The Magic are currently the worst team in the NBA record wise after a horrid 1-15 start. Considering they are in the East this record is even more outragously bad. They are 1-7 against the Eastern Conference! Last year the Magic were very much respectable for an Eastern Conference team posting a 42-40 record while making the playoffs. With the changes they made in the offseason one would think they would be better this year than last. But obviously that is not the case. The only significant losses to the team are Darrell Armstrong a handful of games by Grant Hill and with a lesser importance the losses of Shawn Kemp, Pat Burke, Jaque Vaughn, Jeryl Sasser and Chris Whitney. They replaced these players with the likes of Juwon Howard, Tyronn Lue, Donnel Harvey, Shammond Williams, Keith Bogans, Reece Gains, Zaza Pachulia and the recently aquired Rod Strickland. The Magic's rookies certainly haven't lived up to expectations. Gaines was projected to be a starter quality player possibly at the point and yet is averaging an abismal 0.7 points per game in only 9 minutes a game. I think the reason for the Magic being so poor is the failure to resign Darrell Armstrong. He was their leader in the way he brought energy to the court. He left on bad terms. I think when he was signed by New Orleans he went to one of those voo doo practitioners in the French Quarter and put a hex on the Magic for not resigning him.
Pat Garrity. he's injured. Giricek missed a few games early also. so, no shooters means they can't beat the zone.
Even with all of these injuries and losing darrell armstrong they should still be around .500. They are probably the best team ever to start a season so badly. It just shows nothing is for sure in the NBA.
Bingo! I think that is a huge reason for their problems. Also Darrell Armstrong's energy off the bench was a big loss. Not sure why Doc Rivers did not want him back. Juwan Howard so far has been a BIG disappointment. He hasn't been consistant enough and they have not been able to MESH Howard and Gooden on the court at the same time. They dont seem to work well together. In fact I think Gooden comes off the bench now. Until this team can get the Grant Hill Salary off their books to add another star player they will always be a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. Right now they might be legless!
Have you seen the lineup that these guys are playing with? The other day this was their starting lineup. pg - Tyronn Lue sg - Keith Bogans sf - TMAC pf - Drew Gooden C - Stephen Hunter I had planned on watching the game and finding out why they are playing like ass this year but that is all I had to see. What do you expect out of a team like that. I know they have had to have some injuries but if these guys are your starters, the bench has to be horrible. What do you expect from these guys?
I don't think it's an issue of talent. They might not have a lot of that outside of McGrady, but they aren't as bad as their record talent-wise. I would guess that Doc lost control of the team early and his successor is still struggling to right the ship.
