Orlando Magic News for July 29th: Emeka Okafor's Link To The Magic, A Look At A Conference Rival, and More

by erivera7 on Jul 29, 2009 10:00 AM EDT in News

Emeka Okafor still searching for his spotlight
Tania Ganguli describes what Emeka Okafor's move to the New Orleans Hornets yesterday evening, via trade, means for him as a player.

Five years after pundits ridiculed the Magic's selection of Dwight Howard over Okafor, the former UConn Huskie is still searching for his place in the association. He's a solid big man and a good defender.

But Okafor hasn't made an impact in the playoffs. He hasn't helped contribute to an elite team. He hasn't become a star. And he isn't exceptionally relevant outside Charlotte.
What’s Left in Shaq’s Tank?
Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference examines how the Cleveland Cavaliers' acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal means for the Orlando Magic.

It’s likely that Shaq won’t use more possessions than Ilgauskas, but he will touch the ball more often and, more importantly, his possessions will definitely not end in 15-foot jumpers — he will indeed make Howard work on defense inside far more than Cleveland’s options did last season. However, while Shaq is stronger and will probably push Howard around the way Kendrick Perkins did in the Magic-Celtics series, it’s hard to see Shaq making a significant difference on pick-n-roll defense, since he’s just as slow as Big Z and that tough matchup was what really destroyed Cleveland in the ECF. Additionally, Shaq’s on/off defensive numbers have been mediocre since his Laker days, so there’s no reason to think he’ll be a huge upgrade for Cleveland at that end in general.

And then there’s the matter of Shaq’s age. Coincidentally enough, 37 just happens to be the magic number at which some of history’s greatest big men — Ewing, Olajuwon, Wilt, Robinson, Moses, etc. — either retired or saw their production fall off a cliff. In other words, Shaq had a nice comeback season last year and will be an offensive upgrade at center for the Cavs if he can retain that form, but if Cleveland is counting on him to be the final piece of the puzzle to help them beat the Magic or Celtics in the playoffs, they’d better have a backup plan, because relying on O’Neal is a bit of a gamble at this stage of his career.
INTERVIEW WITH MOUTHPIECE SPORTS AT MY BASKETBALL CAMP IN ATLANTA
Orlando's Dwight Howard conducts an interview with Mouthpiece Sports at his basketball camp in Atlanta. Check it out.
Easy Buckets: Who Depends on Them the Most?
UPDATE: Jon Nichols of Basketball-Statistics takes a look at which players depend on easy buckets the most. A few Magic players make the list.
Report: Lakers, Cavs to Headline NBA's Christmas Day Schedule
UPDATE 2: Brett Pollakoff of NBA FanHouse lists one Christmas Day game he'd like to see on the NBA schedule in the upcoming season.

Magic vs. Celtics: If Kevin Garnett is somewhat back to his old self, this is a good opportunity to see what a full-strength Celtics team looks like against a revamped Magic team that made it to the Finals. Besides, you can't go wrong with two of the top three projected teams in the East going head-to-head, and (as Matt Moore reminded me) getting to see the replay of Glen Davis hitting that game-winner and decking that kid over and over again would be priceless.

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Comments

Shaq might have a little left in the tank but its not DIESEL in there its not even real gas, more like corn oil or something else less combustable.

IMO Shaq dont make them a better defensive team and I think Shaq,Nash,Stat,J-Rich,G Hill,Barnes,Barbosa, ect. are better than any Cavs lineup with Shaq in it offensively.

by D-RAK on Jul 29, 2009 11:58 AM EDT reply actions

Shaq AKA "The Big Attention Getter"

I think Cleveland DOWNgraded their defense by adding Shaq. C’mon watching pick and roll Cavs D is going to make people check their speed control on TeVo to make sure they didnt hit slo-mo. No they didnt upgrade against the elite east teams and one could argue whether Toronto is as dangerous as Cleveland now. This is just a way for Cleveland management to say " look Bron-bron we got you Shaq, we are trying" and Shaq being an aging superstar who craves spotlight is more than happy to oblige to bask in Lebrons light.Shaq will still be a force on offense so long as his feet and legs stay healthy, but adding him to the offensive set virtually ensures the Cavs will be in the 1/2 court. Last I saw Cleveland tried that and lost in the conf. finals. We are going to run those old big men to death,it will be such a massacre mothers will hide childrens eyes from it. At the end of games against the Magic the Cavs will be forced to run Jamario Moon at center. Not a good pick up on the court but having shaq’s monster contract coming off the books next year for Cleveland is a diff. story all together.
Bad move on court
Good move for FA next season

Thats me chilling with Nick Anderson

by The Magic made Lebron run off the court on Jul 29, 2009 12:35 PM EDT reply actions

Come on, Toronto isn't even in Cleveland's league right now. That's a foolish thing to say.

The Magic aren’t going to massacre the Cavaliers into the ground. The Cavs are a team that deserve respect because they have the best player in the NBA and a bunch of underrated role players, as well.

Acquiring Shaq doesn’t hurt them, but it may not help them either. Either way, they’ll figure it out.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 29, 2009 7:24 PM EDT up reply actions

they're not?

I think Toronto’s big men are faster and better offensively than Clevelands. And lets not forget Turkoglu who spreads the floor, something Clevelands big slo men cant cover. And whats this about underrated roleplayers. Mo williams was SUPPOSED to be the big time scoring piece Bron needed to get over the edge. Doesnt sound underrated, hell the way they played most of the Magic series I would say alot of Cavs are overrated.

Thats me chilling with Nick Anderson

by The Magic made Lebron run off the court on Jul 30, 2009 5:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Cleveland is the better team

They had the best record in the NBA and Toronto mised the playoffs. Cleveland added the better player. Shaq will mean more to Cleveland then Turk to Toronto..

They also added another Swingman with size.

"No matter where you go, you are what you are playa"-Jay Z
Twitter Account

by Wmillion on Jul 30, 2009 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions

It's not all about offense.

I honestly can’t believe you’re trying to argue that Toronto is anywhere close to being as good as Cleveland. The Cavaliers are a 60+ win team with the best player in the NBA, to boot.

Likewise, the Cavs defense is far superior to the Raps defense. It’s not even close.

The gap in efficiency differential between both teams is laughably wide.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 30, 2009 5:42 PM EDT up reply actions

TRUE

Look I am not arguing that Cleveland and toronto are on the same playing field….
What i am saying is in a talant packed east Cleveland stood still on their pick and roll D by adding Shaq. Toronto upgraded their pick and roll offense. Teams that can RUN and SHOOT will have a BETTER chance at beating Cleveland. A 48 min. game of up and down the court is going to create a VERY gassed out Shaq and Ilgauskas. And the Cavs. leaning on Lebron for 40+ mins. a game because the HAVE to is going to lead to a very banged up and tired team come playoff time. It seems to me that Cleveland scraped the bottom of the barrel this FA period. Parker had a horrible season last year,Moon is a role player only and Shaq is getting older by the second. Hardly the kind of moves that insipe awe for me. And if Garnett is healthy look at a Cavs team that could be struggling to make 3rd best in the east.(esp. if Miami gets Odom.) Teams like Toronto/Charlotte/Miami if they gel could be just as dangerous as the Cavs, in my opinion.

Thats me chilling with Nick Anderson

by The Magic made Lebron run off the court on Jul 31, 2009 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions

I highly doubt it, but we differ in opinion.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 31, 2009 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions

thus the beauty in free speech

Thats me chilling with Nick Anderson

by The Magic made Lebron run off the court on Jul 31, 2009 5:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Yizzir.

I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.

"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone

by erivera7 on Jul 31, 2009 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again — the Cavs now have two Ilgauskases. (I didn’t know how to pluralize “Ilgauskas” then, either.) I mean, the offensive repertoires are different, but in both cases, you have a massive man with mobility issues and not much innate understanding of defense. Which I guess might be an upgrade? I mean, you have two of them, so you can run that out there for 48 minutes as opposed to 24… but was Z that effective against Howard? It’s not like Howard was getting all his points against Cleveland’s backups…

I don’t know. I’d be more worried if they had a top-flight defensive PF alongside the big guys. (And even then, the Magic are going to take that guy out on the perimeter.) Also raises the question of whether Shaq clogging up the lane is going to cause problems for LeBron driving said lane.

That much having been said, I don’t know that Shaq’s lack of speed affects their offense… the Cavs are as slow and half-court a team as anyone, really. And they’ve been working around Z’s lack of speed for years now.

He's currently two-thirds man, one-third amazing. Which, let's face it, is still a pretty good ratio.

by 3.3seconds on Jul 29, 2009 3:22 PM EDT reply actions