Orlando Magic News for September 1st: Some Stan Van Gundy Tidbits; Dwight Howard In Africa

Stan Van Gundy hosts coaches clinic
Let's begin with some Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy news, shall we?

Stan Van Gundy will host a Florida Association of Basketball Coaches coaches clinic at Lake Mary Prep next Saturday.

Registration is open now.

The clinic goes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 12 and registration is $40 for FABC members and $65 for non-members.

Who Would Win If The NBA’s Coaches Played A 3-on-3 Tournament?
Aron Phillips of Dime Magazine comes up with a neat idea. (HT: magicfaninTN)

When I heard this weekend that new Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis was mostly likely going to add Bill Laimbeer and Reggie Theus to his staff, this got me thinking: If there was a 3-on-3 tournament amongst the NBA’s current coaching staff, who would win?

Magic: Stan Van Gundy (college basketball for his father at SUNY Brockport), Patrick Ewing (17 seasons, 11 NBA All-Star Games and one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history) and Steve Clifford (four years with the University of Maine at Farmington)

TwitVid
Dwight Howard will be in Africa for Basketball without Borders, the NBA's and FIBA's global basketball development program that uses sports to create positive social changes. Check out the video to see Superman.

Are the Wizards one of the ten best teams in the NBA?
Somewhat relevant to Orlando, a few days ago, Dave Berri of the Wages of Wins Journal examines whether or not the new-look Washington Wizards will launch themselves in the discussion for the Eastern Conference Title.

Adding together the Wins Produced of these players we get 54.8 wins.  The minutes of these players, though, summed to 22,456.  For these minutes to be played, the Wizards would have to average about 274 minutes per game.  Assuming the Wizards are not playing a large number of overtime games, someone is going to have to play fewer minutes, and therefore, 54 wins is not quite right (assuming these players offer the same level of production).  Nevertheless, it does look like these ten players can win between 45 and 50 games.  And with a bit of improvement here and there, maybe this edition of the Wizards can indeed post numbers similar to what the Nuggets did last year.

Of course, we are assuming

- Arenas returns to what he was two years ago.

- Haywood returns to what he was a year ago.

- Miller maintains the productivity we saw last year in Minnesota

NBA Summer Forecast: East standings
UPDATE: ESPN.com predicts the number of wins and losses for each team in the Eastern Conference, as well as seedings. The Magic are projected third.

Orlando's magical run to the NBA Finals didn't make a believer out of everyone, and the sorta-swap of Hedo Turkoglu for Vince Carter got mixed reviews (here and here). But some like what they see, including a starting lineup that features four recent All-Stars, and expect big things again in O-Town. 

As always, take these kind of predictions with a grain of salt. Case in point, someone on the ESPN "panel" predicted that the Chicago Bulls would win 55 games this year. No offense to Derrick Rose and Co. but that's ridiculous.