Not much in the tubes today.

• Mike Freeman of CBS Sportsline has nothing but nice things to say about Dwight Howard:

  When you think Howard, think Shaquille O'Neal or Patrick Ewing or Tim Duncan, but instead of O'Neal's flab there are finely tuned gams. Instead of Ewing's more plodding game fit for a schoolyard, there is finesse. Howard possesses the power Duncan never had. And Howard isn't injury prone like Yao Ming.

  (HT: Hardwood Paroxysm)

• Chad Ford (ESPN Insider) has put together a nice rundown of the free-agency situation this summer. In my dreams, Elton Brand opts-out of his deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, then signs with us for the full mid-level exception, leaving tens of millions of dollars on the table for a chance at a title. Dude doesn't need the money; he can just keep producing Werner Herzog films (Rescue Dawn!) to pay the rent.

  Like I said, in my dreams.

• Brian Schmitz writes in his blog about the importance of the Magic holding on to that third playoff seed. If we drop to fourth, we'll likely face a first-round matchup with the Toronto Raptors, with whom we do not match-up well.
• Alex Kennedy at RealGM makes the case that Hedo Turkoglu should win the league's Most Improved Player award this season. (HT: Punisher in this thread at MagicMadness)

And since there's not much in the way of Magic news, we now turn to our division rivals:

• The Atlanta Hawks are 1-4 since acquiring Mike Bibby from the Sacramento Kings. Bibby has struggled, averaging 11.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 3.0 turnovers as a Hawk. He's only shooting 38% from the field. Despite their poor record lately, I expect Atlanta to make the playoffs. The East is that bad.
• The Charlotte Bobcats' slim playoff hopes ended last Friday when Gerald Wallace, their leading scorer and franchise cornerstone, left a game on a stretcher after the Kings' Mikki Moore inadvertently elbowed him in the face. Wallace suffered a concussion -- his fourth in the last four seasons -- and will miss at least the next two weeks.
• The Miami Heat earned their second win since Christmas last night, blowing out the Kings, 107-86. The Heat are now 2-22 in 2008 and haven't been relevant since... well, last season. Understandably, the folks at Sactown Royalty aren't happy with last night's results.
  • Speaking of Sactown Royalty, check out this diary post I made there to caption a picture of Hedo Turkoglu and Ron Artest talking. Join the fun!
• The Washington Wizards are just 3-10 this month, and got absolutely destroyed in Houston last night, 94-69. The Wizards managed to score just 23 points in the first half. But it hasn't been all bad for Washington this week: DeShawn Stevenson had the game of his life Monday night, scoring a career-best 33 points and hitting the game-winning triple to propel the Wizards to a victory over the New Orleans Hornets. Were the playoffs to begin today, we'd play the Wizards, so they're definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Don't forget the game thread, and stay tuned: I have a fairly large post in the works for sometime later this week.