Another night, another Orlando Magic interview from Brian Schmitz, who posted this story about All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson just moments ago. Of particular note is Nelson's assessment of his health in the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers...
"I was nowhere near 100 percent," he said after a recent workout at RDV Sportsplex. "I'm not sure of where I was at. Because of who I am, I was really confident out there. I didn't play with any lack of confidence. It was just me knowing the reality of the situation, knowing I couldn't do certain things.
"I had to tone things down a little bit."
... and GM Otis Smith's defense of his decision to let Nelson return for the Finals after a 59-game layoff due to shoulder surgery...
"If I had 10 times to do it, I'd do it 10 times," Smith said. "There are things Jameer did for us not at 100 percent that he does better than most. There were some things he couldn't do quite as well. But having Jameer on the floor had nothing to do with us falling three games short of winning the title."
Interestingly, Nelson also told Schmitz that he hasn't watched any footage of the Finals, but he has watched plenty of footage of his All-Star campaign prior to his getting injured February 2nd versus Dallas.
We hope to have more from Jameer, and from the rest of the Magic, tomorrow during media day. Don't forget to submit your questions in this thread.