Orlando Magic News for October 30th: Courtney Lee Has Something to Say; A Retrospective Look at Dennis Scott

Former Magic guard Courtney Lee still has love for city of Orlando and its fans
Josh Robbins shows that Courtney, in his heart, still has an 'Orlando State of Mind'. Here's what Lee had to say about the city:

"Orlando is the best," he says. "You've got the weather. Everything is just so calm. You see palm trees. The sun's always shining. New Jersey is a little bit different. It's definitely industrialized. There's more to do, especially with going into the city and stuff like that. But Orlando's more my speed for a relaxation place." [...]

"I want to thank the people in Orlando, basically the fans," he says. "Tell them I appreciated their support and what not. I'll always love Orlando. Just let them know that."

Saying goodbye to Courtney Lee tough for Magic
George Diaz takes a retrospective look back at how tough it was for the Orlando Magic to give up former rookie Courtney Lee.

It's obvious that Courtney Lee was not an easy guy to say goodbye to as the Magic retooled their roster for this season.

Count owner Rich DeVos among those with serious reservations about giving him up in the deal for Vince Carter.

"Courtney Lee was a tough conversation," Magic GM Otis Smith said. "And I equally agreed I didn’t want to give him up either. But we had an opportunity to improve our team."

Finally, at Smith's insistence, DeVos signed off on the deal.

1990 NBA Draft Remix
Jeff Fox of SLAM ONLINE takes a look back at the 1990 NBA Draft and for fun, alters history.

Pick No. 4 | Orlando Magic 

Actual Selection: Dennis Scott 

Draft 365 Remix: Antonio Davis (45)

Antonio Davis is proof that if at first you don’t succeed, try again. After being exiled to Europe for three seasons at the start of his career, Davis finally made the NBA and went on to play over 900 games and suited up for the 2001 All-Star Game.

The 2009-10 All-Decline Team
John Hollinger of ESPN.com takes a look at which players are expected to decline, statistically, in the 2009-2010 NBA season.

Jameer Nelson, Magic: Orlando's point man and locker-room leader has a bright future ahead of him, but I'm skeptical that he'll ever shoot as well as he did a season ago from midrange. Nelson shot 54.5 percent on long 2s, leading the league by a comfortable margin, and shot 56 percent on any 2 away from the basket -- a category in which no other player in basketball topped 50 percent. Nelson won't top 50 percent on either this time around, and that will take his other numbers down a peg.

BBR News: 2009-10 Changes and Additions
Justin Kubatko of Basketball-Reference reveals a cool feature on the site.

Each team now has a clubhouse page. These pages will include: a team calendar; a summary of how the team's players have performed over the last ten games; a list of upcoming opponents with win probabilities; divisional standings; team leaders; and more. The clubhouse can be accessed from any of the team's 2009-10 pages (e.g., the team's roster and statistics page) by using the drop-down menu near the top of the page. There will also be a link in the standings (denoted "C") that will lead to the clubhouse pages.

UPDATE (from Ben): Orlando’s Lewis Not Yet Part of This Season’s Magic
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy discusses the difficulty he faces in keeping Rashard Lewis in basketball shape during Lewis' 10-game suspension.

"He’ll come back in shape and ready to play. The problem is he’s just not getting a lot of basketball. He was up until the start of the regular season. Now, we played Wednesday, we did not practice yesterday, walked through this morning. We’ll do a little bit tomorrow, not a whole lot. Then we’ll play Toronto and probably not practice Monday. It’s tough to get him any type of basketball action in and that’s the hard part."

Former Magic trio starting from scratch in New Jersey
UPDATE 2: John Schuhmann of NBA.com elaborates on how former Magic players Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee have gotten accustomed to life in New Jersey.