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Blazersedge NBA Season Preview 2008-09: The Magic

ORLANDO MAGIC

Record:  52-30, 1st Southeast Division, 3rd in Eastern Conference

 

Statistical Comparisons

 

Notable:

5th in field goal % 

5th  in ppg differential (+5.5 ppg)

4th in three-point % 

3rd in free throw attempts per game

27th in free throw percentage

27th in steals

27th in blocks

 

Others:

6th in the league in scoring (104.5 ppg)

11th in opponent scoring (99.0 ppg)

24th in opponent field goal %

22nd in assists

15th in turnovers

25th in opponent turnovers

Very Poor offensive rebounding team

Very Good defensive rebounding team

 

Movement

 

Significant Additions:  Mickael Pietrus, Anthony Johnson, Courtney Lee (R)

Significant Subtractions:  Maurice Evans, Carlos Arroyo, Keyon Dooling, Pat Garrity

 

Roster

 

Coach:  Stan “The Man” Van Gundy

 

Key Players

PG:  Jameer Nelson, Anthony Johnson

SG:  Mickael Pietrus, J.J. Redick, Courtney Lee

SF:  Rashard Lewis, Keith Bogans

PF:  Hedo Turkoglu, Tony Battie

C:  Dwight Howard, Adonal Foyle

 

Comments

 

Plenty of NBA teams can lay claim to being good for one reason or another.  If you want to sift through the decent teams and pick out the true contenders you usually look at four areas:  point differential, defensive field goal percentage, defensive rebounding and road wins.  Any rule begets exceptions, of course, but in general these are the hallmarks of solid, dependable, winning basketball.  The Magic are good to go in three of the four categories.  Their point differential, while not in the astronomical territory of NBA champions present and past, is respectable for a team still growing into itself.  Their defensive rebounding is great.  Their road wins tied them for second with the L*kers, with Boston taking the lead.  Defense is the one area that still needs work.  The Magic committed the grave sin of not stopping opponents’ shots and not creating any turnovers.  To be successful you’ve got to do one or the other.  To be a champion you need to be pretty decent at both.  The Magic were hampered by a lack of defensive athleticism outside of their center position.  This is one of the reasons the acquisition of Mickael Pietrus made sense.  He’s been burning for playing time and when healthy can disrupt the game.  He’ll get that chance in Orlando.

 

You’d like to see some more bankable commodities coming off of the Magic bench, but they’ve got some time to sort that out.  Their starting lineup should be good to go with Nelson, Lewis, and Howard.  They’d also be well-served by learning how to shoot a free throw.  It’s sad to see them waste those free attempts (3rd in the league in foul shots attempted at 28 per game) with shoddy marksmanship (27th in free throw percentage at 72.1%).  It’s a little margin, but little things often mean the difference between good and great.

 

You love Orlando’s ability to hit from anywhere because of Turkoglu, Lewis, and Nelson.  You love Dwight Howard’s freakish domination potential.  You pretty much want to crown this team as the Next Big Thing in the East after the current regime heads to the retirement home.  With a couple more good bench acquisitions and maybe a tweak to that starting lineup (I don’t care what his stats were last year, I’m still wondering if Turkoglu is a long-term fit with this team) you could really get behind the idea of the Magic coming out of the East.  The goal this year ought to be the Conference Finals.  If Detroit is headed as far south as people thought they were following last season, the Magic should make it.

 

For the real scoop on the Magic head over to Third Quarter Collapse.

 

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

0 recs | Comment 9 comments

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Thanks Dave.

"the Knicks are an ongoing experiment in sporting altruism, with the motto "We suck, so you don't have to." This is the designing principle. Stop overcomplicating things."
-jawaan oldham

by faith on Oct 2, 2008 1:35 PM PDT   0 recs

Did you see their trade proposal in the link?

It involves Blake, Batum, and Outlaw. Not sure who we would get in the three way deal.

My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.

by OCBlazerFan1 on Oct 2, 2008 2:39 PM PDT   0 recs

Getting rid of

Nic and bringing in Heido T. would bring our sex appeal down BIG time. Heido is not going to win any beauty contests with his Vlade Divac mouth agape look going for him.

But he CAN hit the long ball.

My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.

by OCBlazerFan1 on Oct 2, 2008 2:55 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Turkoglu and J.J. Redick. We give up Outlaw, Blake and Batum.

Here is the source: http://nbatradejournal.blogspot.com/2008/10/proposal-ilgauskus-turkoglu-outlaw-on.html

I don’t like it. Redick is a shooter with useless defense who has not yet arrived on an NBA level and plays only on 2, a position where we have no need. Turkoglu is an upgrade over Outlaw but not always motivated, already 29 and wants a big deal next year when he plans to opt out and become an unrestricted free agent. So why trade for him now, if we want him we can make him an offer. And we get no replacement for Blake if we do that deal now.

We're young in age, but deep in experience - Brandon Roy.

by Norsktroll on Oct 2, 2008 2:56 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Steep price.

We get hosed. Redick is a dud. Good in college a dud in the pros. Turkoglu is good not great ( though I did see him hit a half court 3 when I saw him in Seattle playing for the Spurs so he has range ). Outlaw, Blake and Batum is steep. Orlando loads up on scoring in this trade.

by CanadianBlazerfan on Oct 2, 2008 6:32 PM PDT   0 recs

Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee ...

will gobble up the minutes at shooting guard this season — as both have been reportedly working on their ball-handling skills — thus, the one-dimensional J.J. Redick will ride the pine like a worthless benchwarmer. That, in conjuction with the small, yet defensive-minded duo of Keith Bogans and Mickael Pietrus splitting playing time at small forward, pretty much guarantees that Redick will have his team option declined for the 2009-2010 season.

Also, Ra$hard Lewis is technically the power forward in Orlando, with the oft-injured Tony Battie and obscenely soft Brian Cook as his reserves. Yet, due to the fact that Ron Jeremy’s doppelgänger enjoys spreading the floor to allow pivotman Dwight Howard to control the key, Lewis — despite being ghastly overpaid and frequently unable to pass his way out of double teams — fits perfectly within the system as a weakside cornerman.

by AK1984 on Oct 3, 2008 6:56 PM PDT to parent up   0 recs

Love the team previews.

I have definetly warmed up to these team previews. I like offering my takes on other teams aside from my favorites. I have posted on some. Recently Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Miami, and Charlotte. Have I missed any so far? If so on what teams? And is it possible to still post on any not mentioned above teams?

by CanadianBlazerfan on Oct 2, 2008 6:35 PM PDT   0 recs

Thanks Dave

I lived in Orlando 2 years and never went to a Magic game. Probably a good thing because I wouldn’t have become a Blazers fan later in life.

Blazers Edge has an alarmist vision

by tominhawaii on Oct 2, 2008 7:14 PM PDT   0 recs

Saw Dave's apology though.

However, I saw Dave’s apology though, and will go to those team websites for previews.

by CanadianBlazerfan on Oct 3, 2008 8:35 PM PDT   0 recs

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