be one of the more resourceful coaches in the game, capable of guiding a roster of youngsters to play beyond its experience. With another promising, young talent base to work with -- minus the carping of privileged veteran stars -- Van Gundy should help make the Magic a more consistent group, especially on the defensive end.

What Went Wrong:

• Rashard Lewis arrived via sign-and-trade.
Didn't this franchise learn anything from the Grant Hill fiasco? Lewis will undoubtedly improve the club in the short term, but he isn't the game-dominating player his $110 million, maximum contract suggests. With free agency becoming an ever more important avenue for teams to alter their rosters, payroll flexibility is paramount. Lewis' deal will leave Orlando with precious little.

• Darko departed.
The most immediate effect of Lewis' signing was the cap space his contract absorbed, space that was needed to re-sign 7-foot center Darko Milicic, who instead opted for a reported three-year deal with Memphis worth nearly $21 million. While the stats will argue that Lewis-for-Milicic was a tradeoff worth making, you can't teach size, as the adage goes. And with each passing year, Milicic has shown increasingly more of the shot-blocking, shot-making skills that made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 draft. At the very least, his presence offered Howard more room to roam than he will have this year.

• The Grant Hill era ended.
Look, we understand this is a business, but after Hill took $932 million of the Magic's money while handcuffing the team's salary cap for years without living up to his end of the contract, didn't Hill owe Orlando at least one year at a veteran's minimum? Y'know, just to help even the karmic scales? No matter, Hill went ring-chasing in Phoenix for the bi-annual exception (equal to almost $3.8 million over the next two seasons) and Orlando is down an oft-hurt, but still productive swingman. Perhaps they're both better off without each other.

Grade: C

Adding Lewis and Van Gundy are nice coups, but Lewis' addition came at a high cost, now, and in the future. And as much as Lewis' scoring will help, the Magic still have yet to solidify a very iffy point guard position.

Washington Wizards

What Went Right:

• Agent Zero is back.
After missing the end of the regular season and the playoffs with a torn meniscus in his left knee, Gilbert Arenas had arthroscopic surgery, after which he told The Washington Post that "doctors told me the knee actually will be stronger than ever." That can only help a shooting stroke Arenas has tried to refine over the summer by attempting to make 100,000 shots in 73 days.

• They kept their free agents.
In a relatively shallow free-agent class, DeShawn Stevenson and Andray Blatche became two of the more desirable catches: Stevenson as a defensive-minded off guard who proved last year he could drain shots from outside the arc; and Blatche as a 6-11 forward with Chris Bosh-like skills. It cost a pair of $15 million contracts, but Washington kept their men.

• The Wizards grew.
Plagued by inconsistent -- to put it charitably -- play in the low post since Gheorghe Muresan suited up in the Nation's Capital, the Wizards inked 7-foot Ukrainian center Oleksiy Pecherov, their 2006 first-round pick. Whether he solves Washington's frontcourt woes is anyone's guess, but at his size, it can't hurt.

What Went Wrong:

• Agent Zero is considering defecting?
Rarely content to rehab in quiet, Arenas mentioned in June he would opt out of his current contract at the end of the '07-'08 season. Arenas' run at a new contract should be bad news for Wizards opponents this fall, but could be even worse news for the Wizards themselves next summer.

• Police reports took precedence over scouting reports.
Poised to sign a substantial new contract, the promising Blatche was arrested for soliciting an undercover police officer for prostitution. A few weeks later, an early morning shootout at Stevenson's Orlando-area home left one man with bullet wounds and the police puzzled as to the details of the evening. No matter how each case is resolved, it can't make the Wizards feel very good about the combined $30 million the team reportedly agreed to send the players' way this summer.

• Juan Carlos Navarro was traded.
The 27-year-old Spanish combo guard, whom the Wizards had selected in the 2002 draft, was sent packing to the Grizzles for a future conditional first-round draft pick after the Wizards emptied most of their free-agent coffers on the aforementioned Stevenson deal. While having a future first-rounder from a struggling team in your back pocket is nice, having Navarro's shooting and playmaking skills right now on a team for which offense is defense may have yielded bigger benefits.

Grade: B-

Washington kept the core of a playoff team intact, albeit with some unpleasant headlines attached. The return of a healthy Arenas alone might get Washington into the second round next season. But until coach Eddie Jordan places even half as much emphasis on getting this team to play defense as it does offense, they won't get any further.