Orlando Magic News for September 14th: Another Magic Grade, Otis Smith Answers Fans, and More
by Evan Dunlap on Sep 14, 2010 3:00 PM EDT
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Print- NBA offseason: Grading the Eastern Conference - ESPN
Chad Ford of ESPN Insider is the latest NBA expert to weigh in on the Orlando Magic's offseason moves, the most prominent of which were adding Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson. But Orlando earns a C- from Ford because they "basically stood pat," a "surprising" tactic after the Magic didn't even return to the NBA Finals. Only three Eastern teams fared worse this summer, according to Ford.
For what it's worth, David Aldridge's rankings at NBA.com nearly two months ago were similar.
- MAGIC: Ask Otis: September 14, 2010
Otis Smith, the Magic's President of Basketball Operations, answers fan questions in this feature on the team's official website. Here's one particularly interesting response which goes nicely with this morning's feature on the starting small forward job:
I’ve envisioned [Mickael Pietrus] in the starting lineup since he got here. But he doesn’t envision himself there. He would prefer to be a backup for whatever reason.
I'm certain to refer back to Smith's responses as the Camp Countdown series continues.
- Dwight Howard tells THD that Orlando Magic Are Best in East | The Hoop Doctors
Kevin Burke of The Hoop Doctors chatted with Magic center Dwight Howard on a variety of topics last week when Howard was in Chicago as part of a Gatorade REPLAY event.
- Kevin Durant, Luis Scola shine, Danny Granger tanks in FIBA play - Chris Mannix - SI.com
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated names former Orlando Magic lottery pick Fran Vazquez, who has yet to play in the NBA five years after Orlando drafted him one of the losers in this year's FIBA World Championships. "Vazquez," Mannix writes, "sounds indifferent in interviews about ever playing in the NBA." Mannix openly wonders if it's "time to write him off."
- An introduction and top Magic and NBA news: Tuesday, Sept. 14 – Orlando Magic BasketBlog
Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel, the newest member of its Magic beat, introduces himself to Sentinel readers. Zach is a friend of this site and no stranger to covering the Magic, having founded the blog Orlando Magic Daily.
- Ray of sunshine will be missed - The Boston Globe
Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe profiles NBA lifer Clifford Ray, a former Magic assistant coach who specialized in working with Howard. The Boston Celtics, for whom he's coached since 2006, have decided to let Ray go.
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It makes sense to give the Magic a "C" because they didn't make any big moves.
But you also have to understand that we didn’t really lose anything backbreaking either. I’m a little perplexed at the notion that the Magic had a “bad” offseason as I think they did fine with what little wiggle room they had.
Of course, when the season starts to really take shape we’ll see how this all plays out and maybe I’m dead wrong.
As for Pietrus, I think he should come off the bench because that is where he seems the most comfortable.
The intensity has to go up, up! Not down...UP! -Stan Van Gundy
He gave them a C-, which confused me
According to the scale he posted on his Twitter account, that’s between “stayed about the same” and “team regressed.” If we’re using Ford’s scale, I’d give them a C; it’s hard to contend that replacing Barnes with Richardson and Williams’ minutes with Duhon constitutes a downgrade.
A more fair grade for the Magic, considering the circumstances, is a B, but that’s not in line with Ford’s scale. They had only the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions to offer, using the MLE to snag good-fit veterans at fair prices (though four years for both is pushing it) while leaving the BAE alone. Based on what was available to them, it’s hard to imagine them doing much better than they did.
If by "C", they mean it was an average offseason, I think that is fair
All the Magic had was a mid-level and veteran exceptions, and the mid-level was parlayed into a starting small forward and a backup point guard (who is also capable of starting if it came to it). I believe there is still the veteran exception for a mid-season signing if it is required. It was pretty decent and average offseason acquisitions for a championship-contending club that didn’t lose anybody that significant.
Even though the Hippopotamus lacks a stinger for a tail, a truly wise man would rather be sat on by a bee. ~ Banacek
Here's the thing.
The Magic were the best team in the league last year. The. Best. Team. The only other team with an even semi-plausible claim to that title is the Cavaliers, and they don’t exist any more. And in the second half, it wasn’t even close.
I don’t get why all these sportswriters expect the Magic to change their plans because of one bad series. Essentially, the Magic had an off-week in May, and that’s all. So they’re supposed to abandon what they’re doing because they have a team which can have an off-week on occasion? Every team does that. Even the ’95-96 Bulls lost 10 games.
Unless, of course, it takes playing time away from Ryan Anderson.
Well...
It sure looks like the Lakers or Celtics were the best team. The Celtics crushed the Cavs. Crushed them. Don’t buy into the PER’s and Hollinger numbers. The Lakers and Celtics turn it on when they have to. Nobody will challange the Lakers for first so they can coast. If the Celtics are healthy, they are better than the Magic. You can say the Magic are were the best regular season team. But regular season means nothing when you are in the playoffs.
I'm not talking about "PERs and Hollinger numbers."
I’m talking about the simplest, clearest, most reliable measure of team quality: average scoring differential. The Magic were at 7.5 last year. (Cavs at 6.5, nobody else above 5.3.)
The Celtics’ brief hot streak doesn’t change the fact that they were usually not a remarkably good team last year. It just so happened to be that the time when they were really good coincided with May.
And “Nobody will challange (sic) the Lakers for first”? Really? You mean other than the four teams who finished within 4 games of the Lakers in the West last year?
Unless, of course, it takes playing time away from Ryan Anderson.
No matter how you look at it grades always have some degrees of subjectivity incorporated in them
While replacing Williams’ minutes with Duhon’s is an upgrade, that is not the case with Richardson’s for Barnes’. I have argued previously that, in principle, trading better defense for better offense is not a wise choice considering that close opponents got better offensively, and we cannot afford to see Dwight under constant pressure to stay on the court, simply because it cuts into his ability to play aggressive defense . I am not aware why Barnes was not offered a decent contract to stay. Besides the defense vs. offense argument above, that would have made sense to keep continuity with returning a starter. Otis Smith has always operated with some secrecy, and that is disrespectful to the fans who are entitled to absolute transparency. In all, Magic has – ever so slightly – regressed in comparison to the competition, in my view, and that is consistent in the media without making a fuss about the grade.
We didnt lose against Boston because of our defense. We lost because we had a horrible offensive series.
Richardson doesn’t solve all of these problems, but while Barnes was on the court against Boston we were essentially playing 4v5 (and he didnt even do a good job on defense because he was playing hurt). Richardson is regarded as a better offensive producer than Barnes, so hopefully that will help keep the defense more honest and open up easier scoring opportunities for VC and Rashard.
Dwight is the reason we are at the top of the defensive spectrum every year. The past two seasons we have had VASTLY different starting lineups, and both of them finished near the top in every defensive metric that exists. Turkoglu certainly didn’t light anyone up on the defensive end when he was our starting SF did he? We were even a better offensive team this season with Barnes in the lineup than we were with Turk, and that doesn’t even make a bit of sense, due to their immense skill differences on that side of the ball.
I've heard one theory is that they didn't like Barnes' willingness to publically complain about a lack of playing time
With the most obvious example being when he openly questioned Stan Van Gundy pulling him late in the last-second loss to the Hawks in Atlanta.
From a practical standpoint, Richardson is a guy you have to guard from the perimeter. Barnes? Not so much. Yes, he has his usefulness on offense, but this is a team that prizes spacing.
I agree with that assessment, in principle.
Pietrus is a better fit to me to start in SF, and unless I hear it from him publicly that he does not want to start, I don’t buy into the assertions to the contrary. Alternatively, we should be able to at least interchange between him and Richardson in that position, as was the case between him and Barnes.
It wasn't so much an interchange as an outright switch.
Pietrus started until December 30th, at which point SVG put Barnes in the lineup. The only game MP started the rest of the way was a loss to Charlotte in March when Barnes’ sore toe sidelined him.
But I do think they’ll play fairly similar minutes. Barnes averaged 26 minutes last year to Pietrus’ 22. A similar dynamic could work this year.
The Howard-Lewis-Pietrus-Carter-Nelson lineup didn't play well together this season, though.
Which is why we had pretty much completely “interchanged” to Barnes in that lineup by January or so.
Unless, of course, it takes playing time away from Ryan Anderson.
By interchange I actually meant rather equal playing time regardless of who starts
I am not questioning the stat differences when Barnes or Pietrus were inserted with the rest of the starters, but Richardson and Barnes are totally different players. While we can draw qualitative inferences on who would be the best fit, I think quantitative inferences should be left to experimentation.
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