It’s funny that you conclude the Magic have trouble with pg’s who attack off the dribble and Jameer seems to struggle mightily stopping guards off the dribble. And has for most of his career.

The thing is though, Jameer’s defensive struggles shouldn’t be as much of a concern as his very mediocre shooting so far. Jameer’s value has never been about defense, where he has often struggled throughout his career (despite pronouncements last season that he had become an “above average” defender, whatever that means). Rather, Jameer’s value, at his best, was as a shotmaking, efficiently scoring point guard whose TO numbers didn’t kill you. Ultimately, if Jameer can’t be that sort of player offensively, then overall his value is quite limited. You might as well take your pick between someone like Jason Williams/Rafer Alston and Jameer — there isn’t that big of a difference, as the numbers and observations would indicate.

Finally, some one questioning Nelson’s defense capabilities. For the last 3 years I have been questioning if he could guard his grandmother. Nelson is a fantastic dribbler, average shooter, and average passer. Forget the wins and loses, just look at his performance on defense. I’m not a Nelson hater but I think he probably would be good coming off the bench. Magic needs a point guard!

lets give meer some time before we write him off.

does anyone else hate when jameer dribbles into the middle of the floor around the freethrow line and just kind of hops about? its like a worse version of the chris paul move, or the rondo and nash baseline probe because jameer isnt looking to create for others, especially when their standing on the perimeter. I also see a lot of time where in that situation he ends up getting triple teamed and either turns the ball over or forces a pass to a shooter that leaves them out of rhythym. I think if the magic removed that move from their arsenal theyd be in much better shape. it just seems to go against everything they try to do with the inside out, spacing the floor offense. just my opinion, but id like to know what others think

I think with Jameer excelling on offense last year helped out his defense against the opponent PG.

 the rest of the team is standing around… just waiting to see what Jameer is going to do.They need to slash towards the paint, create some open shots and maybe catch an offensive rebound while their at it.

It can take a guy as long as he was out to get back to where he was at before an injury. I’m not worried until after the All-Star break. The last two games he played well, gave up what the scouting report tells you to, playing the percentages.

These kinds of reactions lead me to believe that sports are not better off with the internet. Everyone can say something right away, and fans get so worked up so quickly. With all that’s gone on, we have one more loss than the Celtics, and the same amount of losses as the Cavs. All three teams have issues, all three teams have had bad losses. All of this with a huge roster turnover.

People can talk all they want about a player on the Magic’s individual defense, but the scheme is a team scheme. If one player is going off, it’s typically the responsibility of the team in general to stop that. Jameer’s defensive numbers last year probably looked better than they should because the team collectively was playing better team defense. They look worse now with a small sample size because, to be frank, the team in general is not playing as good defensively. They’ve gotten better, and they have more than half a season still to continue to get better. Quite frankly, I’m encouraged that we’re at the position we are right now considering everything that’s gone wrong. If you stop having ridiculous expectations and look at the big picture, you should be encouraged also.

Thats our biggest problem, I believe if we came out with energy and played hard we would be awesome, forget the percentages, forget the defense, forget everything but the energy. I believe if we came out playing like it was the playoffs every game for 48 min than all these other problems would correct themselves. We have the talent and experience, all we nee now is a killer instinct and it has to start with d12. I am not telling him to stop smiling, he needs to just come out with the killer instinct and carry this team.

I’m not a Nelson fan and never will be unless he can start playing some defense. Defense is a team issue but when he doesn’t then the other four have to pick it up. There is talk about the wins, loses and how many points he scores. You can’t put a win or lose on to one man but it sure would be better is Nelson could guard someone a little better. He could score 70 points and the Magic could win by 90 points. I still say he has a problem guarding his man and the rest of the team has to pick up his inabilities on defense. There is one thing that I have full confidence in, Nelson can dribble. Maybe the Harlem Globetrotters will be next. Opinions are like belly buttons, everybody has one.