Anybody else completely disappointed with how bad the Magic are falling off the face of the Earth? At 29-34 and 2-8 in their last ten, they are on the brink of falling out of the playoffs. NJ and NY (yes, the Knicks) are both right on pace to blow right by the Magic. Last night might have been the exclamation point with a 24-point loss at home to a Chicago team fresh off of getting dismantled the night before by the Heat. My question: What exactly is their excuse for being so bad? Bill Simmons pretty much said it all in his post-deadline article "No Balls Association".....
Rockets should trade V-span for Reddick. Reddick has proved that he can shoot. V-Span is work in progress. I don't think he fits on this team.
Tony Battie got injured. He really helped them alot. With Darko starting, they don't have an adequate backup. They may have started losing before this injury.
Nelson: Decent scorer but not effective passer Turk: Great scorer, not much negetives Howard: Next Shaq, however doesn't have the soft ball catching like the other centers Darko: Always get into stupid foul trouble Bogans: I miss him when he was with the Rox Hill: Great scorer but not much leadership skills Ariza: Still developing his outside game. Great D Battie: Overpaid blue collar Reddick: Still under-construction as a decent 2 guard Diener: poor kid stuck behind rotation Garrity: Poor man's version of Novak I still dont think its their time to shine, their team is still young especially Howard. This team if keeping the main man like Darko, Howard, Ariza and Nelson would actually form a really athletic line up, playing up to 40 mins each game.
a young team with a average coach and overall lack of understand roles on both ends of the floor. nelson does do a good job but he is a scorer first and then a playmaker. they have some parts but no one knows what to do with it. howard is still needs to learn some offensive moves other than the spin-to-dunk and the running floater. i would say they overachieved in the first part of the season, they really need a primary scorer on that team until howard comes into his own (i say 2 more seasons) maybe they can use the cap space from hill's contract to get someone but they need to do something this offseason
They've got worlds of potential, but the hold ups as I see them are (in order): 1. Dwight Howard - 18 and 12 is sweet, but he seems to have Yao's humble giant syndrome going on. He's nowhere near as determined to get the ball as he needs to be. He had a solid February, where his scoring low was a 15-pt game. There's no reason he should ever have less than that. But already this month he had 9- and 10-point games. He's got to give them 20 every single night, period. 2. PG play - Nelson and Arroyo are fairly talented and have a good knack for chipping in points, but they're below average distributors and way below average as floor generals. The team doesn't score as well as they should in the halfcourt, and the execution begins at the 1. 3. Brian Hill - teams take on the personality of their coach, and he's just a wallpaper guy. Instills no toughness or grit and it shows.
Problem is, the Magic would have to agree to the trade and Weisbrod is gone. Nobody expected them to keep up the early pace but the tank job looks pretty bad on Brian Hill. I read the Magic have a lot of cap room and they should be able to land a top talent this summer.
The Magic don't have anybody that can take people off the dribble and get to the basket. Turkoglu and Nelson are spot up shooters, Grant Hill is too old to take punishment inside, and Battie is a back to the basket guy. Plus, Howard only has 10 FGA/game and about 8 FT/game, which means he puts up about 15 actual shots/game. That means he's not getting enough touches, so teams don't double team him as often, which means no open players to drive to the hole. You know who would be perfect for the Magic? Tracy McGrady. Hmmm, I wonder what happened to him... Are there any small forwards/shooting guards in the upcoming free agent class?
Vince Carter, assuming he takes his out clause. It's been a poorly-kept secret that he wants to go to Orlando or Miami, but the Magic weren't interested in trading for him. Orlando will have boatloads of spending money this summer. Evan
their coach sucks pretty simple, he he not much clue about basketball... he'll be replaced by next season
not really surprised, they have mediocre talent outside of Howard, who isn't ready to carry a team yet.
