Words of praise for our Orlando Magic Blog

As training camp begins for the Magic this week, I know we're all looking forward to a great season of basketball for the Magic.

Before everything starts, I just wanted to let everyone know our blog was recognized by Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don't Lie at Yahoo! Sports as the second best blog on the internet about the Orlando Magic!

Here is some of what was written about our blog: "... these guys offer quick and sharp analysis while not getting too desperate or heavy-handed with the subject matter... "

We finished just ahead of Brian Schmitz's BasketBlog, which is quite an accomplishment. The only Magic Blog that is rated ahead of us is the very well-deserving and very professional thirdquartercollapse.com from Ben Q Rock. If you're a Magic fan, thirdquartercollapse.com is a must-read. Congrats to Ben!

I want to give a very big thank you to the main contributors on this blog, in no particular order: OVERWADED, Matt, Big Figure, and also to WeRDevos, who originally got this blog started back in January of '06. To all the other readers who read the blog and occasionally post a comment, thanks to you, too... keep the comments coming.

I'm really looking forward to this season for the Magic and blogging here about everything Magic-related. GO MAGIC!!

Might Hedo Turkoglu be traded this season?

From Brian Schmitz's Basketblog at orlandosentinel.com on Tuesday evening:

Six days before the opening of the Magic's training camp, small forward Hedo Turkoglu, the league's most improved player last season, talked about heading into perhaps his last season with the team.

Turk indicated he will opt out of his contract --- which runs through 2009-10 --- after this season. He'll explore free agency if the Magic don't re-sign him.

"It's hard to tell if I'm staying or leaving," he told me Tuesday.

More from Schmitz:

The Magic will take 16 players into training camp next week, adding small forward Jeremy Richardson and power forward-center Dwayne Jones to the roster.

Jones, 6 feet 11, 250 pounds, finished last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, participating in five playoff games as a backup.

Jones, 25, has played 74 NBA games over three seasons.

Richardson, 6 feet 7, has played 33 NBA games since 2006, finishing last season with the Atlanta Hawks. He has played for the Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs.

The 25-year-old out of Delta State is a scorer, averaging 25.3 points in 12 games last season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Developmental League.

Richardson and Jones join point guard Mike Wilks, point guard Anthony Johnson and shooting guard Mikael Pietrus as the Magic's new players.

Magic sign third string point guard

From Brian Schmitz in the Sept. 11th edition of the Orlando Sentinel:

The Orlando Magic added depth to their point-guard position, signing veteran Mike Wilks to a one-year, $1.04 million contract, the Sentinel has learned.

Wilks, 5 feet 10 and 180 pounds, is expected to be the third point guard behind starter Jameer Nelson and Anthony Johnson.

Wilks was a free agent after playing 19 games last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder (nee Seattle Supersonics), Washington Wizards and Denver Nuggets.

The 29-year-old Wilks has played with eight teams in his career.

Wilks and Johnson will replace Keyon Dooling and Carlos Arroyo, who played behind Nelson last season.

All Hail Pat Garrity, Long Live Pat Garrity!

Orlando Sentinel - Pat Garrity Announces Retirement by

The Magic's human anchor has retired, leaving the job of mediocre big man dragging the team down from off the bench to Tony Battie and his remaining two years and $12 million in salary. Only Grant Hill has contributed less to the Magic in recent years, and like Hill leaving last year, this bodes well for the Magic in the upcoming season.

Currently it looks like the Magic will replace Garrity ($4 million, 2.1 points, 1.4 rebounds in 31 games) with an empty chair ($19 from Office Depot, 0 points, 0 rebounds). The article does not say who will now join JJ Redick on the nightly non-roster list.

The Magic currently have 13 players under contract following the loss of Mo Evans, Keyon Dooling, Carlos Arroyo, James Augustine and now Pat Garrity. Only Evans and Dooling were good enough to stay in the NBA.

I'd wish Pat well, but doubt he needs it after pulling down $20 million the past five years.

Is the season ever going to get here?

58 days until opening night for the Magic

... other than that little tidbit, not much news of significance lately for the Magic, other than Dwight Howard being a part of the Gold Medal-winning Team USA at the summer Olympics.

About the only significant thing to look forward to this month for Magic fans will be the unveiling of the revamped look and design of the new Magic uniforms on September 23rd, team officials confirmed last week, according to Florida Today. If early clues are any indication, the new uniforms will somewhat resemble the look from the past.

thirdquartercollapse.com had a post in August regarding the Magic's new uniforms and pictures of what they might look like.

I'll reserve judgement about the looks of the new uniforms until I actually see what they look like on the players.