Orlando Magic News for April 6th: Goals, Free Agency, and All-Defense Chatter
by Evan Dunlap on Apr 6, 2010 7:00 PM EDT
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Print- Orlando’s Remaining Goals | Howard the Dunk
Andrew Melnick of Howard the Dunk catches up with Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. Here's how he's approaching the final five games of the regular season:
There’s always something to play for, plus you’re playing to get better and improve and everything else.
The Magic are indeed gunning for the L.A. Lakers for the NBA's second overall record, which would give the Magic homecourt advantage in a potential NBA Finals rematch.
- Magic's resurgence in the East is anything but an illusion for Cleveland Cavaliers: NBA Insider
UPDATE (this bullet only): Highly respected Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer Brian Windhorst urges Cavs fans not to take the Magic lightly.
[R]egardless of what happens in the Western Conference playoffs, the Magic are still likely the biggest hurdle between the Cavs and their first-ever championship.
Hat tip: OPP member nowuseemenowudont
- Top 50 2010 NBA Free Agents -- NBA FanHouse
Tom Ziller of NBA FanHouse lists Magic guard J.J. Redick 22nd on his ranking of the 2010 Free Agent class. Which sort of teams will Redick attrack this summer? Those "looking for an under-control Nate Robinson," says Ziller.
- John Hollinger: All-Defense teams - ESPN
John Hollinger of ESPN.com (subscription required) names Magic center Dwight Howard the Defensive Player of the Year, calling him "easily the cream of the crop" among all current NBA players. No other Magic player so much as received an honorable mention in Hollinger's All-Defense selections.
Per a Magic news release, Orlando will clinch its third consecutive Southeast Division title with its next win or the Atlanta Hawks' next loss. Put another way, the only way the Magic won't win the division is if they lose the rest of their games and the Hawks win all of theirs.
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J.J. nearly cracking the top 20
is surprising. I guess people are paying attention to him now, which kinda sucks. His defense is still an issue but since the last time I blasted him (mainly it was the J.J. + VC SG/SF combo I hate) for his defense he’s been playing excellent D for the past 5 games. Even against the Wolves when SVG went with the dreaded J.J. + VC lineup and the Wolves immidiately went on a 7-0 run SVG called the timeout but came out of it with the same lineup and the Magic were able to execute their offense smoothly and were no longer lost on defense.
If a team offers J.J. more than the Magic can pay him I think Anthony Morrow is one of the best values at SG in terms of skill and salary. What about a sign-&-trade with the Warriors? Bass for Morrow & some cash?
The Magic can’t keep the same team as this year so who is most likely to be gone next season?
AJ/Dad – gone
Foyle – staying
Bass – uncertain
Gortat – uncertain
Barnes – uncertain
J.J. – uncertain
J. Will – uncertain
What’s realistic in terms of how many of the 5 uncertains the Magic can keep? 3 or 4 of the 5?
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
I look at it this way
Given our position in the draft, the fact we’re over the cap, our availale exceptions, and our contracted assets, what moves do we need to make in the offseason?
Worst case scenario is we lose AJ, Williams, Redick and Barnes, leaving us with the following contracted players:
Howard/Gortat
Lewis/Bass/Anderson
Pietrus
Carter
Nelson
Plus, perhaps, some draft picks.
Our roster immediately looks top loaded – I’d look at trading Bass and Gortat, picking up a solid backup C either in return or for a low level FA deal, and try to fill the smaller positions with other players. Perhaps we could pick up a starting SF for the MLE or less (or bring back Barnes on a more expensive contract) and try to get some backup guards as part of a Gortat and/or Bass deal.
There’s certainly going to be a lot to talk about this offseason.
by eltharion_doa on Apr 7, 2010 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions
I agree with Matt
Put Dwight Howard in the Russell era and this isn’t even a debate.
Russell is the greatest winner in major sports history but isn’t the greatest defender in NBA history. 6 seasons into his career Dwight is the greatest defender in NBA history IMO. As Matt said, and he’s been around a lot longer than I have, I’ve never seen a single player have as much impact on the defense as Dwight does. Given the evolution of the game, it’s difficult to believe that there was another defender like Dwight who controlled and locked down the entire paint. Dwight’s vertical is the key to his dominance and there have only been a handful of players with his height and freakish vertical, none of which, as Matt Goukas says, had the same caliber of understanding the oppositions defense and thus being able to control the painted area.
#1 in Def Eff last season and #1 or #2 this season even with 3 new starters. If/when he does it again the next 5 seasons no one will be able to deny him even though they really shouldn’t deny him now.
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
Can you imagine Dwight's vert without the useless (jumping wise) upperbody muscle bulk?
I always think about this when I see Wilt and all those early centers being rail-thin… leg muscles help a lot in the vertical jump but the chest and shoulders don’t do too much (except for some muscle irradiation effects and some good movement pattern providers).
They lose the tiebreaker with L.A. based on division record.
I’m sure they wish they took Washington and Miami more seriously.
The real "Masters of Panic" are commenting on this blog.
division record only matters when the teams are in the same division
this has been said three times in various posts. the first tiebreaker if teams split the season series is conference record when comparing teams from opposing conferences.
yet to be determined
would depend on games that haven’t been played yet
The magic will have homecourt
Tiebreakers:
1. Division leader (both are division leaders)
2. Head to head (2-2)
3. Division record (does not apply – not in same division.
4. Conference record – if the magic catch the lakers in overall record, they’ll catch them in conference record, too. They’re one game back, and orlando’s five remaining games are against the East, while The Lakers final five games are against the West.
5. Conference record against playoff teams in own conference – the magic are currently 18-8. The worst they can be is 17-9. The lakers are 15-10. The best they can be is 17-10.
To clarify, for the magic to end up 17-9, they’ll have to lose to Cleveland AND Toronto would have to surrender the final playoff spot to Chicago. (magic 3-1 against Toronto, 2-1 against Chicago)
bottom line, tiebreaker goes to Orlando
by Jwoey on Apr 6, 2010 9:16 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
It won't get to the vs playoff-teams record
If the Magic catch the Lakers on overall record, they’ll have a superior conference record. We’ve already won more games than them in our respective conferences, and they need to lose another game for us to catch them in the standings, meaning if we end up tied, we’ll have won two more conference games than them. We are currently 34-13 against the East, they’re 33-14 against the West and need to lose one game more than us for us to catch them – meaning the best possible record they can post against the West, and be tied with us, is 37-15, whilst if we win our we’ll get to 39-13.
Ironically, their superior record against the East compared to ours against the West will bite them in a tie-break situation.
by eltharion_doa on Apr 7, 2010 9:52 AM EDT up reply actions
Oops, you're right
For some reason I flipped the conference records in my head – thinking we were 33-14 and they were 34-13.
Thanks
This is true. Starters will likely remain the same.
Except we will probably lose Matt Barnes to free agency. Can’t see us retaining Anthony Johnson either. Jason Williams will probably back. Pietrus is still under contract. We will more likely than not resign JJ to a decent contract as he has said that he would like to keep playing here. Anderson is still on his rookie contract. Marcin is signed for a few more years as well as Brandon.
Not on the contract he has
Someone will give him more than one year and $1.6m, given the sheer amount of FA cash available.
by eltharion_doa on Apr 7, 2010 9:53 AM EDT up reply actions
Unfortunately...
the Hawks lost putting the Celtics only a half-game behind them. However, this loss helps us clinch the division and thus 2nd seed in the East.
Danilo Gallinari just hit a huge 3 to put the Knicks up by 2.
Hopefully the Knicks hold on so Atlanta can keep that 3 seed.
Apparently they changed it to only a 2.
But now the Knicks lead by 3. Yeah, hopefully Ray misses the game-tying 3.
True enough...
and I feel we match up much better against them this year with KG than last year with KG. However, even though their age has caught up to them, I’d still much rather face Atlanta, whom we match up better against, because the Celtics do have a lot of experience and they would look to seek revenge against us.
Plus they have a guy to guard Dwight
The Hawks don’t.
by eltharion_doa on Apr 7, 2010 11:08 AM EDT up reply actions
Unfortunately Dwight just lost the FG% lead to Perkins
With him going 6-8 tonight he now moves to 60.6% with Dwight at 60.4%. Wins are more important but man it would be sweet if Dwight can finish the season with the lead in FG%, rebounds & blocks. It would be one of those rare records that stand for several decades.
"It can be done, you can just crush somebody"
True.
However, Perkins has only attempted 508 FGs as opposed to Dwight’s 783. I don’t really care if Dwight leads the league in FG% as he will defend his DPOY title and I’d rather he help Orlando win its first NBA Championship than lead the league in a 3rd category and not get it done. I do agree that it would be nice though.
That will probably depend on Bosh's availability tomorrow night as he broke a bone in his face tonight after being elbowed by Antawn Jamison.
He is staying in Cleveland overnight for observation.
NBA Championship or bust in '09-10!!!! GO MAGIC!!!!
“Why are you so frightened by the Magic? The only time they beat us this year was when we came off a long road trip and the team was really trying to gel with Jamison, and only then it was by only 6 points and it was close in the 4th quarter. When this team is together and in rhythm Orlando doesn’t stand a chance. The moves over the summer weakened Orlando and strengthened the Cavs, the two lopsided wins by the Cavs are proof of that this is the case. I would be surprised if it took longer than 5 games to dispatch them in the playoffs. "
One of the Cavs fans in the post by Brian. Does he know that we were on the second night of a back to back in the first two games against the Cavs? And that Rashard didn’t even play the first game? Smh.
Twitter.com/Blacktigra
Mostly homerism. Every fan suffers from it to some degree.
This kind of stuff can always be found on newspaper message boards….it would be like taking all Magic fans to task for the crazy stuff written in the OSen comments. He probably isn’t considering your points. No big deal.
"I've had people say, 'I don't need to check the [player statistics]. I've seen it with my eyes.' Well, I would also say your eyes lie to you sometimes, and some of the guys you may really like and think are really doing things, when you get deeper into it, aren't or vice versa." ~Stan Van Gundy
by magicfaninTN on Apr 7, 2010 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions
He probably thinks the Magic only play four games a season
They get the rest of their record by shooting craps in an alley.
by eltharion_doa on Apr 7, 2010 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions
Oh well...
let him think that because I bet he said the Cavs were going to mop the floor of the Magic last year and look how that turned out. After all, he is entitled to his opinion although it’s very subjective. If the Magic beat the Cavs in the ECF again, I can’t wait to hear all those crickets.
If we can't get JJ back...
…there are two names I want to look at for that backup SG spot. Azubuike (assuming he’s healthy) and Morrow. Both efficient scorers with a three-point shot, both solid players with a good work ethic. Then again, I’m not sure either one of them is going to come cheaper than Redick.
Bass is a kind of fish.
Plus, it furthers Otis' ultimate ambition of surrounding Dwight & Jameer with all Golden State players
Even though the Hippopotamus lacks a stinger for a tail, a truly wise man would rather be sat on by a bee. ~ Banacek
I was thinking the exact same thing.
We can hire Don Nelson as an assistant once he gets fired this year.
I hate Varejao.
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