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Blazers-Magic Comparison

As we prepare to face the Magic today here are some thoughts from Ben at sister-site ThirdQuarterCollapse.com about the similarities--or lack thereof--between the Blazers and Magic.

When Dave asked me to write this piece a few months ago, I didn't know what to say. Obviously, the biggest point of comparison between the two teams would have been Dwight Howard and Greg Oden. Actually, the night the Blazers won the right to draft Oden, I wrote that this year's Blazer team could become like the Magic of the mid-90s, with a dominant center (Oden) and a versatile wing player (Brandon Roy) leading the charge. Obviously, that changed when Oden underwent microfracture surgery, which caused me to write a piece entitled " I hope you haven't bought your Magic/Blazers tickets yet..."

Even with Oden's absence, there are similarities between these two teams. They currently lead their respective divisions, they're both fairly young (although the Blazers are decidedly moreso), and both their futures are tied to franchise-caliber centers. But there's a key difference between these two teams, which is why I think one is on the rise and the other is not:

The draft.

I'm not an expert on the Trail Blazers, but I know that Brandon Roy and Martell Webster have been instrumental to the team's recent success. Both those players were drafted by Portland. Jarrett Jack wasn't originally a Portland draft choice, but he was obtained in a draft-night trade, so he might as well have been. Throw in a few savvy veterans obtained via free-agency (Steve Blake, Joel Pryzbilla) and you have a young, athletic, promising team that should expect to be in title contention for -- no kidding -- the next decade.

Contrast that draft-night and free-agency success with that of the Magic. Drafting Dwight Howard was a no-brainer for a team with an unhappy superstar in his prime (Tracy McGrady) coming off a 21-win season. He's younger than Emeka Okafor and we know now he's a much better player, which is no slight to Okafor. The team also obtained another key piece, Jameer Nelson, via a draft-night trade. But look at the other players the Magic have drafted recently:
*    2004:
o    Anderson Varejao (later traded to Cleveland for Tony Battie)
*    2005:
o    Fran Vazquez (famously and unexpectedly declined to join the NBA; won't play in the US until 2010 at the earliest.)
o    Travis Diener (played sparingly in two seasons; left via free-agency in the summer of 2006)
*    2006:
o    J.J. Redick (still can't crack the rotation)
o    James Augustine (good hustle player who picks up minutes here and there, but probably belongs in the D-League; drafted ahead of Paul Millsap)
As far as free-agency goes, the Magic have had mixed luck. Keyon Dooling and Keith Bogans were brought in, but they're more role-players than anything else. And before this summer's signing of Rashard Lewis, the Magic's best wing scorer was Hedo Turkoglu, also a free-agent pickup. Lewis, supposedly the best player available last summer, has not impressed so far.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is the following: Portland has shown patience with Roy, Webster, and Travis Outlaw. They've also looked to add veterans like Blake, Pryzbilla, and James Jones when possible. They're more realistic about their stars' timeline, but at the same time realize that veterans can help with the learning curve. And when Oden comes back next year, Portland is going to be damn tough to beat. The Magic, meanwhile, are built to win now. They have Howard, yes, and he's arguably the best center in the game (unless you count Tim Duncan as a center, anyway). They have Rashard Lewis, who hasn't lived up to his reputation as a big-time scorer. They traded for Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo in 2005, hoping they would put the team on the fast-track to success. They traded Trevor Ariza (a promising, athletic, energetic defender)  to the Lakers in November for veterans Brian Cook and Maurice Evans, hoping that small adjustment would do the trick. It hasn't. And it probably won't ever. Until this team decides on an identity -- win now or win later? -- it can't expect to get beyond the second round of the playoffs.

Interesting thoughts, I'm sure you'll agree.  Thanks for the perspective Ben!

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

0 recs  |  Comment 11 comments

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The Blazers have been much smarter
The Magic drafted Fran Vasquez, he refused to play for them and I doubt they ever will. Reddick wasn't good enough to be picked that high. My biggest problem with the Magic is that they gave Rashard Lewis something like 120 million. There's no way to justify giving the max to a second banana like Lewis. They couldn't wait one more year when there might have been a better class of FA to pick from?

by jayseyfield on Jan 19, 2008 12:21 AM PST reply actions   0 recs

LMA
This guy apparently doesn't know about Aldridge?  Perhaps he will after the game tonight....

by jscot on Jan 19, 2008 1:34 AM PST reply actions   0 recs

It's exceptionally easy
to neglect mentioning any one player on a team that's on a completely different coast than you.  Ben didn't say anything bad about Lamarcus, he just didn't mention him in passing.  Plus the two contexts in which he was speaking were:

  1.  Brandon Roy

  2.  Young guys we've waited on for them to get better

Lamarcus doesn't fit either category.

I'm impressed he knows Outlaw and Webster.  I'm also impressed this wasn't just a long way of saying "Orlando is going to RULE the East in two years!"  You telling me 95% of bloggers out there wouldn't speak more highly of their own team than the opponent in such a situation, especially if Dwight Howard was on their side?

--Dave

by Dave on Jan 19, 2008 1:53 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Fair enough
It just seemed such a glaring oversight.  I see your point, we don't have to wait for Martell.  But I thought he was talking about our success in the draft and draft-day trades.  LMA is right up there on KP's list of draft success stories, and he's a much bigger part of our success than Martell.

It just seemed odd that he would be so knowledgeable about our role players and not mention our success in drafting LMA.

He seems kind of depressed about his team.  They're leading their division, and Howard is only going to get better.  I wonder if he'd have been saying the same four weeks ago?  They've not done well recently.

This Trailblazer team is winning fans everywhere, though, even among the enemy.  For a while, we're going to be everyone's second favorite team, I think.

His site looks well-written, with intelligent analysis.  Too bad he doesn't get more participation.  Seems like a lot of the sister sites (outside of GSOM) are that way.

by jscot on Jan 19, 2008 2:18 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Depressed
Let me quote an email I wrote to Steve Weinman of CelticsBlog explaining why I'm not happy with the Magic right now:
The reason I'm not really too pleased with the season so far is the way some of the losses have gone. 24-17 is by no means a bad record; hell, if you (or anyone) had told me in October that the Magic would be on a 48-win pace at the season's halfway point, I would have been thrilled. But watching this team drop 13 of 21 games after a strong 16-4 start was disheartening. I guess the point is that the record itself is nice, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum.

In no way am I giving up on the team, but it's frustrating to see this team, after adding a new coach and a new sharpshooter, fall into the same bad habits that last year's team did.

Third Quarter Collapse: An SB Nation blog for Orlando Magic fans

by Ben Q Rock on Jan 19, 2008 2:05 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

LaMarcus
JScot,

I do indeed know about LaMarcus. In fact, after I shot this post to Dave via email, I realized I should have mentioned the Blazers' acquiring him for the rights to Tyrus Thomas, another shrewd move that's looking more and more like a steal with every passing day. I'm not happy about that omission, but I stand by the rest of what I wrote.

Third Quarter Collapse: An SB Nation blog for Orlando Magic fans

by Ben Q Rock on Jan 19, 2008 1:08 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Thanks for the note
It was obvious you'd done your homework before writing.  That was what made it so strange to me.

Well, after the fact....  Perhaps Nate wishes he'd forgotten Aldridge for that game, too.  6 for 21.  Wonder if we could trade him back to Chicago (jk).

by jscot on Jan 20, 2008 12:22 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

No Smooth ?
     Big Smooth is a Blazer draft night trade
pickup and will be great. When LaMarcus gains
8-10 more lbs of muscle (especially in his core)
he will be hammer dunking the same forays to
the bucket now blocked or finessed. It's his
top of the reach jumper that makes him "SMOOTH".
He just needs to work on jumper body control
and not fade so much. Rasheed went through the
same evolution in his shot. Oh, and add GO to
the mix and Smooth gets three to four dunks a
night, knifing down the lane. It's going to be
UNBELIEVABLE !

   BRING BACK OUR BLAZERS TO SOUTHERN OREGON !

It's GO time !

by walkoff41 on Jan 19, 2008 1:45 AM PST reply actions   0 recs

no
i think we're just tough to beat right now.  or maybe we are damn tough, but next year we'll be extra damn tough.  not sure.

by shralpster on Jan 19, 2008 9:48 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

I agree
Just tough.  The Spurs are damn tough to beat.
Our blog administrator could beat up your blog administrator.

by tominhawaii on Jan 19, 2008 3:13 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

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