Prior to joining the Orlando Magic in a December trade, Gilbert Arenas had played in just 68 games over the last three-plus seasons. His subsequent 49 games in Magic pinstripes reflected that long absence, due to operations on his left knee and, infamously, a 50-game suspension for bringing a handgun into the Washington Wizards' locker room last season.

Orlando ostensibly acquired Arenas to improve its flagging offense, but the knee surgeries and poor conditioning robbed him of the explosiveness that made him the league's third-leading scorer just five seasons ago. Without that quick first step, he couldn't create separation from defenders or turn the corner on pick-and-roll plays. As a result, he typically dominated the ball on the perimeter, hardly ventured inside the lane, and took long twos off the bounce. Sometimes, he'd force the issue and sneak into the lane, but he struggled to finish or draw contact. He was a disaster.

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Evaluating Quentin Richardson's first campaign with the Orlando Magic is a difficult task for me, as I said roughly all I need to say about him in this space over a month ago. In short, Otis Smith brought him aboard for his ranged shooting, toughness, and defense. The problem was he so lacked the first ingredient there that he couldn't stay on the floor often enough to showcase the next two.

Further, the Magic's two trades in December put him, and coach Stan Van Gundy, in a bit of a bind. On the one hand, shipping Mickael Pietrus to the Phoenix Suns left Richardson as the team's only above-average perimeter defender. On the other, the same trade brought, in Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu, two far better overall players to the Magic. They happen to play the same position as Q-Rich. The trade at once increased the need for his services and almost assured he'd never have the opportunity to showcase them. J-Rich and Turkoglu averaged 34.9 and 34.1 minutes per game, respectively, for Orlando this season. Richardson, who signed with Orlando last summer envisioning himself a starter on a championship-caliber team, found himself floating in and out of the rotation for most of the post-trade season.

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J.J. Redick became a fixture in the Orlando Magic's rotation in 2009/10, appearing in all 82 games an averaging career-bests in scoring (9.6 points per game) and three-point shooting (40.5 percent). That performance, along with his development as a defender and passer, helped him earn a front-loaded offer sheet with the Chicago Bulls, who envisioned him as their starting two-guard.

The Magic matched the offer, despite already employing highly paid starter Vince Carter at the time. The call was an easy one at the time, and Redick showed why that was so in 2010/11. No, he didn't put up eye-popping stats or reach new heights, but he played consistently well enough to earn 25.6 minutes per game, the most of his career, as he continued to earn the trust of Stan Van Gundy and his teammates. Redick's most recent campaign illustrates that there's something to be said for unspectacular reliability.

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Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard has blocked more shots and grabbed more rebounds than he did last season. He's shot a higher percentage from the field and the free throw line. He's committed fewer turnovers and won more playoff games, too.

Yet Dwight Howard has never played better ball than he did in 2010/11. Because Dwight Howard has never scored so brilliantly. And though basketball is a complex game of which scoring is only a part, his improved offense marked an important step in his development.

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Orlando Magic fans tend to have a complicated relationship with Jameer Nelson. I believe he's, sometimes unfairly, an object of their derision. And he's an easy target, as a shoot-first point guard with merely good passing instincts who pales in comparison with lust objects like Chris Paul and Deron Williams, who can become free agents next summer, along with Magic center Dwight Howard. They're dreaming big, and I can't fault them for that, but they give Nelson short shrift sometimes.

On balance, Nelson's the Magic's second-best player. Ryan Anderson is more talented, more efficient, and more productive, but he plays too few minutes to really be considered in this debate. And indeed a team with championship aspirations employs Jameer Nelson, of all people, as its second-best player. Even casual NBA observers know how silly that idea sounds.

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The narrative surrounding the trade which brought Hedo Turkoglu back to the Orlando Magic held that Orlando, which let Turkoglu leave in free agency following its defeat in the 2009 NBA Finals, realized it had made a mistake in not retaining him, a mistake it hoped to rectify by re-acquiring the veteran forward, along with Jason Richardson and Earl Clark, from the Phoenix Suns. That's not entirely true--the Magic wanted Richardson, and the Suns agreed to part with him if Orlando agreed to take on Turkoglu's outsized contract--but it made for a nice story. After all, Turkoglu enjoyed the best year of his career in Orlando just three seasons prior, a season in which he won the league's Most Improved Player award and stood as the biggest All-Star snub, at least according to TNT analyst Charles Barkley.

Turkoglu turned 32 in March, and his skills have declined in age, even though very little of his game is based on athleticism. His role didn't change from its previous iterations in coach Stan Van Gundy's offense, as he served as a secondary ballhandler who created matchup problems at 6-foot-10, particularly when running pick-and-roll with Dwight Howard. No, instead what changed is the extent of his involvement in the offense. His usage rate dipped from a high of 17.8 in his MIP season to 13.5 this go-round, which masked how well he played at times.

The key phrase there is "at times," because Turkoglu was as maddeningly inconsistent as ever.

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Orlando Pinstriped Post recounts the Orlando Magic's season on a player-by-player basis, providing narrative evaluations and a subjective letter grade for each.

The Orlando Magic scored a coup when they landed Jason Richardson from the Phoenix Suns on December 18th. The efficient, high-scoring guard was less than a year removed from a brilliant playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers (23.5 points in 32.3 minutes, 52.7 percent shooting), and had posted 19.3 points in 31.8 minutes as a Sun this season. He'd provide the Magic with efficient scoring, albeit not at that volume--not at the pace Orlando plays, anyway--and serve as a reliable second offensive option to Dwight Howard. Otis Smith, the man responsible for the trade which brought Richardson to Orlando, offered his assessment at a press conference announcing the deal:

"His ability to hit spot-up threes as well as come off down screens for us in our system will probably be the best way to describe Jason."

Armed with a more explosive offensive force on the wing--Vince Carter simply wasn't getting things done at that end, was he?--the Magic soared to the top of 14th in the league in offensive efficiency. Richardson averaged 17 13.9 points per game on a scorching 60.2 an okay 54.3 percent True Shooting, and helped did not help the Magic make a deep playoff run.

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Orlando Pinstriped Post recounts the Orlando Magic's season on a player-by-player basis, providing narrative evaluations and a subjective letter grade for each.

I find Chris Duhon an exceptionally difficult player to write about. He is not particularly controversial, or unique, nor did he play many games for the Orlando Magic this past season. He is, by any account, a fairly nondescript player.

One might be able to fill a few pages, though, simply compiling Magic fans' complaints about the veteran point guard from around the internet.

If Orlando's trade for Gilbert Arenas on December 18th pushed Duhon out of the rotation entirely, his shaky play before it set the stage. Leading up to the Arenas trade, coach Stan Van Gundy sometimes called upon Jason Williams to back up Jameer Nelson, relegating Duhon to the end of the bench. After Arenas' arrival, Williams left the team in protest (he later signed with the Memphis Grizzlies, only to retire due to a back ailment), and Duhon would log just 310 minutes in 28 appearances the rest of the season.

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