Orlando Magic News for October 21st: Perfect Preseason to Date a Good Sign, No Brandon Bass Trade with Pacers, and More

John Schuhmann of NBA.com looks at some preseason numbers across the league, and his survey leads him to conclude, among other things, that the Orlando Magic "will be the best team in the league ... at least in the regular season." Click through for his sound reasoning.

Steve Kyler of HOOPSWORLD debunks an earlier rumor that the Magic were discussing a trade involving Brandon Bass with the Indiana Pacers:

[T]he Magic just are not interested in making changes. They really like this squad and how things are going in preseason and are not going to change that until they have to.

Kyler says the Pacers may indeed have interest in Bass, but "Orlando isn't talking trades with anyone."

In case you missed it yesterday, here's Kevin Pelton's piece about the Magic's success with playing Rashard Lewis primarily at small forward this preseason. Magic TV color analyst Matt Guokas cited it during last night's telecast.

USA Today put together a great graphic and story about the Amway Center, the Magic's new home.

SB Nation colleague Mike Prada ranks the Magic the league's sixth-most watchable team, in the "always reliable" category. He draws a distinction between "watchability" and success, and points out that the offensive shortcomings of both Dwight Howard and Vince Carter make the Magic a frustrating watch at times.

Scott Carefoot of The Basketball Jones doesn't understand why "nobody's taking [the Magic] seriously as a title contender."

As Brian Schmitz notes, some people around the league have taken notice of Orlando's outstanding preseason. Here's Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle:

"And when you look at these numbers they’re putting up in exhibitions, you can say, ‘Yeah, it’s just exhibition season,’ but this is meaningful. When you’re averaging winning by 25 points a game against NBA competition, that’s a legit title contender."