The addition of Francis, Howard and Nelson could help the team compete in the realigned NBA next season. The Magic will be in the same division, what many predict will be the league's weakest, with the Washington Wizards, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks and expansion Charlotte Bobcats you tell me with our lineup francis, mobley, hill, gooden, howard that the magic wont be in the playoffs, maybe even home court advantage
We'll have to see how good Washington is now with Jamison and Arenas... They could be competitive... Miami will definitely be the most competitive... They're losing their starting PG Alston though I believe... The Hawks just plain suck and the Bobcats are an expansion team. I wouldn't go as far to say homecourt advantage (even if we win the division we don't necessarily get homecourt, they changed that this year I believe)... But I could see us ending up as high as the 6th slot in the East. Remember, New Orleans is no longer in the East so that's one playoff slot open from last year. We should have no problem being better than Boston (who made the 8th slot last year).