Orlando Magic Blog

Group Blog talking about the NBA 2009 Eastern Conference Champions. Due to the amazing success of the 2009 playoff run comments are now frequently deleted to kill offensive comments, incoherence, or asininity. Comments can no longer be anonymous and require either a Blogger or OpenID account.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Hill wants Magic to be more hard-nosed

Toughing it out

The Sentinel released a pre-camp article today. The link to the article is above. Listed below are some of the comments that stood out.

Hill was brought back to help change the team's country-club culture, making players accountable.

"That's not going to change," Hill said.

That's why Francis and Kelvin Cato were traded, and why Hill won't hand out starting jobs as if they were honorary degrees.

"Guys have to earn their positions out there and maintain them," he said.

Hill said he hopes that some toughness can be forged, beginning this week with training camp at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. He expects a "very, very competitive camp" from the Magic, who will field one of their deeper clubs.

Ideally, the opening-night starting lineup would look like this: Jameer Nelson at point guard, Grant Hill at shooting guard, Hedo Turkoglu at small forward, Milicic at power forward and Howard at center.

Some interesting camp battles, however, will ensue:

Battie vs. Milicic. Can Darko build on his post-trade coming-out party and wrest the power-forward spot from Battie?

Grant Hill vs. all comers. The Magic want Hill to move from small forward and fill their shooting-guard vacancy. He's nearly 34 and recovering from another injury. Dooling, Keith Bogans and rookie J.J. Redick also want some action.

Trevor Ariza vs. his jump shot. The Magic made it a point to retain the defensive-minded Ariza. If his offense evolves, he can back up Turkoglu and provide much-needed depth at small forward.

Nelson vs. Carlos Arroyo. Nelson is the incumbent at point guard. But the way the fiery Arroyo played in the FIBA World Championship, he isn't likely to concede.

He's pretty tough.

Training camp

WHEN: Tuesday-Saturday.

WHERE: University of North Florida, Jacksonville.THE BUZZ: Practices are closed, but a free public scrimmage is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the UNF Arena. The first exhibition game is Oct. 10 in Charlotte, N.C.

11 Comments:

  • At 1:22 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Hard-nosed? If the team being hard nosed is gonna make him a better coach then i'm all for it,but hard nosed or not,this team lost because we had the worst point guard play in the league,notice how we were such a different team with jameer at the helm,4 games kept us out of playoff contention,so jameer running the show should make up those four and then some,we should be a little better on the road,and win a few more at home for a good 4-8 seeding in the east!! Also the magic add 2 to the roster,6ft5 guard,6ft7 forward,hey otis "we need a back-up center not more perimeter players"!

     
  • At 2:23 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    All the signs point to more minutes for Pat Garrity.

     
  • At 2:35 PM, Blogger Ken said…

    "Brian Hill" and "Hard-Nosed" should never be used in the same sentence. Matt, you sent shivers up my spine with that statement... Can't we just release Garrity and let him go about his life?

     
  • At 3:28 PM, Blogger Ken said…

    Why are my comments being deleted????

     
  • At 6:11 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Francis was the biggest problem last year.

    Seems to be that Otis is expecting big minutes out of Dwight and Darko, with the remainder going to Battie. Of course you can bring up foul trouble and such, but that's what Outlaw, Garrity, and Augustine are buried down there for.

    I'm not deleting your comments Ken, so you can scratch my name off of the list.

     
  • At 9:22 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    I do not think anybody can delete someone else's comments. The system sometimes does not take and hold the comments.

     
  • At 10:09 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Ken, after you type in your comments and the word verification, make sure it says "your comments have been saved" at the top. If it doesn't, your comments won't appear, and you have to type in the word verification again.

    The season opener against the Bulls is less than a month away!

     
  • At 10:58 PM, Blogger Ken said…

    Ok, thanks Mike....

     
  • At 3:04 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Actually, Hill is good enough at organizing a dicsiplined defense. The trad-off is with that comes a slower paced basketball. The question is whether or not that would be beneficial to the team citing the success in late last season that was the result of a free flow basketbal.

     
  • At 3:52 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    The Magic have really smart on the court decision makers. I think if the chance is there to run, they are going to run. One of Jameer or Arroyo will always be on the floor, and I don't picture them passing up the chance to run if it presents itself. Throw in Grant Hill, who is always running, and I think we'll be fine.

    As long as we're playing defense, we'll be fine.

     
  • At 3:31 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    We all agree that the Magic will fully realize their potential if they are allowed to run when the opportunity presents itself, if Darko is the starting PF over Battie, and yes, playing good defense also.

     

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