Orlando Magic News for February 13th: The Magic Featured Prominently In An Expert's Mid-Season Awards Article, A Look Into The Eastern Conference Race Following The All-Star Break, and More

• Basketball Prospectus' Kevin Pelton, a follower and friend of Third Quarter Collapse, unveiled his imaginary ballot as of midseason today. 

  
  

  The Orlando Magic are represented prominently in Pelton's personal midseason award show. Without further ado, here are the results:

   

  MVP

  5. Dwight Howard, Orlando

   

  Defensive Player of the Year

  1. Dwight Howard, Orlando

  In what has been something of a down year in terms of standout performances at the defensive end of the floor, Howard stands well ahead of the pack. Playing alongside an undersized power forward in the poor-rebounding Rashard Lewis, and without any true stoppers on the perimeter, Howard nonetheless anchors a defense that ranks second in the league in Defensive Rating.

  Coach of the Year

  1. Stan Van Gundy, Orlando

  Speaking of leading great defenses, both Van Gundy and Brown have done a tremendous job putting their parts together into juggernauts at that end of the floor. Van Gundy had the Magic reaching heights few imagined entering the season; if the team is able to stay in the Eastern Conference race without Jameer Nelson, he'll be a shoo-in for this award.

  All-NBA First Team

  C - Dwight Howard, Orlando

   

  All-NBA Third Team

  G - Jameer Nelson, Orlando

  Nelson obviously has no chance of making an All-NBA team after his shoulder injury, so I'm happy to be able to throw him a little bit of love here.

  All-Defensive First Team

  C - Dwight Howard, Orlando

  
  

• Brian Schmitz provides a run-down on how the Eastern Conference race is shaping to look when teams return from this weekend's All-Star break.

• Want to know the people behind the scenes that have helped Orlando's Dwight Howard become one of the NBA's most marketable superstars? Meet Aaron Goodwin and brother Eric Goodwin. Both speak with the Orlando Sentinel, as part of a major story that will run in the paper on Saturday. 

• Don't forget to tune in tomorrow night at 8:00PM ET on TNT when Rashard Lewis & Dwight Howard will be representing the Magic in the Three-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest, respectively. 

Ben Q here. A few last links for you:

• Check out this page on the Magic's website to read blogs from Dwight, Rashard, and Jameer on-location in Phoenix.

• Also, don't forget to follow the Orlando Magic's official Twitter.

• LeBron James presented each of his All-Star teammates with a super-fancy trophy. Obviously, that means Dwight and Rashard got one, and Jameer Nelson's is apparently on the way.