1. Presti didn’t make an offer during the FA period, when he could have gotten Gortat without giving up any draft picks, figuring that he could just trade for him later and give up players and/or picks.

2. Presti made an offer, which wasn’t as high as the Mavs’ offer, then decided that he might as well pay more money than he originally offered and give up players and/or picks as well.

3. Presti made an offer, which Gortat declined because he didn’t want to play here, so Presti decided that he might as well trade for the guy with a five-year guaranteed deal who doesn’t want to play here.

Any of those scenarios make any sense? There’s a reason that restricted FA’s walk every year. If it was as simple as just keep the asset and trade him, everyone would just match the offer sheet, wait three months, and dump that player for whatever they could get.

I understand that it doesn’t seem to make sense that the Magic are keeping Gortat. If you think they’ll trade him in 2011 — when they may want to re-sign Carter or re-load around Howard without paying tax — I don’t think that’s at all farfetched. But the Magic have said they’re willing to pay the tax. They have playoff revenue from last year, projected playoff revenue from this year and a brand new arena next year. They said they’re going for it for the next few years. I wanted Gortat, too, but he ain’t coming.