<div style="padding-left: 20px;">Orlando Magic Improvements From The Last 2 Years. <u>Lineups</u> beginning of last year pg. Jacque Vaughn, Darrell Armstrong sg. Tmac, Jeryl Sasser sf. Grant Hill, Mike Miller, Ryan Humprey pf. Pat Garrity, Shawn Kemp, Olumide Oyedeji c. Pat Burke, Andrew Declerq, Steven Hunter <u>end of last season</u> pg-Jacque Vaughn, Darell Armstrong, Chris Whitney sg-Tmac, Jeryl Sasser sf-Gordan Giricek, Pat Garrity pf-Drew Gooden, Pat Garrity, Shawn Kemp c-Andrew Declerq, Steven Hunter, Pat Burke IR-Grant Hill, Olumide Oyedeji <u>beginning of this year</u> pg-Tyronn Lue, Reece Gaines sg-Tmac, Keith Bogans, Jeryl Sasser sf-Juwan Howard, Gordan Giricek pf-Drew Gooden, Pat Garrity c-Stephen Hunter, Zaza Pacilia, Andrew Declerq IR-Grant Hill From beginning of last year GUYS WE LOST Jacque Vaughn-A decent pg that struggled from the field and isn't cut out for starting at pg. Darell Armstrong- Our heart and hustle. He gives up his body for everything. He will be missed a lot. Mike Miller-He was our 2nd best player at the start last year. Former Rookie of the Year could flat out shoot. He got a lot more aggressive and is starting to become a slasher. His defense is mediocre at best though. Ryan Humphrey-Brings more heart and hustle. He is undersized at pf, but we needed someone with his aggressiveness, I just wished that Doc woulda played Humphrey more this year. Shawn Kemp-He did good getting into better shape. He was good at times and horrible at other times. He won't ever be the reignman again, but he helped us out giving us quality minutes. He couldn't jump and couldn't make a layup though. Olumide Oyedeji-We thought that he could bring us aggression and a shot blocking presence, but he was very raw. I wish Doc woulda played him more too, but he shot layups worse than Kemp. Pat Burke-Was early surprise for the league, as he was ranked ahead of Drew Gooden in the 1st month of rookie rankings(he was ranked 4th). He lost his confidence, and struggled the rest of the year. Hopefully he can find work with another team. GAINED Tyronn Lue-Small pg with a lot of speed and is known for shutting down other pg's. He has a nice shot and doesn't rush things to much. Reece Gaines-Our 1st round pick. He's our pg of the future. He's a big pg that has Darell Armstrong's aggression and heart. He goes all out on everything and he has a nice shot. Keith Bogans-We swung a trade on draft day to get him. He is a defensive specialist, but impressed everyone with his offense in the summer league leading the Orlando team in ppg. Juwan Howard-A good solid scorer, that finds a way to get his points, he will be great help for tmac on the offensive end. Doesn't play any defense though. Gordan Giricek- A very surprising and good addition to the Miller for Gooden deal. One coach(Nelson from Dallas) said that he would've traded Giricek for Miller straight up. He's above average at everything, he just doesn't shine at anything. Drew Gooden-A huge pick up at power forward for us. He struggled at sf for the grizz early in the year, but he impressed us with his talent and potential when he was back at pf with us. He had a very impressive playoff series against the best defensive and rebounding player in the league. Zaza Pachilia- I don't know much about him other than he impressed in summer league. He's a 7 footer that's angry at the league for passing on him, since he was a projected 1st rounder, but fell halfway in the 2nd round. THE GUYS WE'VE HAD THE WHOLE YEAR. Tmac-He surprised everyone with avg 32 ppg and became one of the top 4 players in the league. His only thing is he isn't clutch and hasn't gotten his team past the 1st round the last 3 years. Jeryl Sasser- This guy has mad defense, but he can't make a basket if his life depended on it. He has been a huge bust for us so far. Grant Hill-We had high expectations for him last year, since we thought he'd be healthy, but his ankle failed us again. This year we don't have to worry about him at the beginning of the season. Pat Garrity-Went from 3rd option to bench player. He will be an effective bench player. He shoots lights out. Has been in the 3 pt competition the last 2 years. Andrew Declerq-He is very aggressive and gets all the rebounds when he's in the game. He gets 3 fouls in 4 minutes that he plays though. Steven Hunter-He is still a prospect, that has showed his potential, but he was injured at the beginning of last season and when he came back he wasn't full strength. He showed signs of being good though towards the end of the season. He is a 7 foot shot blocker. give me opinions on this. i don't know much about the players that we have gotten so if i said something wrong don't say that i'm a moron for doing this, just nicely say that he isn't this or that. In conclusion I think we have greatly improved from our roster at the beginning of last season. We went from having a decent starting lineup and a bad bench to having a good starting lineup and a pretty good bench. I hope you guys see the improvement as I have. We finally could get out of the 1st round!</div> Written by Sportsrock37
"Pat Burke-Was early surprise for the league, as he was ranked ahead of Drew Gooden in the 1st month of rookie rankings(he was ranked 4th). He lost his confidence, and struggled the rest of the year. Hopefully he can find work with another team." go pat go pat i want to see him regain confidence ,this guy has been playin for so long and is only a rookie in the L of course,he played for the irish national team back in 93/94 and could really come with the goods if he gets on the right track,a solid solid player who should get more time to showcase cause its hard off the bench like that ,you cant make any mistakes and may only shoot once or twice at the most which theres big pressure to make
i think thats a great evaluation and we have come on in leaps and bounds and im looking for j.howard to have an awesome year! go magic!
With the addition of Juwon Howard, and Drew Gooden still improving look to see the magic to either win the Division or be a top contender. Good evaluation.
thank you guys, during the season if school and work don't get into the way, i will try to do a weekly report on how we did in the week, latest news, who we play next week, who was the surprise player of the week, who we should play more, etc. i don't know if i'll be able to do it until christmas break, because i have 3 really hard classes with loads of homework from august to december. btw keep registering magic fans, its great to keep getting more and more fans.
