Fear & Loathing in Charlotte
NBA.com: Orlando at Charlotte Boxscore
I don't buy into the theory that wins and losses do not matter in preseason. It seems bad form to practice losing at any time. So the good news is that the Magic dominated the last three quarters and beat the Bobcats in Charlotte 109-90.
But there is a whole list of things to worry about:
1. Garrity started and played 15 minutes of his now patented inefficient game. Like last year, someone needs to Gilooly him, and IT CAN'T HAPPEN SOON ENOUGH!
2. Only 8 of 74 shot attempts were 3 pointers which is half the league percentage. 5 of those came from Diener who will be buried on the bench once the season starts.
3. Redick out with soft tissue injury on his foot. Great, we seem to have another serial-injury victim from Duke on the team.
4. Turk has a mysterious "fever of unknown origin" that requires bed rest, blood tests & urine tests. This is scary. Internet speculation is all over the place including lyme disease, malaria, imuno-deficiencies, etc.
5. Battie has sore knees already. He's 30 and has sore knees. His could turn out to be a hell of a long 5 year contract.
6. Arroyo has a hurt groin and didn't play either.
7. Jameer has a concussion and will miss three games. Brain injuries are mysterious and can linger for up to year.
8. Ariza didn't play either with a bruised foot and expects to miss a week.
9. Bogans started and played 31 minutes. I'd say his performance was Stevenson like (14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 TO) except that he tried 2 threes which is as many as Stevenson shot all last year.
10. Hill played 18 minutes. It will be interesting to see if he can play in back to back games.
Yes they won and Howard shows signs of coming of age and driving for a max extension due next summer. But the rest of the above is not good.
Training camp is the time for the team to gel and prepare to start the season strong. This is the time for Redick to learn to play with NBA teammates. It's the time for Ariza to continue to improve. It was supposed to be Arroyo vs. Jameer killing each other every day, and for Turkoglu to lock down the starting SF position so the team doesn't waste time there with a fragile Grant Hill who has NEVER finished a season healthy for the Magic.
I don't buy into the theory that wins and losses do not matter in preseason. It seems bad form to practice losing at any time. So the good news is that the Magic dominated the last three quarters and beat the Bobcats in Charlotte 109-90.
But there is a whole list of things to worry about:
1. Garrity started and played 15 minutes of his now patented inefficient game. Like last year, someone needs to Gilooly him, and IT CAN'T HAPPEN SOON ENOUGH!
2. Only 8 of 74 shot attempts were 3 pointers which is half the league percentage. 5 of those came from Diener who will be buried on the bench once the season starts.
3. Redick out with soft tissue injury on his foot. Great, we seem to have another serial-injury victim from Duke on the team.
4. Turk has a mysterious "fever of unknown origin" that requires bed rest, blood tests & urine tests. This is scary. Internet speculation is all over the place including lyme disease, malaria, imuno-deficiencies, etc.
5. Battie has sore knees already. He's 30 and has sore knees. His could turn out to be a hell of a long 5 year contract.
6. Arroyo has a hurt groin and didn't play either.
7. Jameer has a concussion and will miss three games. Brain injuries are mysterious and can linger for up to year.
8. Ariza didn't play either with a bruised foot and expects to miss a week.
9. Bogans started and played 31 minutes. I'd say his performance was Stevenson like (14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 TO) except that he tried 2 threes which is as many as Stevenson shot all last year.
10. Hill played 18 minutes. It will be interesting to see if he can play in back to back games.
Yes they won and Howard shows signs of coming of age and driving for a max extension due next summer. But the rest of the above is not good.
Training camp is the time for the team to gel and prepare to start the season strong. This is the time for Redick to learn to play with NBA teammates. It's the time for Ariza to continue to improve. It was supposed to be Arroyo vs. Jameer killing each other every day, and for Turkoglu to lock down the starting SF position so the team doesn't waste time there with a fragile Grant Hill who has NEVER finished a season healthy for the Magic.
posted by WeRDevos @ 11:35 AM
6 Comments:
At 12:14 PM,
Matt said…
Yes you are right about some mysterious injuries, and I don't know how much of it relates to the lack of good medical staff on hand, that has been a problem with the Magic, for long.
I predicted that Garrity would get too many minutes in Hill's system. Good news: His minutes were less than Darko and Bo; Bad news: His minutes were more than Augustine.
You are absolutely right that the training camp and preseason games are when the players practice and gel with each other. Regular season is no time for experimenting. It seems that Hill is determined to play Darko as a sub for Dwight, in which case Garrity would be the first big off the bench. At some point in last night's game, Darko was on the floor with Bo, Diener, Augustine and Manuel. Way to go Hill! You are the winner of the pig-head of the month award!
At 4:07 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Wow... didn't realize the Magic had so many players out with injuries; that probably had a little to do with the weird combinations put on the floor by Hill. Yeah, I'd like to see Augustine getting more minutes than Garrity.
They should be careful with Jameer because the effects of a concussion can linger a while. That's kind of scary about Hedo... hope it's nothing serious.
Good to see the Magic dominate the game statistically, and having 6 players in double figs. Dwight was dominant (Okafor fouled out in just 9 minutes), and Grant had a very encouraging game.
Still 7 preseason games left... hopefully the team will get healthy during that time, and the players who will see the most playing time will get a chance to develop some chemistry on the floor.
At 4:11 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Actually, the Magic had 7 players in double figs, not 6.
At 4:40 PM,
WeRDevos said…
I looked it up. Last year Magic took 9.7 3 point shots per game, last in the league. 8 were attempted last night. 11 of the 16 playoff teams were in the upper half of 3 point shot attempts. The most notable exception is Dallas, but note that 5-17 is where 75% of the playoff teams are bunched up.
Turk & Jameer were missing last night, but there still has to be more emphasis on the 3 from Bogans & Hill. For that matter, if Garrity tries anything but a 3 he should be yanked off the court (and Gilooly'ed!)
Playoff Team 3 point shot attempts:
Rank, TEAM, Shots
1 Phoenix 25.6
5 LA Lakers 19.3
6 Memphis 19.2
7 Indiana 18.7
8 Chicago 18.0
9 Cleveland 17.9
10 Detroit 17.7
11 New Jersey 17.6
12 Miami 17.6
14 Sacramento 17.2
15 Washington 17.0
16 San Antonio 16.6
17 Milwaukee 16.3
21 Dallas 13.6
22 Denver 13.1
29 LA Clippers 10.3
30 Orlando 9.7
At 5:36 PM,
OVERWADED said…
Wow, I mean, I was really frustrated with a lot of things after last nights game, but still... I'll just go down the list...
1. You're right, Garrity playing, getting the start, that's just ridiculous. At least Darko still played more minutes, but 15 minutes for a guy who hasn't belonged in the NBA for about 3 years now is horrible. I'll admit, Garrity USED to have a little value, but for the past 3 or so seasons, he's been worthless.
2. I'm not worried about the 3PA at all. Nelson, Redick, Turk, and Arroyo were all out, who are pretty much the guys who are going to be jacking up 3 point shots. Expect to see G Hill take as many as Stevenson did last year at that spot.
3. Redick; they say it's all precautionary, and if it was a meaningful game he'd be playing. Smart move; although it'd be nice to have him out there learning the system…
4. Turk; yeah, that is kind of scary. But it's not the first time it's happened to him. It happened last year and he missed a game or two. So it shouldn't be that serious...we hope...
5. I think Battie will be fine. I'm kind of hoping he stays out for a long time so the merging of Dwight and Darko can take place. If they start winning with that lineup, Hill will be forced to keep Battie coming off the bench when he returns. With Dwight and Darko healthy early on, we won't miss Battie that much here early on anyway. Dwight and Darko NEED the time together on the floor. If it comes with Battie being out, so be it...
6. Arroyo; another minor injury, precautionary hold out, just like J.J.'s.
7. Concussions can suck. But if anyone can recover quickly, it's Jameer. Let's hope he'll be OK.
8. Ariza has another one of those minor injuries. It sucks, like Redick; it'd be nice being able to put him out there having him play some big minutes seeing what he can do.
9. During the team scrimmage Bogans looked good. We have nothing to worry about in regards to missing Stevenson's so called "defense". Bogans is a tough cat.
10. They need to just let G Hill take it easy. 18 minutes is OK, but he should be held back some. There is no reason for him to play every game in the preseason or a lot of minutes. It'll be hard enough for him to get into the 07 without missing a game. Save him for later...
-We should have no reason to bitch about the 1st preseason game, especially after blowing the Bobcats out; or should we? First, we shouldn’t worry about injuries at this point just yet, as all of them are minor. BUT, our main concern and obvious one is Brian Hill. Preseason or not, Pat Garrity should NEVER be considered to start for a college team, let alone an NBA one. Let's hope for the worst with Pat. Maybe he'll blow something out; then he'll be where he should, sitting, watching the games, cheering for the Magic, just like us.
-On a positive, it’s been amazing watching Dwight from year 1 until now. He’s a beast, and he continues to get better. They guys work ethic is amazing, along with his attitude. Who would have ever thought that when he said "he wanted to be the best", there would ever be a chance? I know there’s a long way to go, but Dwight is looking incredible, and he’s still 20 years old?!
At 10:00 PM,
Matt said…
Good points all. I agree that injuries should not be a concern at this time. Giving Garrity 15 minutes, at least proved his futility as a shooter; 2 points only. His value in the past was in being a good 3-point marksman. As it stands, if he does not shoot 3s in the high 40%, as WeRDevos has mentioned, he does not belong on the court. I also agree that 3-point shooting will improve with jameer, Hedo and J.J, provided Hill does not put any shackles on them.
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