The Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard was named the NBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Tuesday, Oct. 27 through Sunday, Nov. 1. It marks the eighth time during his career that he has earned the league's top weekly honor. The Denver Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony earned the honor in the Western Conference.  

Still hurting, Orlando's Nelson making his way back
David Aldridge of NBA.com writes an excellent, lengthy piece on Jameer Nelson continuing to try to cope with the loss of his father. A must-read.

But Nelson needed a different kind of toughness -- or, maybe it's the same toughness -- to reach out when he was having trouble dealing with his father's death. For the past two years, he has had weekly sessions with a psychologist -- a fact that he volunteers, matter of factly, when asked who he talks to now that his dad, his best friend, is gone.

"I went to my general manager and just told him that I needed to talk with somebody, because I was having a tough time with it at the time," Nelson said. "He referred (the psychologist) to me, and still to this day, I talk to him once a week, and he helps me get my week straightened out and keep my life on track."

J.J.’s Big Day, another J.J.’s big quarter, and Rondo gets paid
Dime Magazine highlights J.J Redick's career-day in yesterday's game against Toronto.

In his best game as a pro by far, Redick dropped 27 points (5-8 3PA), five boards and six assists in helping Orlando stay unbeaten. Remember that automatic limitless-range jumper J.J. used to have at Duke? It was back on Sunday.

We’re 3-0!!!!
Dwight Howard posts on his official blog, today.

We’re 3-0 already, so hopefully everybody out there sees how hungry and talented we are. I’m really not that surprised that we’ve gotten off to a fast start and gelled so quickly. We are together because everybody in our locker room knows that we have just one goal … get that championship!!! There are no other agendas, no other goals. It’s all about that ‘ship this season.

umping to Conclusions
Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus examines some of the early storylines that are developing in the 2009-2010 season. His thoughts on the Magic:

Orlando came into the day as the league's second-best offense (behind Philadelphia) and moved into the top spot (the same projected by SCHOENE in Pro Basketball Prospectus 2009-10) with the effort. Again, that's despite playing all three games without Lewis and a game and a half without Carter. Though the Heat and the Celtics have better point differentials so far, the Magic may have been the league's most impressive team in the very early going. [...]

The one thing that has yet to test Orlando is the schedule; Philadelphia is the only 2008-09 playoff team the Magic has yet faced, and Orlando won't get a real showdown until Cleveland visits Amway Arena on Veteran's Day. If the Magic can use the softer schedule to get off to a strong start without Lewis, however, it will offer a nice cushion heading into the rest of the season.

The loser here has been Brandon Bass, who may find himself the odd man out when Lewis returns in two weeks. Anderson will be hard to pull from the rotation given how well he has played. Taking full advantage of the same open looks that allowed Lewis to lead the league in three-pointers last season, Anderson has made 3.7 of them a game, better than Lewis' average last season (2.8 per game).

Orlando Burning Down The House
Dino Nation Blog, a site that covers the Raptors, had this to say following the team's loss to Orlando.

Jay Triano in the inside look into training camp talks about this concept of a house and guarding it. Well that works well until people with [a] grenade launcher come along, they can still blow-up your house.

NBA News That Doesn't Really Matter: A Brief History Of Luxury Tax
UPDATE 2: ShamSports looks at the impact of the luxury tax in the NBA. Fascinating stuff, including this tidbit about Rashard Lewis. (HT: magicfaninTN)

Also, the suspensions for Rashard Lewis and Jamaal Magloire have to be accounted for; teams are billed for only 50% of the money players lose when suspended by the league.