Orlando Magic News for September 23rd: Dwight Howard and Vince Carter Can Change; Skip Bayless is, Regrettably, the Same

Ken Berger of CBS Sports writes that Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard has changed his attitude in the wake of his team's playoff flameout against the Boston Celtics and the assembly of All-Star talent in Miami.

"I went from this nice guy to this goon or something like that. And I'm like, 'Hey, I'm playing basketball. If they're going to be physical, we're going to be physical.' People were saying our team wasn't physical and I didn't like that. I'm a physical player and I want my teammates to be the same way. If people are calling us a team that doesn't like to be physical, I don't like that."

Eddy Rivera responds to Berger's article here.

Mark Travis writes that Vince Carter's poor postseason play masked his solid regular-season performance, and believes he can be even better this season. I found myself nodding in agreement throughout the post, but particularly in this excerpt:

Gone are the days of Vince being the top scorer on his team, and he knows that. He knows that he had a good season with the Magic last season, despite what most think, but he also knows there is a lot of room for growth. And as he grows within Orlando’s team concept, so do the Magic’s championship aspirations.

Via Twitter, noted blowhard Skip Bayless sounds off on Howard:

I'm in better overall shape than @dwighthoward (physique, strength for size, distance cardio.)

Bayless, one of Howard's sharpest critics--you'll recall his implying that Marcin Gortat is the Magic's best center--is on his case again, apparently because of some comments Howard made about Bayless recently. I can't tell why, exactly, there's a dispute because Bayless is roughly as intelligible and euphonious as dial-up modem's violent squawks.