Orlando Magic News for February 18th: No Trade for the Orlando Magic; Honoring Darrell Armstrong Tomorrow Night

• Denton: Magic Stand Pat at Trade Deadline
  John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com writes that general manager Otis Smith stuck by his word when he said he liked his team and didn't see the need to acquire someone at the trade deadline.

  In Smith's eyes, the Magic made several big moves last summer by trading for Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson and signing Matt Barnes, Jason Williams and Brandon Bass in free agency. Those five new players surrounding the core of Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Jameer Nelson, J.J. Redick and Marcin Gortat led Smith to believe that the Magic are good enough to win a championship. [...]
  
  ``We've made a lot of changes and I wasn't going to make more of them just for the sake of making changes. Just trying to keep up with the Jones so to speak, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense,'' said Smith, the architect of last season's NBA Finalist squad. ``We still need time to gel and allow guys time to play better and play together. It just takes time.
  
  ``I think we do have enough to compete for a title. When you start talk about building teams, it's not always about having the most talent at every position 1 through 13,'' Smith continued. ``Guys have to buy into their roles and your best players have to be the best players. I think we have enough depth and talent to get it done.''

• Prospectus Hoops List: Post-All Star Edition
  Bradford Doolittle of Basketball Prospectus notes the re-emergence of Dwight Howard the past month or so.

  The Magic seem to have re-discovered that it has a pretty dominant big man down on the blocks. Orlando had some periodic trouble getting Dwight Howard enough touches, but that hasn't been a problem over the last month. Howard is coming off his best game of the season, with 33 points, 17 boards and seven blocks Wednesday against Detroit.

More after the jump.

• Lewis on Cavs trade: "It doesn't scare me."
  John Krolik of ProBasketballTalk chimes in on Rashard Lewis' comments about the Jamison trade.

• The Magic React to Cavs' Jamison Acquisition
  Eric Freeman of The Baseline is confused by Lewis' take on the move.

  I'll confess that I don't fully understand Lewis's comments about a single player not winning games -- it's almost like he's trying to say that the Cavs aren't a juggernaut, but then he mentions LeBron James as the second player on the team as if he's not clearly the best player on the planet. SVG seems a little more concerned, making it clear that Cleveland is going to be pretty tough to defend.
  
  The important thing for the Magic and their fans to remember is that they didn't make a trade for a reason. That roster is loaded on paper, a veritable treasure trove of talented scorers, shooters, and big men. Their trade deadline acquisition needs to be better team cohesion and on-court chemistry, not an extra player who would only make things even more complicated than they already are.

• Via the Orlando Magic:
  

  As part of the Orlando Magic’s "Commitment to the Past," fan-favorite guard Darrell Armstrong will be honored by the organization when the Magic host Dallas on Friday, Feb. 19 at Amway Arena. Game time is 8 p.m.
  
  Undrafted by any NBA franchise, Armstrong was originally signed as a free agent by Orlando on Apr. 8, 1995. He went on to play 502 regular season games during nine seasons with the Magic, averaging 11.7 ppg., 5.1 apg. and 1.65 stlpg.
  
  Armstrong ranks among the franchise’s all-time leaders in almost every single category, including games played (3rd, 502), points (8th, 5,898), assists (3rd, 2,555), steals (2nd, 830), three-point field goals made (3rd, 654) and three-point field goals attempted (3rd, 1,892).