Recap: The magic had an interesting off season, an off season where they saw Billy Donovan accept the job one day and quit the next. Donovan's loss was Stan Van Gundy's gain, and Van Gundy seized his opportunity. The Magic won 52 games and the Southeast Division, and made it too the second round where they lost to the Pistons. Van Gundy turned this team from a soft team into a physical team. He turned Hedo Turkoglu the teams former 6th man into a play maker and had him run the offense more times than the point guard. All this work lead to Turkoglu winning the Most Improved Player award. Another big positive for the Magic was that Dwight Howard turned the corner from being a good player to a great player. Howard had his best offensive year, led the league in rebounds and made a significant improvement on the defensive end. The only flaw in Howard's game is his FT shooting where he shot 59%. My advice is less time preparing for the dunk contest and more time at the line. But i cant knock Howard because i like the kid alot he reminds me of a younger Shaq. Besides Howard and Turkoglu the magic went out and spent a boat load of money on Rashard Lewis, 6 years 122 million to be exact. Now Lewis was not worth a 122 mill but he did play well averaging 18.2 pts and 5.4 boards. Now the Magic did not stop with the moves at the trade deadline they sent Trevor Ariza someone i like because he has alot of upside to the Lakers for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans. Now Cook was a disaster in Orlando, they should have pulled the plug on him about 2 weeks into the deal. For Evans however, he was a nice surprise, he worked hard and played his ass off which payed, by the end of the year he was the starting shooting guard. Because Howard demanded so many double teams the magic were able to get alot of good looks from 3 and took advantage, hitting 38.6% of their 3's which was 4th best. The problem for the magic was they could shoot the lights out but they had trouble creating a shot. When they were able to create a shot they hit it, but often times they had trouble getting shots off. A interesting stat is that the Magic had the 6 best offense and the 5th best defense, the numbers actually project the Magic as a 58 win team. The paper numbers didn't translate to wins but its a possible sign of what to come from the Magic.
Strength: Forwards. The Magic may have the best front court in basketball. Howard is the best Center in basketball arguably the best big man in basketball, but what helps Howard be so effective is that he has two 6'10 forwards that can put the ball on the floor and score from anywhere. Lewis and Turkoglu are match up nightmares for teams because it requires there big men to go out to the top of the key and perimeter an man up against them, doing this now leaves the paint wide open to penetrate with guards. These forwards are not one trick pony's either each of them can guards. Howard emerged as one of the top shot blockers and Lewis size gives opposing players fits because he is so lanky, the same can be said for Turkoglu.
Weakness: Bench. To say the Magic bench is composed of rookies and retards is an understatement. The Magic bench is like a circus you never know what your going to see, though you know it should be highly entertaining weather for the good or bad. The Magic loss Keyon Dooling and Carlos Arroyo who were their best bench players, leaving Keith Bogans to carry the load. The bench also has Tony Battie who is awful, JJ Redick who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. The bench's best player will be 1st round pick Courtney Lee out of Western Kentucky. If Lee doesn't produce then the Magic could be facing a big problem, having to run their starters alot longer then they would like.
Outlook: If there is one thing i know its that you eventually have to give your starters a rest. When the Magic run into this problem there gonna struggle. The lack of depth on this team is going to be their Achilles heal all season. The Magic starting five is one of the best in the league espically when you look at them upgrading their shooting guard position when they added Pietrus, and you have to love their big 3. Another problem the Magic could face this year is the injury bug, something that they did not have to deal with last season. With that said whenever you have a player like Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis you have to think the team is going to compete and win there fair share of games. The southeast is a weak divison so the Magic will win that and get a top 4 seed but most likely they will get the 4 seed and run into the Green Machine in the 2nd round. The Magic would need all the Magic in the world in order to get by the Boston Three Party, and even then it wont happen.
Prediction: 49-33
Strength: Forwards. The Magic may have the best front court in basketball. Howard is the best Center in basketball arguably the best big man in basketball, but what helps Howard be so effective is that he has two 6'10 forwards that can put the ball on the floor and score from anywhere. Lewis and Turkoglu are match up nightmares for teams because it requires there big men to go out to the top of the key and perimeter an man up against them, doing this now leaves the paint wide open to penetrate with guards. These forwards are not one trick pony's either each of them can guards. Howard emerged as one of the top shot blockers and Lewis size gives opposing players fits because he is so lanky, the same can be said for Turkoglu.
Weakness: Bench. To say the Magic bench is composed of rookies and retards is an understatement. The Magic bench is like a circus you never know what your going to see, though you know it should be highly entertaining weather for the good or bad. The Magic loss Keyon Dooling and Carlos Arroyo who were their best bench players, leaving Keith Bogans to carry the load. The bench also has Tony Battie who is awful, JJ Redick who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. The bench's best player will be 1st round pick Courtney Lee out of Western Kentucky. If Lee doesn't produce then the Magic could be facing a big problem, having to run their starters alot longer then they would like.
Outlook: If there is one thing i know its that you eventually have to give your starters a rest. When the Magic run into this problem there gonna struggle. The lack of depth on this team is going to be their Achilles heal all season. The Magic starting five is one of the best in the league espically when you look at them upgrading their shooting guard position when they added Pietrus, and you have to love their big 3. Another problem the Magic could face this year is the injury bug, something that they did not have to deal with last season. With that said whenever you have a player like Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis you have to think the team is going to compete and win there fair share of games. The southeast is a weak divison so the Magic will win that and get a top 4 seed but most likely they will get the 4 seed and run into the Green Machine in the 2nd round. The Magic would need all the Magic in the world in order to get by the Boston Three Party, and even then it wont happen.
Prediction: 49-33
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