Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be I like the magic and all..and I appreciate the talent they have..butall the magic fans that have been hiding since Mcgrady's exit are about to come out of the closet..but honestly this team IMO doesn't finish the season strong because Grant Hill isn't going to be there the whole season..and even though everybody may think Dwight Howard is the X factor..I honestly believe it's Grant Hill....he's great when he's healthy..but he won't be healthy and the Magic's inexperience will bite them in the ass later on..I say this team is a 6th or 7th seed 1st round exitthey have a great record but they won't be able to follow through and have a consistent season
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be I dont know, I can really see this team finishing the season at the top of the standings in the Southeast division especially with the way the Heat are playing right now. The Heat are also showing their age early in the season with all the injuries. I do agree with your statement you made about grant hill not being there the entire season. I just think that he wont sustain a season ending injury but an injury that will keep him out 4-6 weeks in some point of the season. Other than that I think the Magic are a great team.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be I agree with playaofthegame... the Magic's season depends on Grant Hill's ankle and his health. With him healthy for the entire season (along with Howard and Nelson) the Magic have the potential to make some noise in the East, but if he goes down they will start to slow down.I don't know how they'll finish this season right now, but Grant Hill really is the X-factor for that team.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (playaofthegame @ Nov 28 2006, 09:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I like the magic and all..and I appreciate the talent they have..butall the magic fans that have been hiding since Mcgrady's exit are about to come out of the closet..but honestly this team IMO doesn't finish the season strong because Grant Hill isn't going to be there the whole season..and even though everybody may think Dwight Howard is the X factor..I honestly believe it's Grant Hill....he's great when he's healthy..but he won't be healthy and the Magic's inexperience will bite them in the ass later on..I say this team is a 6th or 7th seed 1st round exitthey have a great record but they won't be able to follow through and have a consistent season</div>I completely agree that Grant Hill is our X-factor, and he is a key reason for our success. I don't believe however, he is going to get hurt this season and be gone for the rest of the season. Sure he has been hurt alot, but just two seasons ago he missed only 67 games, and would have played in more had the team been in the playoff race and he not decided to have surgery to end the season. Brian Hill is playing it smart, giving Grant Hill rest every once in a while, and not practicing him as hard as he is practicing the younger players. I really don't think he will get hurt this season. As for consistency, I believe the Magic are playing the kind of ball to have a consistent season. They are not settling for to many jump shots, instead they are attacking the rim and working the ball inside. They are taking high percentage shots, close to the basket that go in alot. Defensively they are controlling the paint, and playing tough team defense. They are crashing the boards, and getting alot of rebounds, usually more than the teams they are playing. I really believe they won't have to much of a problem with consistency this season.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (playaofthegame @ Nov 28 2006, 10:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I like the magic and all..and I appreciate the talent they have..butall the magic fans that have been hiding since Mcgrady's exit are about to come out of the closet..but honestly this team IMO doesn't finish the season strong because Grant Hill isn't going to be there the whole season..and even though everybody may think Dwight Howard is the X factor..I honestly believe it's Grant Hill....he's great when he's healthy..but he won't be healthy and the Magic's inexperience will bite them in the ass later on..I say this team is a 6th or 7th seed 1st round exitthey have a great record but they won't be able to follow through and have a consistent season</div>I want to know how you say they will fall to a 6th or 7th seed in the east, when the 6th and 7th seed are all under 500. At this point in the season, they have beaten alot of good teams and in some of them, they have been VERY convincing wins. For example their win over Utah last night....If you look at what this team did last year at the end of the year, when they won a good percentage of their last 15 games or so, they didnt have Grant Hill. You "could" consider him your X Factor but only in the sense that he stays healthy. If he doesn't, JJ Reddick will get more minutes which IMO, wont be too bad of a thing. Other guys will be getting more shots like Dwight Howard which once again, wont be a bad thing. He isnt a great defender, so I dont think you miss all that much if he goes down. Now im not saying that they will finish 1st in the East, but im not deying the fact that they have a shot. I honestly do think they will win their division though....Miami is playing well right now and their most influential player (not their best) is injured right now and will be injured more this season down the road some time..
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be I think this team needs a coach, the coach they have has done a fine job, but I think a real good coach will bring the best out of everyone and have this team contending (it's the east so it ain't to hard to contend) they got nice talent, and I like how they are building around howard.....maybe not this year but probably next year they'll make a little noise
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (koopa @ Nov 28 2006, 10:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think this team needs a coach, the coach they have has done a fine job, but I think a real good coach will bring the best out of everyone and have this team contending (it's the east so it ain't to hard to contend) they got nice talent, and I like how they are building around howard.....maybe not this year but probably next year they'll make a little noise</div>The coach they have now is a very good coach, he knows how to play and develop young talent, while playing the older veterans to our advantage. He has the players excited, and hungry to play, he is working the team hard. He makes the right subs during the game. What are you even talking about?<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Nov 28 2006, 10:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Other guys will be getting more shots like Dwight Howard which once again, wont be a bad thing. He isnt a great defender, so I dont think you miss all that much if he goes down. Now im not saying that they will finish 1st in the East, but im not deying the fact that they have a shot. I honestly do think they will win their division though....Miami is playing well right now and their most influential player (not their best) is injured right now and will be injured more this season down the road some time..</div>Hill might not be a great defender, but he is a good defender that works hard and stays in front of his man. He makes the other player work hard to get off shots, and constantly shows up. Just look at the way he played Paul Pierce, anyone that saw that game knows that even though Paul Pierce had 21 points, most came in the fourth quarter, a few of them on some lucky shots. Paul Pierce had a rough night shooting, mostly because of Grant Hill playing tough defense. He is a good defensive player.As for that run last year, yes they did that, but Hill right now is definately our X-Factor and good for our team. When the other team starts to go on a run, it's usually Grant Hill that answers with two buckets to kill the other teams momentum. Grant Hill is the one that gets the ball when we are playing sloppy, pulls it out and sets up the offense. He is the one that tells our younger players where they need to be. Not to mention, when he is on the court it's like having another point guard. When he gets rebounds, Hill takes off down court. He handles the ball alot for us, and allows Nelson to move off the ball a bit. Hill has been the glue for the Magic this season so far.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be They still don't have a reliable, consistent and dynamic scoring first option to carry them in playoffs, and IMO that will ultimately be their downfall. And I don't think they are better than Cleveland, Miami (when healthy), NJ (when healthy) and Detroit to begin with.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (valo35 @ Nov 28 2006, 11:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Hill might not be a great defender, but he is a good defender that works hard and stays in front of his man. He makes the other player work hard to get off shots, and constantly shows up. Just look at the way he played Paul Pierce, anyone that saw that game knows that even though Paul Pierce had 21 points, most came in the fourth quarter, a few of them on some lucky shots. Paul Pierce had a rough night shooting, mostly because of Grant Hill playing tough defense. He is a good defensive player.As for that run last year, yes they did that, but Hill right now is definately our X-Factor and good for our team. When the other team starts to go on a run, it's usually Grant Hill that answers with two buckets to kill the other teams momentum. Grant Hill is the one that gets the ball when we are playing sloppy, pulls it out and sets up the offense. He is the one that tells our younger players where they need to be. Not to mention, when he is on the court it's like having another point guard. When he gets rebounds, Hill takes off down court. He handles the ball alot for us, and allows Nelson to move off the ball a bit. Hill has been the glue for the Magic this season so far.</div>When I was reading your entire post, I honestly though that for everything you said about Grant Hill, there are other players on the roster that could fill in for him(besides Hills leadership). Ok, Hill works hard on the defensive end....but if he goes down, you can replace him with JJ Reddick who works hard on defense, and in my eyes, is just as good of a defender(im basing this on the college level). When you talk about the run that they had last year, Grant wasn't apart of it...no if, ands, or but's. That just shows that they can win without him. The "X" Factor of the team is obviously Dwight Howard. If you take him away, your inside presence on defense isn't that great, you dont have a low post scoring option, and your rebounding declines dramatically. Instead of Grant Hill getting the ball when the team is playing sloppy, you can give Dwight howard more touches in the low block, and guys like Hedo and JJ will get more looks from the perimeter. Instead of Grant Hill breaking the run by the other team, you can get that broken by several different players on the team....Dwight, Jameer, Hedo, JJ, Arroyo....What Grant Hill does besides his leadership qualities are VERY replaceable. You cant replace a guy like Dwight Howard. He is obviously the X Factor to the team in my eyes. I guess it depends on how you view an X Factor....
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be I dont know, orlando looked mighty good last night. Dwight Howard is like the second comming of Bill Russell, and they do have a solid core. I dont think they will have the best record in the east without Hill, but with the way Miami is playing right now the Magic could put an unbridgable gap between themselves and the Heat. and Atlanta, Charlotte and Washington are no threat to win the division.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be Orlando is a legit playoff team, and they have an excellent future ahead of them in which I will pay a lot of attention to. But they are nowhere near the #1 seed in the East like they are right now. The beginning of this season is full of flukes and bad streaks. I mean you have Detroit just now picking up the slack, New Jersey has lost 6 straight, Miami has been up and down (and Shaq-less), and Chicago has been struggling. Cleveland has been pretty good.All those teams I just mentioned, Orlando is not better than. Come April-May, Miami/NJ/Chicago/Detroit will all be ready to go, and Cleveland will be there excelling as well. Orlando couldn't beat them in a 7 game series, IMO.Orlando is one perimeter offensive wizard away from being a "for real" team in the East. We'll see what their cap space brings them in the summer time.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be Orlando's starting lineup is very efficient right now on offense. Four out of their 5 starters are shooting above 49% from the field. Thats tough to beat.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be I'm not sure why grant hill is being classed as the x-factor on this team? the magic have comfortably won both games hill has sat out this season. I understand your reasoning re: hill's veteran leadership and court savvy but the only irreplacable guy on the magic roster is dwight howard. would the magic do things so easily if he went down?apart from howard leading the way up front the magic are almost a team by commitee and as such have numerous go to guys. arroyo, nelson, hill, turkoglu, dooling are all guys who have led the way and come thorugh in the crunch at various times this season. IMO this variety on the offensive end makes them a truly dangerous proposition.it's way too early to make assumptions for this team but their chemistry, depth, hunger and (under the radar) talent will give them as good a shot as anyone else in the east.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Nov 29 2006, 12:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>When I was reading your entire post, I honestly though that for everything you said about Grant Hill, there are other players on the roster that could fill in for him(besides Hills leadership). Ok, Hill works hard on the defensive end....but if he goes down, you can replace him with JJ Reddick who works hard on defense, and in my eyes, is just as good of a defender(im basing this on the college level). When you talk about the run that they had last year, Grant wasn't apart of it...no if, ands, or but's. That just shows that they can win without him. The "X" Factor of the team is obviously Dwight Howard. If you take him away, your inside presence on defense isn't that great, you dont have a low post scoring option, and your rebounding declines dramatically. Instead of Grant Hill getting the ball when the team is playing sloppy, you can give Dwight howard more touches in the low block, and guys like Hedo and JJ will get more looks from the perimeter. Instead of Grant Hill breaking the run by the other team, you can get that broken by several different players on the team....Dwight, Jameer, Hedo, JJ, Arroyo....What Grant Hill does besides his leadership qualities are VERY replaceable. You cant replace a guy like Dwight Howard. He is obviously the X Factor to the team in my eyes. I guess it depends on how you view an X Factor....</div>That run they had last year was without Grant Hill, but this is a new year, and they are getting used to him being there and his leadership.Grant Hill is not easily replaced. You can replace certain parts, but no one else on the team does everything in one that Grant Hill does. Redick will work in hard on defense, and he won't be horrible, but he won't be as good of a defender as Grant Hill is. He lacks the speed and ability to recover if beat that Grant Hill has. When the team is playing sloppy, I did not say that he is the one takes the shot. He is the one that is basketball savy enough to get the ball and bring it out to half court and reset the offense. Somone else might shoot, but Grant Hill is what gets the teams heads right during these stretchs that the coach can't use a timeout to get their heads right. Often times, the sloppy play is from trying to force the ball inside to Dwight Howard, or from the team not spacing right and getting to close on offense. Nelson, and Arroyo have not shown to do this, Dwight Howard does not have that ability to go get the ball and calm the offense down like a point guard, and no one else has stepped up to do it often. To go along with that, lots of the runs that other teams go on against the Magic, are from turnovers and sloppy play by Nelson, Arroyo, Hedo, Howard and the young guys. Sometimes they get a bit excited and don't play the way they are supposed to. That is where Hill steps up and puts the ball in the basket to kill mometum. No other player has shown to step up and do this. That is why I think he is so important to our team, and the team X-factor if we want to go anywhere in the playoffs.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jack It Up @ Nov 29 2006, 03:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm not sure why grant hill is being classed as the x-factor on this team? the magic have comfortably won both games hill has sat out this season. I understand your reasoning re: hill's veteran leadership and court savvy but the only irreplacable guy on the magic roster is dwight howard. would the magic do things so easily if he went down?apart from howard leading the way up front the magic are almost a team by commitee and as such have numerous go to guys. arroyo, nelson, hill, turkoglu, dooling are all guys who have led the way and come thorugh in the crunch at various times this season. IMO this variety on the offensive end makes them a truly dangerous proposition.it's way too early to make assumptions for this team but their chemistry, depth, hunger and (under the radar) talent will give them as good a shot as anyone else in the east.</div>Both games that Grant Hill sat out for was against the Hawks, and the Timberwolves, it's not like they faced overly tough teams when they played without him. When the Magic face the better teams in the league, that will cause young players to make mistakes, that is when they are going to need Grant Hill the most.
Re: Magic Aren't What They're Making Themselves Out To Be <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (valo35 @ Nov 28 2006, 09:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The coach they have now is a very good coach, he knows how to play and develop young talent, while playing the older veterans to our advantage. He has the players excited, and hungry to play, he is working the team hard. He makes the right subs during the game. What are you even talking about?</div>what I'm talkin about is he good enough to get this team over the hump meaning the playoffs?? right now he's 18-18 in his career in the playoffs and he hasn't had a team go to the playoffs since 1995 which so happened to be with the magic lol (and I know he hasn't coached a lot and really hasn't been a full time head coach since last year)...but that's what I'm getting at, I know he's doing a fine job now, but the playoffs are a whole different beast, and all I'm worried about is if he'll tighten up in the playoffs and choke......which is why I think they need a coach with real playoff experince to get this team over the hump......I'm not bashing hill in any way though, so don't take it the wrong way
