Southeast Division?

With the steal Miami just pulled of obtaining Walker, Williams, and Posey...what are the chances that the Magic will compete for the Southeast Division crown. Washington has changed a lot, losing Huges, Dixon, and Brown. Butler isnt the defensive presence that Huges was. I think the Magic can do better than Washington, but beating out the Heat is looks out of reach.

 

Magic and Wizards are both average teams, its tough to decide which 1 will do better.

 

Just because miami has all these players now, doesnt mean they will be any better than last year. Look at dallas when they had jameson,walker,finley,nash,nowitski,etc, they ended up doing worse than their previous season. Jason and walker shoot too much and i dont know if they will cut down their shot selection. walker and williams are used to being the #1 option, now they will be 3 and 4.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting slickkid816:</div><div class="quote_post">Just because miami has all these players now, doesnt mean they will be any better than last year. Look at dallas when they had jameson,walker,finley,nash,nowitski,etc, they ended up doing worse than their previous season. Jason and walker shoot too much and i dont know if they will cut down their shot selection. walker and williams are used to being the #1 option, now they will be 3 and 4.</div>

Makes no difference, they'll still be better than us.

I expect us to compete with Washington for second but as long as your not No 1 it doesn't really matter.

 

Miami is out of reach but if we want to pass the first round in the playoffs, we have to let a few teams behind us and I think Washington is such a team. When I look at our roster, we should be able to reach the second spot, when our key players stay healthy.

 

The Heat are the only team better then us and after that monsterous trade they might be the best team in the league. I think we will make the playoffs but I don't think we will get very far because of our team's inexperience. Our goal for this season should just be to make the playoffs so that our young guys get a taste of the postseason. We are still a few years away from being contenders so let's just make the playoffs and build some confidence and experience for our younger guys.

 

Miami is going to run away with the southeast but the Magic and Wizards will compete for the second spot. If Grant Hill can stay healthy and Steve Francis plays well they have a shot. Plus Dwight Howard is maturing and is going to be a big part of the offense.

 

Miami will definatly win the division and Washington and Orlando are pretty evenly matched. It's hard to tell which team will finish stronger.

 

We very well could come in last in the Southeast this season.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chuck:</div><div class="quote_post">We very well could come in last in the Southeast this season.</div>
that's true but we sure hope not, miami could come down with a virus too and hav take out all their starters. anything is possible.

 

^no, you guys still don't suck as much as the bobcats, and as much as it pains me to say it, you guys are still better then my team the hawks. anyway, i think you guys are a lock for 2nd in the division. no way the wiz will be anywhere near as good as last year, after losing larry hughes.

 

I believe the Magic this season is the second best team in their division simply, because of Dwight Howard?s development. Nothing really besides that has changed (if you don?t count our coach). I do not think it really matters though, because since we are most likely not going to win the division unless Shaq and Wade have season ending injuries. Our competition lies in the central division I think potentially every team in that division could make the playoffs. That is how deep that division is. I see right now as it is all of them making the playoffs, three from the atlantic division making it, and the Heat. I think we might be able to sneak in at the eighth spot or seventh spot, but we did not make the needed moves to become contenders this off-season. Our draft pretty much added another short guard to our roster. Our only real move thus far has been adding Dooling (and I use the term big move loosely).

 

I think the Magic will finish 3rd behind the Heat and Wizards.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting K8B:</div><div class="quote_post">How are the Magic just as good as the Wizards? Someone please explain that to me? Washington still has Gilly Arenas and Jamison. They filled the gap that Larry left with Antonio Daniels. Can he score like Hughes? No. What does this do for the Wizards? It frees up the backcourt for Gilbert Arenas to be the main ball-handler all of the time. It gives him more shots and more opportunites.

Larry Hughes is vastly overrated if you ask me, I would of told you the same thing when he was a Wizard. He isn't that great of a defender. He takes way too many chances at stealing the ball, that's what he did...steal the ball, he didn't play great man to man defense. That was average. Larry also likes to shoot a lot at the end of the game, he tries to force the action and be the hero instead of letting everything play out naturally. He hurt Washington in the playoffs numerous times against the Heat because of this. Antonio Daniels will not do that.

Washington also acquired Caron Butler. He can score, we've seen it. I think he'll be even better here in Washington. This acquisition gives Washington a SF capable of scoring and moves Jared Jeffries to the bench, where he belongs.

Throw Chucky Atkins on the bench for Washington and the bench is improved. Jared Jeffries also moves to the bench, he has starting experience so this move can't hurt, but I don't expect it to help much. Jarvis Hayes should be back and healthy.

This is a better Washington team than last years, I don't see how they could fall behind the Magic. Antawn Jamison is still our PF, Brendan Haywood still our C. Our frontcourt has not changed. The loss of Kwame won't hurt us at all because he was injured all last year.

As for Orlando, they haven't improved much. Their draft pick is staying in Spain. Sure, they signed Keyon Dooling, but is that going to make a big difference? I think not. Dwight Howard will continue to improve, but I still think he's too young to make an impact this year.

In the end, Washington will finish better than Orlando, but still behind Miami, who I believe will come out of the east next year. It should look something like this:

Miami
Washington
Orlando
Charlotte</div>
Well here is how I look at it last season Howard averaged 12.0 points. Yet during the entire season he only attempted 677 field goal attempts, which if you divide by 82 games which he played comes out to be only comes out to be 8.2 shots a game. So with only an average shot attempt of 8.2 he was able to score 12 points a game. With Hill as the new coach he should bloom remember this was the coach who coached Shaquille when he first came into the league so he knows how to work with big men. Also no insult to our coach early in the season, but he had no clue what to do with Howard. After Johnny Davis was fired around the 65-67 game of the season and Chris Jents took over Howard averaged 16.6 points a game. So he really developed under a coach who knew how to utilize him.

Also another guy who improved towards the latter stages of the season was Jameer Nelson he averaged double digit scoring during the final month and a half of the season after being placed in the starting role. After an off-season of work on his game, and strength I think he will play a huge role in what makes the Magic better this season as well. Those are the two main reasons I believe the Magic will do better than the Wizards. Howard being the main one. I think he is ready to have a break out season this year if he gets the shot attempts he deserves. Also you can not forget the Magic still have two pieces they can play this off-season if they choose to improve their team with Cato?s expiring deal, and Christie as trade bait. Should they not waive him when the amnesty time comes?

I agree with you for the most part K8B. That the Wizards have done a good job filling the whole left by Hughes departure, but although they did bring in Daniels (who I feel was the best point guard in the market) and Butler neither can provide you with quite as much as Larry did. Though they will do a pretty good job compensating and filling the whole he left Butler with scoring and Daniels with his ball handling skills and scoring. Neither will perform at the exact level that Hughes did. I see Butler as a 14 to 17 points per game guy. When Hughes could go for twenty every night.

You mentioned you believed Hughes defense was overrated, because he took to many risks when going for steals. I tend to agree with you, but that does not change the fact that a lot of times those risks paid off. He is also a player who had a little more dimensions to his game. Not trying to insult Caron in anyway he is a great player in his own right, and can create his own shot at times. He can not do it as consistently as Hughes did.

I honestly feel like these two teams are even in terms of talent. The Magic was a pretty good team early in the season last year, but then the trade and injury to Hill in the second half of the year really cost them their season. I think it will be a close battle to the end, but I think having a big man like Howard in the East will allow the Magic to win a few more games then the Wizards. I know Haywood and Jefferies are both good players, but neither have the explosive scoring ability Howard has shown.

I don?t think the Magic are even close to being considered a lock to be better than the Wizards, but I am trying to be as optimistic as possible for this team. It really has been a rough off-season, but we can still use Cato?s contract to get some better players, and if Howard plays well they will be better.