With New Coach Or Not, Magic Will Look Different...
Jameer Nelson will be flying up and down the floor, leading the fast and furious Magic.
With Dwight Howard on his left, Trevor Ariza on his right.
J.J. Redick will be stationed in the corner, salivating at taking another open 3-pointer.
Darko Milicic, at the top of the key, will be looking to shoot or deftly pass to Vince Carter or Gerald Wallace on a backdoor cut.
Off the bench come Keyon Dooling, Hedo Turkoglu, Grant Hill, Tony Battie and P.J. Brown.
Is this what the "new" Magic could look like next season (with some salary-cap magic, obviously)?
Who's on the sideline calling the plays?
Is it Brian Hill or somebody else?
Ah, our crystal ball is . . . fading. Maybe we'll find out by The Fourth of July.
If we believe that at least some of the issues the Magic are trying to resolve with Hill truly are court-related, then the Magic are going to go through changes.
Changes stylistically, changes strategically, changes philosophically.
Hello, ball movement and spacing.
Pick up the tempo and --- contrary to popular belief --- you can actually committ fewer turnovers than in the half-court, where things get stagnant.
The Magic want to turn Howard into Amare Stoudemire East.
They could use Steve Nash, sure, which is why, I'd guess, there's a lot of debate at RDV Sportsplex over Nelson between Hill and GM Otis Smith as the point guard.
And throw Darko into that discussion. Just what do the Magic have if they re-sign him and allow him to expand his natural game?
Ariza curiously was little, if any, factor in the playoffs. He's raw offensively with some turnover issues, pretty good defensively and offers non-stop hard-nosed hustle. Doesn't he just need to play through mistakes? Same goes for Redick, a gifted shooter who seldom had help needed to spring him open for shots.
Aren't the Magic trying to figure out what they ARE?
Isn't this what this "evaluation" of Hill is all about?
Or is it?
With Dwight Howard on his left, Trevor Ariza on his right.
J.J. Redick will be stationed in the corner, salivating at taking another open 3-pointer.
Darko Milicic, at the top of the key, will be looking to shoot or deftly pass to Vince Carter or Gerald Wallace on a backdoor cut.
Off the bench come Keyon Dooling, Hedo Turkoglu, Grant Hill, Tony Battie and P.J. Brown.
Is this what the "new" Magic could look like next season (with some salary-cap magic, obviously)?
Who's on the sideline calling the plays?
Is it Brian Hill or somebody else?
Ah, our crystal ball is . . . fading. Maybe we'll find out by The Fourth of July.
If we believe that at least some of the issues the Magic are trying to resolve with Hill truly are court-related, then the Magic are going to go through changes.
Changes stylistically, changes strategically, changes philosophically.
Hello, ball movement and spacing.
Pick up the tempo and --- contrary to popular belief --- you can actually committ fewer turnovers than in the half-court, where things get stagnant.
The Magic want to turn Howard into Amare Stoudemire East.
They could use Steve Nash, sure, which is why, I'd guess, there's a lot of debate at RDV Sportsplex over Nelson between Hill and GM Otis Smith as the point guard.
And throw Darko into that discussion. Just what do the Magic have if they re-sign him and allow him to expand his natural game?
Ariza curiously was little, if any, factor in the playoffs. He's raw offensively with some turnover issues, pretty good defensively and offers non-stop hard-nosed hustle. Doesn't he just need to play through mistakes? Same goes for Redick, a gifted shooter who seldom had help needed to spring him open for shots.
Aren't the Magic trying to figure out what they ARE?
Isn't this what this "evaluation" of Hill is all about?
Or is it?
posted by Big Figure @ 4:43 PM
12 Comments:
At 4:49 PM,
Big Figure said…
Vince Carter
New Jersey Nets
Position: G-F
Height: 6-6 Weight: 220
College : North Carolina
Player file | Team stats
2006-07 Statistics
PPG 25.2
RPG 6.0
APG 4.8
SPG 1.00
BPG .37
FG% .454
FT% .802
3P% .357
MPG 38.1
At 4:49 PM,
Big Figure said…
Rashard Lewis
Seattle SuperSonics
Position: F
Height: 6-10 Weight: 230
High School : Alief Elsik HS (TX)
Player file | Team stats
2006-07 Statistics
PPG 22.4
RPG 6.6
APG 2.4
SPG 1.13
BPG .65
FG% .461
FT% .841
3P% .390
MPG 39.1
At 4:50 PM,
Big Figure said…
Gerald Wallace
Charlotte Bobcats
Position: F
Height: 6-7 Weight: 215
College : Alabama
Player file | Team stats
2006-07 Statistics
PPG 18.1
RPG 7.2
APG 2.6
SPG 2.00
BPG .96
FG% .502
FT% .691
3P% .325
MPG 36.7
At 4:50 PM,
Big Figure said…
Jason Richardson
Golden State Warriors
Position: G-F
Height: 6-6 Weight: 225
College : Michigan State
Player file | Team stats
2006-07 Statistics
PPG 16.0
RPG 5.1
APG 3.4
SPG 1.06
BPG .63
FG% .417
FT% .657
3P% .365
MPG 32.8
At 5:13 PM,
Big Figure said…
Looking at the stats really helps when choosing what we need most,GWallace is the youngest at 25 with 5 years pro,Jrich is 26 with 5 years pro,RLewis is 28 with 8 years pro,and vince is 30 with 10 years pro. Obviously we all want rashard to sign with the team,but after some review of the eligible players,mixing a 28 year old (or older)going on his 9th (or 10th) season with a bunch of younster's might not be the smartest thing to do,add in the fact that his (rashard lewis)assist totals are very low makes it even more questionable given the fact that we were damn near last in team assists,i'm just throwing this out there but maybe we need to try and build from within and not with recycled all-stars,at least for this year,a new coach,changed roles for certain players and big man depth might just get us where we want to go as a team.Example: Billy Donovan (or any capable coach)as coach. JJ,Trevor and darko become starters. PJ brown (or any solid veteran big) added as depth to go with dwight darko and battie.
At 7:14 PM,
Ben Q. Rock said…
Gerald Wallace is the swingman most ideally suited to the Magic. Vince Carter was invisible in the playoffs, Rashard Lewis is a terrible defender, and Jason Richardson has knee issues.
At 11:15 PM,
tdawg said…
With Durant most likely going to Seattle, I believe Lewis is there for the taking.
At 2:52 AM,
OVERWADED said…
That's the point. We should have figured out a lot more about Redick, Ariza, Darko, Nelson, and the rest of our players last season. Brian Hill completely wasted a season away for many players on our roster that could be huge pieces of the team's future.
Now this is where some confusion comes into play. The Magic need a shooting guard; or do they? If B Hill actually played Redick last season (or Bogans), we might have a little better idea about what we actually already have.
Hill was too worried about risking any loses and in turn many of our player’s growth were stunted. It's not like we have a vet team, or a team that had any chance in the playoffs. Hill has no valid excuse for not developing his young, especially for the fact that is pretty much all he had to work with.
If he didn't want to coach young players, and let them play through mistakes, he should have never taken this job.
Anyway; where does that leave the team? We obviously need a 4th big man. This isn't that much of a worry.
The questions the team has are in our backcourt. Can Nelson run an office under a different coach? If not, do we look elsewhere, or give Arroyo, Dooling, or Diener a shot?
Then there is the 2 spot. Can Redick and Bogans fill this role? Lewis wouldn't be an option here; he is close to 6-10. Bringing in Lewis could pretty much mean Hedo or Ariza would be on the way out.
I personally think Wallace would compliment Hedo; in the same yet opposite way Ariza and Redick compliment one another. We might be able to land him at a reasonable price, at least in comparison to Carter and Lewis.
As for Carter, I think I've pretty much made up my mind that I do not want him here. He looked AWFUL in the playoffs. He doesn't deserve anywhere near what his asking price is.
And the last player mentioned was Richardson. I'd love to have a player like him. I think he'd fit in nicely, but not at the cost of losing Darko.
In the end, I can see adding a shooting guard; who I'm not sure. It seems like Wallace could be the best option. But at the same time, we might already have some players capable of stepping up and filling in these roles. It's a shame we don't already know, but we all know whose fault that is.
At 3:00 AM,
OVERWADED said…
Dawg, good point in regards to the Sonics. Odds are they will end up with Durant. He is similar to Lewis. I can't see them playing side by side unless they want to play some "small ball". They also have Ray Allen who is getting older, but still has some game left in him. I guess it's good for them since they have some pieces to work with, but they'll have a few changes on the horizon. Regardless who they're with, the Magic should talk to them.
The only reason I can't see the Magic dealing with them, or many teams, is because they'll all be wanting to add size (Darko).
At 1:49 PM,
tdawg said…
Its no secret in the Northwest that the Sonics want two things:
1. Leave Seattle
2. Draft Oden or dump salary
Orlando should at the very least inquire about Lewis or Allen.
At 3:46 PM,
Big Figure said…
Looking at the stats wallace and richardson are bad free-throw shooters,do we really need to add another one of those to our already horrible free-throw shooting team? I thought the idea was to improve the team? Not one of these players (except maybe lewis)is gonna help us get better. Say grant decides to retire,i can see JJ and rashard at the 2 and 3,with hedo-trevor-keith off the bench,looking at rashards numbers he does everything well except for not being a great passer,but those numbers could be a little flawed because seattle has always asked him to score. The fact that he didnt go to college is also making me re-think his current amount of years in the league being a problem,vince played 3 years in college plus 10 years in the league,if rashard had gone to college for even a couple of years he'd only be 5-6 year vet.I can see not bringing in someone and trying to see what we have,but looking at the numbers wallace-richardson and the age of carter turn me off to them,that i know.
At 4:39 PM,
OVERWADED said…
We need a defensive stopper in our starting rotation. We have one player with that potential right now with Ariza. If Ariza starts, we need a scorer next to him. Redick might be able to fill that spot.
On the flip side, Wallace is a solid defender. I could see him complimenting Hedo's game. Yet, his 3 point shooting might be a concern.
Ray Allen would be a good fit for our team. I know his name has been on trade talks for years, so who knows if he's an option.
But honestly, I think we need to give Redick and Ariza a shot together with Dwight and Darko. They could be a poor man's version of RIP and Prince (although Prince has better range than Ariza).
I wanted to see Redick, Ariza, Darko, and Dwight on the floor together all last season; but it RARELY happened. It's hard for me to say who I'd like to run the point. I'm almost thinking I'd like to see Arroyo given then chance. He's always had one of the best assist to turnover ratios in the league, until playing under Brian Hill. I think he could direct the offense really well. Even though he's not a great defender, he's not as small as Nelson. It might not work out, but they need to figure something out at the point guard position.
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