Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Jameer Nelson

Jameer Nelson once again put together a solid-but-unspectacular season as the Orlando Magic's starting point guard in 2011/12, neither astounding nor disappointing with his play. The eight-year veteran scored on league-average efficiency while reaching new heights as a playmaker, posting a career-best in assist rate, but did little to stand out.

When it comes to Nelson, there's precious little new ground to uncover. His strengths--outside shooting, running the pick-and-roll--and weaknesses--lack of size, inability to finish near the rim--remain the same. The great news for Orlando is that he didn't decline much despite hitting his 30th birthday in February. His career-worst 42.7 percent shooting is due mostly to a poor start to the lockout-shortened campaign, during which his conditioning was an issue. After returning from a concussion he suffered in a collision with Jarrett Jack, Nelson shot 44 percent from the floor and 39.8 percent from three-point range, numbers much more palatable for the Magic than the season-long ones included in the table above.

Nelson will soon transition into a backup role, either with Orlando or elsewhere. He has three days to notify Orlando whether he'll exercise his player option for 2012/13 or not. The Magic will be a better team if he stays on the cheap, and would be happy to see him put up 12 and six again for another season or two before ceding the spotlight to the team's Point Guard of the Future, whomever that might be.

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