<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Orlando Magic, #29 The cornerstones are there in Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson, but J.J. Redick is now a question mark with his back problems. Redick is already being held out of summer league games, and won?t be playing in Team USA?s training camp. Grant Hill?s health is always an issue, and the Magic will be weaker defensively if they lose free agent DeShawn Stevenson.</div> Source I'm speechless right now. When we make the playoffs, I'd love to read what they have to say.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Swish15:</div><div class="quote_post">Source I'm speechless right now. When we make the playoffs, I'd love to read what they have to say.</div> Don't jinx us.......
People can make a case for the Magic as being one of the top 6 teams in the East or one of the bottom 6 in the East. The reason is because they're young. This is the first year for Dwight Howard where he's going to be the star, and the Magic's ability to make the playoffs will depend on Jameer Nelson. The Magic have a nice team but there's a lot of question marks at this point...
I can see us picking up where we left off really. All that we have changed since our 16-6 is Bogans for DS which is nearly a carbon copy replacement (Bogans more reliable but less productive arguably) and made the addition of Redick / Augustine (which in theory relieves us of the horrible Kasun and Garrity situation of them having court time). Dime magazine writer clearly doesnt have a clue what he's saying, thinking that only NYK will do worse than us over all ? We had a terrible first half of the season last year and we still only finished 2 spots out of the playoff's, so how badly do we have to play to tank all the way down to 29th. Dwight and Jameer 2 v 5 is better than that probably.
Lets be honest. The magic are a very young team and the east is rising again. I think theyll be better then they were last year with reddick. But you have to consider ofafor coming back and morrison and the rise of raymond felton for the bobcats. If isaih can make the knicks look as good as there roster.Celticas are maturing with gomes and west.Phili is always in the playoff run.Abd colangelo has turned toronto around. Indiana and detroit did get weaker so it will be intresting. I think theyll be in the run but wont make the playoffs because of young depth. they only have 1 player thats not expendible and thats howard.Nelson has a backup. We dont know how good reddick can be. Stevenson is expendible he was just a scrappy 2 gaurd. Free agency wont help them because their are no players left that can impact a team those players can just make a team a little better.They will not make the playoffs but they shouldnt be ashamed.
A lot of people seriously don't think we are a playoff team. I'm suprised by that. I can't wait until the season starts so we can start proving haters wrong.
Wow.. that's just ridiculous. All they mentioned was Redick and how his back problems make him a question mark, they make it sound like JJ is what we're relying on to get us to the playoffs. And Bogans is a fine replacement for Stevenson, they're pretty similar players. 29th.. haha, that's funny.
That's strange. I would have moved them up at least 8 spots to 21st. I think he's putting too much stock into the draft results. I mean teams like Portland, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Indiana brought in some great talent from the draft, but you can't expect those players to produce right away.
We were at the bottom for most of the season but the way we played at the end showed that we can play as a unit. People forget that the Magic only played a handful of games with their best starting lineup. Grant is a question mark, but at this point he is just icing on the cake. If we dont have him its all good we plan for that, but if he does play thats an extra scorer, passer and team leader that not many people have. I think to many people are quick to dismiss this team because we didnt have the best draft or offseason. We played very strong to close out the season and almost made the playoffs. Lets wait and see what happens, I think this team will be a playoff team and show the critics that they arent just a bunch of youngsters.
wow, didn't they just miss the playoffs last year? (I know it was a weak East, but still) haven't they only improved? Darko was starting to show something and Jameer and Dwight are going to be better, I just don't get it... well, Magic, time to show 'em something.
I dont know a bout being a playoff team but 29th is waaaaaaaaaaaaay to low. While Im not really a fan Of the magic I love howard, and I think he will be the next great center the way his game improves every year. even better than Amare in a Year or Two.
Playoffs arent a long shot when you consider the hot teams in the East made the playoffs. What teams really got better that didnt make the playoffs? hawks, bobcats, sixers, raptors, celtics... none of them got so much better that they warrant being ahead of the Magic. The magic are young but their core is strong and only getting better. They only played half a season with Darko and Carlos and they played very well, finishing as one of the hottest teams in the league. Oh well they will have to prove themselves....
That ranking is such a joke. I think they forgot about Orlando until the end and just threw them at the bottum lol. I was rooting for them when they started tearing it up at the end of last season. How could any team with a beast of a ball player like Howard not be considered upper echelon. See you in the playoffs Orlando -- Perhaps the easiest prediction I will make all year.
I'd rather be an underdog then a favorite anyway, so I don't mind the ranking. Better to be 29th and move our way up into the playoffs then be around 10 and fall.
Alright, well I just e-mailed them this long explanation on why he's wrong. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm a huge Magic fan, but how do you have us as the 2nd worst team in the league? Did you happen to see how we played in the last 22 games after the Francis and Cato trades? We were 16-6 and beat teams like SA in SA, beat Cleveland, beat Detroit, beat Miami twice, etc. We don't have a legit scorer right now, but that is alright because of our balance. You never know who will take the shot and make it. Have you heard of the Florida Gators from last year? They won the National Championship without a #1 scorer. 5 guys averaged double digit points. That's going to be the type of team that the Magic are this year. We added more depth. Sometimes when you play as hot as we did at the end of last year, you just need to leave things be. Basically this offseason we have added JJ, Augenstein, Gortat and Bogans and lost Stevenson, Kasun, Augmon. I'm one of the people in the hate the pick of JJ bandwagon, but he will give us a spark off the bench. You are making it seem like our season depends on him. He's not even going to be a focal point for us this season, IMO. If he starts for us, then I could see the Magic struggling with a Jameer, JJ, Hedo starting PG/SG/SF. Our youth will get better, we keep our same chemistry. Bogans is a slight downgrade over Stevenson, but they are basically the same player, except Bogans has much better range and is a better rebounder, while Stevenson is much more aggressive taking it to the hole. These are my projections for the Magic's starting lineup.... Jameer Nelson-16 ppg 5 apg, 3 rpg Keith Bogans-9 ppg, 6 rpg, 3 apg Hedo Turkoglu-17 ppg, 5 rpg, 4 apg Dwight Howard-19 ppg 13 rpg, 2 bpg Darko Milicic-12 ppg 6 rpg, 2.5 bpg That is a lineup based on balance. Jameer Nelson averaged about that type of numbers last year, but is a Ben Gordan type of player, meaning he gets most of his points in the 4th quarter when the game is on the line. Bogans will be a defensive minded SG, which is what we need, who can occasionally hit the open 3. Hedo is the most underrated player in the league. He can score from anywhere on the court, in that 22 game string that I was telling you about earlier, he avg 20+ pts on 12 shots. Dwight Howard is a total beast, I'm sure we both can agree on that. I might have actually underrated his stats now that he is the man and at the end of the year was finally getting comfortable with double teams. Darko put up 8 and 4 last year in 20 mins without any confidence, without being in shape, without playing with the Magic and their players for 2/3rds of the season. Look for this year to be his breakout party. You might ask then who is on our bench. We have veteran leadership in Tony Battie, Grant Hill(for a couple of games at least-not really expecting much from him though), and Carlos Arroyo to go with spark plugs Keyon Dooling, Trevor Ariza(assuming Otis Smith resigns him like he says he will), Marcin Gortat(kid is like Anderson Varejeo in that he goes 110% all of the time), and James Augenstein. That doesn't even mention JJ Redick's offense off of the bench. The bench won't be a downgrade now and will have some solid players off of it. Not any 6th man candidates, but still quality guys that know their role and won't screw up big leads like last year. Now I'm not saying that you need to put us at the Top of the list or anything, but anywhere in the teens sounds good. After starting 20-40 we nearly made the playoffs and everyone is young, so you will see an improvement from within rather than from the signings and stuff. Now if this was a ranking on drafts, I would definetely say that the Magic deserve to be 29th, but from how I understand it it is a power rankings. I hope you write an article later on in the season when you are dead wrong and the Magic are either in the playoff chase or are playoff bound. </div>
I dont know. I think that they will come up short in the playoffs but i respect his opinion because there is only 3teams I can confidently say the magic are better than (Atlanta Toronto Minnesota). No other teams where I can be 100% sure. They'll have a decent record because of the youth in the eastern confrence and its not that good.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">That's strange. I would have moved them up at least 8 spots to 21st. I think he's putting too much stock into the draft results. I mean teams like Portland, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Indiana brought in some great talent from the draft, but you can't expect those players to produce right away.</div> Indiana is better than the magic. They had torubles last year, but still have JO and stephen jackson, not to mention granger
Bobcats?? you dont think the magic are better than the bobcats... If you thought we had injury problems, look at them. Their best player hardly played last season. I doubt they stay healthy, we are def better than they are...
