The Magic have put together an impressive run down the stretch including wins over Dallas, Detroit, and Miami. With the rising star power of Dwight Howard and a lot of options in the summer, the Magic could breakthrough next season. The Magic should not just settle for making the playoffs, they should aim for the division title and if all goes well they have a legit chance. The Southeast consists of the Miami Heat, Washingtion Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, and Charlotte Bobcats. Right off the bat you can eliminate the Hawks and Bobcats for contending. The Wizards are tough, but they don't have a balanced inside-outside game and their splah in free agency occurred last summer. This leaves the Heat as the primary obstacle. The duo of Shaq & Wade can carry Miami a long ways, but unless the Heat win it all this year, they are going to lose a lot of key role players. Free agents include Alonzo Mourning, Shandon Anderson, Derek, Anderson, Gary Payton, and James Posey. The Heat don't have any money to keep Posey around, and he's likely headed back to the Western Conference. Zo, both Andersons, and Payton are on their last legs, and it's hard to see any of them sticking around if the Heat fail to win a title. Losing those 5 players really depletes the depth of the Heat and without any caproom the Heat are going to struggle bringing any impact players on board. They would love to trade Antoine Walker, but no one is going to touch his contract. Most importantly, Pat Riley has said he probably won't be the head coach next season. This puts even more pressure on Miami to win the title this year. If not, does Riley clean house or ride it out for another year? It's going to take a big name coach to please Shaq and get the attention of this team. Orlando is in the exact opposite scenario. This team is on the rise and has a lot of options during the summer. The three things Orlando has going for them are ... 1) Cap Space 2) Draft Pick 3) Grant Hill's expiring contract These are all valuable assets for the team to continue to build around Dwight Howard and Co. The Magic are in a position to land an athletic scoring wing player in the draft. Brandon Roy and Rodney Carney are both projected to be in the mid-lottery where Orlando is currently positioned. If the Magic can address this need in the draft, they can shop for other needs with their cap space. Adding a defensive specialist and more shooting are two areas the Magic can improve. You can also never have too, many big men. One big man the Magic could have next year is Fran Vazquez. With a stable front office, they can fly over and convince Fran to be apart of this winning team. Finally Grant Hill's monster expiring contract could land the Magic a player to put them over the top. Right now it's hard to say who a target would be, but it's going to be an option for this team all the way until the trade deadline next season.
Great post shape! I wouldn't go far enough to say we will be Division Champs, because with Shaq, they will get their role players. I would be satisfied in making the playoffs next year and then the following year we will contend. If I'm not mistaken we won't have that much capspace this offseason(basically just MLE range), but after next season(when Hill's contract expires) we will have a lot.
you forgot to mention darko. for some reason i think next season the kid will break out. he will show eveyone why he was picked 2nd overall. i dont know, i just have this feeling
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting GatorsowntheSEC:</div><div class="quote_post">Great post shape! I wouldn't go far enough to say we will be Division Champs, because with Shaq, they will get their role players. I would be satisfied in making the playoffs next year and then the following year we will contend. If I'm not mistaken we won't have that much capspace this offseason(basically just MLE range), but after next season(when Hill's contract expires) we will have a lot.</div> Will they? Shaq wasn't really able to recruit anyone last summer. Most of the new Heat players were acquired in trade. The only two who returned were Zo and Payton. If they cannot win it this year with those two, the chances are they won't have a chance to win it with them next year either. So I doubt either are re-signed or want to re-sign. The Heat are going to have to settle for players like Chucky Atkins instead. With Pat Riley back as full time GM, he's not going to be at the practices to hound Shaq about staying in shape and cracking the whip on the rest of the players to stay focused. There really aren't any big name coaches out there to bring in. All the guys with rings are sitting on the sidelines already.
i agree with shape mostly because the heat are just getting old. Zo and Payton aren't even as important as Shaq aging because he's not only getting less effective, but it seems injured more often. He's not motivated to get in shape anymore either. The heat can only really rely on dwyane wade and if Howard and millicic and nelson continue their grown and add a swingman to go with turk/stevenson then they will seriously give the Heat a run for the southwest division in the near future
Its not out of reach, but with the Heat in this division its not an easy task either. Dwight has been great, 3rd in the league in double doubles if Im not mistaken, Jameer has been just as good if not better, he can score, and he can pass, he does everything you want from your PG. Darko is picking it up as well, he's been as good as advertised when he was coming out of the draft. A great shot blocker, and finds ways to do things that are beneficial. I really see the future of the Magic bright, but they need to add a few more pieces to become a top notch team. Also keeping Stevenson would be a good idea, I think he's a very underrated player. 2007 Division Champs? Possibly.
Awesome post shape and this is a very interesting topic to bring up. I have to agree with you when you say that Orlando is on the rise while Miami is on the decline because as the Heat get older, we just keep getting younger. Besides Dwyane Wade, the Heat's roster is mainly made up of veterans. The average age of the Heat players is 28.4 years old compared to the Magic players average of 26.6 (that number is still inflated because of Grant Hill who probably has played his last days in Orlando). The Magic roster has eight players under the age of 25 (and PG Carlos Arroyo who is 26). Among those eight players, three of them are in the starting lineup (Jameer, Dwight and DeShawn) and one of them will most likely secure his starting spot next season (Darko). This team's core is made up of talented, young players who understand their roles and have so much potential it's scary. Another big advantage that goes to the Magic is the Heat free agency situation like you said. Orlando has already locked up Tony Battie for a few more years and our main pieces are all locked up. The only person we could possibly lose is Trevor Ariza and that isn't much of a problem since we will most likely use our draft pick on a wing player. If Miami loses all of their role players, it is going to be very hard for them to start over with new guys and they will have to gain team chemistry all over again. That means that Miami could fall behind in the standings and they will have to catch up and won't be able to take it easy at any point in the season. With all of that being said, I still think the Magic will come up short next season. I see the Heat winning the division and the Magic coming in a close second. We will have a chance to win our division but I think our inexperience and youth will be evident down the stretch. We have a lot of talent, don?t get me wrong, but I just don?t think we are on that level yet. Maybe in two years when we get to acquire some talent due to Grant Hill?s expiring contract we will win the division but until 2008, I see us grabbing a high seed and being a dark horse when the playoffs come around. There is no doubt in my mind that we will make the playoffs next season barring injuries, personnel changes or some catastrophic event. Quote me on this one, the Magic will be a playoff team come next season., it will just take a little bit longer than that for us to come out victorious over the Heat while they are being led by Wade and Shaq.
Like you said, it depends on how successful Miami is in this year's postseason, and I really doubt they'll win the East. I think if it came down it, the Heat are going to need some good bench players to contribute on the floor. I don't think that's the problem in Orlando, as they already have a good core of young players. However, I do expect Pat Riley to make some good moves in the offseason to continue being competitive in the East. I mean, he does have to keep Wade and Shaq happy and so for the Heat not to make some noise in the offseason is unlikely. I think the Heat will still be #1 in their division and Orlando at #2.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cdub100:</div><div class="quote_post"></div> Care to explain what's so funny?
Orlando has a great chance next year to winning there division. But they can't get off to a sluggish start like they did this year. If they want to contend then everyone will have to step there game up 1 notch and show the world what Orlando is all about. Dwight Howard has already done that, so the rest of the team needs to follow. I think that Jameer is a great point guard to lead the team. And Darko definitely will be a key role player if they want to win there division. I think getting rid of Steve Francis was a good move on Orlando's part. Nothing against Francis but he just didn't fit in Orlando's system. About Miami, they aren't going anywhere. If Orlando wants to win the division title then they are going to have to beat Miami for it. They might be getting older but they have 2 of the best players in the league. If Orlando comes together and plays the game like it should be played, then they will win the division next year and possibly the championship. Good Luck Orlando!!!!
possibly I wouldnt doubt it. Shaq is going to retire soon so they dont have any inside experience. If Dwight Howard definitely develops inside moves, no doubt the Magic will lead the SouthEast Division.
As long as we don't do something stupid like trade Jameer. I was surfing around and a lot of people think that since his stock is so high we should get what we can for him. However he will only get better IMO. Trading Jameer Nelson = Stupid.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheGreatK-Bob:</div><div class="quote_post">As long as we don't do something stupid like trade Jameer. I was surfing around and a lot of people think that since his stock is so high we should get what we can for him. However he will only get better IMO. Trading Jameer Nelson = Stupid.</div> Trading Jameer now would be pretty dumb, but I could see us pulling the trigger after next year when he will demand a lot of money the following season. I wouldn't give him more than like a Cuttino Mobley deal, like start out at 5/6 and it raises to 7/8 in 5 years and even that would be stretching it a little, IMO.
I dont see Jason Williams staying in Miami long because he wants to run the show. Dwayne Wade is the centerpiece there. Shaq is getting older and probably will retire after next season.
