Orlando Magic News for October 14th: The Dwight Howard "Effect"; Vince Carter, Go-To Player

Nichols and Dime: Do Superstars Increase Their Teammates’ Three-Point Attempts?
Jon Nichols of Hardwood Paroxysm examines whether or not the notion that superstars help increase their teammates' number of attempts beyond the arc is true or false. Dwight Howard is one of the "test subjects". A must-read.

A common approach for NBA teams is to surround their superstars and offensive playmakers with efficient shooters who are more than willing to hit the open three-pointer when given a chance. The playmakers draw much of the defense’s attention and command double and triple teams. Therefore, it is prudent to collect efficient shooters around them.

Do the numbers support this way of thinking? Do teammates of superstars take more threes when the superstar is on the floor?

The NBA’s 30 best go-to players (#11: Vince Carter)
Austin Burton of Dime Magazine ranks the NBA's 30 best go-to players. Coming in at #11 is Vince Carter. Here's the explanation as to why:

Perhaps the most standout clutch stat for Carter is that he shot 50% from the field in "clutch time" last year, 50% on threes, and 85% at the line; by definition, he raises his game when it matters most. He’s one of those players who can score 12 points all night on 4-of-16 shooting, but turns it on and gets the most important bucket or makes the most important play at the end of the day.

Ten Thousand 2010s
Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference runs a plethora of simulations using a variety of numbers and takes a look at how often a team randomly assigned to be the NBA's most talented actually won a title. 

Quick question: What's the probability that the league's "best" team will win the championship this season? Okay, then what are the odds that a team outside the top 5 in talent will win it all? Outside the top 10? The top 15?

Well, with a Steve Nash-esque assist from S-R head honcho Sean Forman, I set up a Monte Carlo simulation of the 2009-10 NBA season and ran 10,000 trials in an attempt to answer questions like the ones posed above.

Monday night's Magic-Bulls exhibition to be televised on NBA TV
Josh Robbins shares some television news regarding the Orlando Magic. 

Yesterday afternoon, I submitted a post about why no Orlando Magic exhibition games have been televised so far this preseason.

Well, there's some good news and some bad news on that front.

NBA TV is picking up the telecast of the Magic's game Monday night at Chicago. So, that means Magic fans can watch two of the team's eight preseason games. (NOTE: I've updated yesterday afternoon's blog post to reflect that.) ESPN is televising the Oct. 23 preseason finale against the Atlanta Hawks at Amway Arena.