The trade was stupid. The Magic got rid of Alston and Lee, two solid contributors, for Carter. Vince Carter is done, stick a fork in him. When he was in his prime, he was the best slasher in the game. But he could never shoot, never played defense, and wasn't a solid rebounder or passer. Now? He still can't shoot, doesn't play defense, and he can't get to the hole nearly as well. Oh, and he has to jack up 25 shots a game to be effective.
You're going to add that to a team that has Howard whining about not enough touches, Lewis jacking up a 3 every other time down the court, and Jameer Nelson- who doesn't exactly light it up from a passing standpoint? You're going to practically guarantee that you lose Turkoglu, a good 6-10 point-forward that can play defense and rebound, was the only player who wanted to take shots at crunch time in the playoffs, and was the only guy that could create a shot for someone else.
There's a reason that guys like Vince Carter and Allen Iverson make pretty much every team they go to worse...