Orlando Magic News for January 8th: John Hollinger Talks about the Magic, Kevin Pelton talks about Jameer Nelson, And More

In case you missed John Hollinger's chat as ESPN.com today, here are some Magic-related highlights:

• First, his general take on the Magic:

  Ryan (Tampa, Florida): What do you think about the start of the Orlando Magic this season? They keep winning against good teams and it seems they don't get much respect.

  John Hollinger: (3:18 PM ET ) It's true nobody quite takes the Magic seriously as a title contender, despite their undeniably impressive results so far. Part of it is because one item you said isn't quite true -- Orlando hasn't played many good teams. That changes in a hurry the next two weeks (San Anto, Boston, Cleveland), so if they hold up well in those games they might get more national attention.

• Then on where Stan Van Gundy stands in the Coach of the Year race:

  Lawrence Frank (NJ): I'm Coach of the Year so far, right? Juggling B players, developing young guys, and the team's over-achieving.

  John Hollinger: (3:32 PM ET ) Frank's done a nice job but the Nets are highly unlikely to stay at .500 all year given their upcoming schedule. And even if they do, it won't matter because Stan Van Gundy is about 99.9% likely to get the award if the Magic keep playing like this.

Kevin Pelton delivers the second (and final) post in his attempt to determine who the best point guard in the Eastern Conference is. It's between Boston's Rajon Rondo, New Jersey's Devin Harris, and our very own Jameer Nelson. I don't want to spoil it for you, so you'll have to cruise on over the Basketball Prospectus to read his verdict.

Today's The Basketball Jones podcast focuses mainly on last night's Hawks/Magic game. I feel silly linking to The Jones because, frankly, I assume everyone who cares enough about basketball to read this site also subscribes to The Jones in iTunes, but here we are anyway.

Finally, Dwight Howard still leads everyone in All-Star votes. (Thanks, Marie.)