Orlando Magic News for January 26th: Dwight Howard's Offense, Jameer Nelson's Assessment, and David Berri's Midpoint Evaluations

Philip Rossman-Reich of Orlando Magic Daily gives us his 3 impressions after the Magic's loss to the Grizzlies last night. Of particular note is how Dwight Howard has played since a loss at Portland in which rookies Dante Cunningham and Jeff Pendergraph managed to limit his offensive contributions.

Since that game he is averaging 22.4 points per game, shooting 59.3 percent from the floor, receiving 11.8 shots per game and shooting a scorching (for him) 73.7 percent on free throws.

That is a very good stretch offensively for Dwight. The kind of offense I think fans, pundits, coaches, Howard himself and everyone else was expecting from him this season.

Magic point guard and team co-captain Jameer Nelson discusses his team's disappointing season with Alex Kennedy.

Professor David Berri, the creator of the Wages of Wins metric, posts a detailed chart explaining how each team and player has fared in the first half of the season. Curiously, by Berri's calculations, Matt Barnes has produced more for Orlando this season than Rashard Lewis, Vince Carter, and Nelson combined. In fact, Brandon Bass is the only Magic player less productive than Lewis.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel explains how Magic coach Stan Van Gundy could still wind up coaching the Eastern Conference All-Stars next month.

Eddy clipped Brian Schmitz's latest Magic notebook earlier, but I'd like to call your attention to a different part of it.

Tony Dutt, agent for Lewis and Brandon Bass, was in Charlotte to attend the Magic's game against the Bobcats. Dutt is just as frustrated as Bass over Bass' lack of playing time. GM Otis Smith has said he doesn't plan on trading Bass, who had played in 27 games as of Monday.

In a guest appearance at ESPN.com, Howard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, lists his top 5 candidates to win the award this year.