Joe: I'm not a big fan of the Orlando Magic, and its mostly due to my refusal to admit that Dwight Howard has fully arrived. I think I can only get away from asserting that for one more season until I'm just universally considered delusional. I still feel there are far too many times when Orlando, trying desperately to run their offense through their young 7-footer, sees Dwight dribbling the ball off of his foot or traveling trying to do a spin move. Granted, when Howard does get a reliable move or three under control he will be very close to the unstoppable two-way force that we saw in the post when Shaq roamed the very same key in the beginning of his career.
Apparently the Magic made a big splash in the free-agent pool when they signed Rashard Lewis to a max deal. Rashard Lewis scores the quietest 20 points per night, and is just not that impressive to me. He really does nothing to distinguish himself, never uses his height and length on defense and isn't a particularly strong rebounder or defender. Once again, this might be a future play as Lewis could stretch the floor especially when Dwight starts commanding automatic double teams. Aside from these two there doesn't seem to be much else going for the Magic. The backcourt features two PGs that I loved in college in Jameer Nelson and Keith Bogans, but to this point neither has distinguished themselves as a serviceable NBA player. Nelson will certainly be public interest story, as he has dedicated his season to his late father, a tug boat worker whose body was found in the Allegheny River earlier this year. Foul play has not been ruled out. I would like to see him do well this season for that reason, and I know he definitely has it in him from his days at St. Joes. Trevor Ariza, JJ Redick and Hedo Turkoglu round out the lineup,aside from the occasional rim-rattling dunk from Ariza, none of these guys are of any particular interest to me.
Quang: last year, the magic cobbled together just enough wins to qualify for the playoffs. their offensive shortcomings were exposed in the first round and the pistons swept them out of the playoffs. to address their desperate need of perimeter scoring, the magic signed rashard lewis twice. i'm not usually someone who complains about contracts, sometimes you have to overpay to make sure you get what you want, but this one in particular made me scratch my head. the original contract was a max deal for five years, $91 million. for reasons only beknownst to them, they decided to make it a sign and trade and sent a 2nd round pick to the sonics for the right to keep rashard around for a sixth year at $24 million. for those of us who aren't nba teams, let me try my best to make a ridiculous analogy. let's say you were walking around the desert for the last week and you happened to come across a mcdonald's. you really want a double cheeseburger but they're charging $15 for it. since you're so hungry you decide to fork over the cash. now before you start eating your double cheeseburger, some guy walks up to you. he says that if you give him a 2nd round draft pick, he'll let you eat that double cheeseburger six years from now and it'll only cost you $24 million. "uh, can't i just buy another cheeseburger six years from now?", you ask. "i guess so," he replies. "won't this cheeseburger be spoiled in six years?", you counter. "it's a possibility," he answers. "it's a deal!", you tell him. congrats, you are now a general manager of an nba team.
the magic's only other significant acquisition was stan van gundy, who was hired after they dumped brian hill, probably as per penny hardaway's suggestion, and after they were dumped by billy donovan. the magic are hopeful stan van gundy can help dwight howard reach his potential which apparently is a more involved task than just saying things like "hey dwight, dunk this ball as hard as you can over those guys." anyways, i'm hopeful too. because even though he's so young, i was having doubts he'd ever become a dominant post scorer. but after watching him a little in preseason, some of my fears have been erased. now my biggest question concerning dwight howard is, why is he wearing elbow pads? does he rollerblade to the arena and forget to take them off? has he petitioned the league to allow him to wear a helmet too? do his parents force him to wear it? "aw mom, all the kids'll make fun of me...", dwight pleads "if those kids make fun of you, they're not your real friends," mrs. howard assures. i don't know why i find this so interesting.
anyways, the magic apparently have other players. the only other two that i particularly like include jameer nelson, who should be able to fit in better now that the onus of scoring has been somewhat lifted, and trevor ariza, an athletic slasher who should fit in nicely with this team. other than that, i don't really think the magic are that spectacular. hedo turkoglu is decent enough i guess. but not someone you need to keep around. i don't really like carlos arroyo much, not even as a backup point guard. or a person. tony battie will have shoulder surgery and miss most of the season. this wouldn't be a big deal if that didn't mean more minutes for adonal foyle. keith bogans is somehow both a defensive stopper and an offensive stopper. keyon dooling might play a big role on this team. he could be useful, especially if he's picking fights with ray allen. lastly, the magic's first round selection last year, jj redick (the jj stands for jared jeffries) is looking to get more minutes. he has to be the only player in the nba whose wingspan is shorter than his height. he is a willing and capable shooter, but there is not a single person in the nba that he can guard. not even dick bavetta. well in summary, i've seen some hugely optimistic predictions for the magic. and after considering all the facts, i'm not quite as hopeful. to me, the magic seem a little top heavy. i think they'll miss the contributions they got from grant hill and darko last year and will ultimately fall short of the playoffs. but the future is bright for orlando, especially if david stern lets dwight howard use a skateboard. he'd be so fast! Dhivy: I hate Carlos Arroyo. I thought about writing that sentence 100 times in place of previewing the Magic’s season, but quickly thought the better of it. A backup point guard on an average team shouldn’t be able to draw that much anger out of me. From now on, I’ll do my best to ignore him completely.
The Magic made a big splash in the free agent market by signing Rashard Lewis to a max deal. While his combination of outside touch and size is a rare commodity, I don’t see him as a franchise player. I would have said the same thing back when the Magic signed Tracy McGrady, so maybe Lewis will prove me wrong. The true centerpiece of this team is Dwight Howard, the gentle giant entering his fourth season. Dwight is one of the really good guys in the NBA. He passes out scripture to his teammates, engages in dance battles with Shaquille O’Neal, and always has a smile on his face. Except for when he’s eating breakfast; that would just be weird. Watching some of the things he can do makes it no surprise that Tim Duncan once said, “I am glad that I will be out of the league when he is peaking”. Then again, it’s possible that Duncan meant “peeking”, in which case Dwight Howard is a creep. 
Unless Bo Outlaw undergoes a career renaissance, the Magic organization must rely on Jameer Nelson to be the third option. Nelson will be playing this season with a heavy heart after the tragic death of his father. Here’s hoping he has a great season. But I do not have the same level of faith in the rest of this roster. Hedo Turkoglu has been a consistent scorer since arriving from Sacramento, but someone who is 6’10” needs to get more than 4 rebounds a game. JJ Redick is by far my Most Hated Duke Alumnus, and as if he was concerned about losing this title, he grew a mini-mohawk this preseason. More than likely, he lost a bet to see whether or not he could go 24 hours without Coach K calling to check up on him.But seriously, I really hate Carlos Arroyo.
Achilles Heel:
- Bo Outlaw (j)
- JJ Redick (q)
- Carlos Arroyo (d)
- Keith Bogans (j)
- Trevor Ariza (q)
- Trevor Ariza (d)
- Trevor Ariza gets his first career triple double in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers - gives a wink to Larry Brown who called him "delusional" and wanted to send him to the D-League while with the Knicks. (j)
- Dwight Howard reveals that he's been playing his first three years in the league while wearing 20 pound ankle weights. With the ankle weights off for the first time, Dwight Howard rebounds every single missed shot in the NBA. (q)
- Carlos Arroyo will be deported to Puerto Rico for crimes against humanity. These crimes include being really annoying, being really annoying across state lines, and conspiracy to be really annoying. (d)
Favorite Moment:
- Dwight Howard "walking it out" non-stop during All-Star Weekend. (j)
- In a tie game against the Spurs, Tony Parker holds the ball for the last shot. He drives to the basket and is blocked by a soaring Dwight Howard and Jameer grabs the rebound with 0.8 seconds left. After a timeout, Turkoglu throws a lob from the scorers' table that Dwight slams in over Tim Duncan, winning the game. (q)
- Dwight Howard placing a sticker that reads “All things through Christ” 2’6” above the rim in the dunk contest. (d)
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