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
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.
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--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)