Friday’s Magic Word
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic com: “After talking to Rashard [Lewis] lately, I can tell you that he worked out with legendary big man Hakeem Olajuwon this summer to come up with some more moves in the low post. Hakeem talked to Lewis about using his body more to attack small forwards when switched to him in the low post. Using Lewis at power forward the past three years was a stroke of genius by head coach Stan Van Gundy because it gave the Magic a tremendous 3-point threat and pulled other bigs away from the rim to give Howard more room to operate inside. But Lewis has been told this summer to be ready to play more at the small forward position.”
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “One of the top players from the Orlando Magic’s 2010 summer league team has signed on with an NBA club. Forward Patrick Ewing Jr. has signed a free-agent deal with the New York Knicks, the Knicks announced today. Howard Beck of The New York Times is reporting that Ewing received a partial guarantee and likely will compete for a roster spot. Ewing Jr., of course, is the son of Magic assistant coach and former Knicks legend Patrick Ewing.”
- Will Brinson of CBSSports.com catches up with Dwight Howard.
- Keep an eye out for Fran Vazquez in the 2010 FIBA World Championships: “Fran Vazquez returns to the Senior National Team to hopefully replace some of the interior defense lost in Pau’s absence. Vazquez uses his combo of length and athleticism to change shots, board and finish strong on rolls/cuts. My partner would like to see some twin tower alignments of Marc & Fran, and I second that notion.”
- Make sure to stay up-to-date with the Magic universe on Twitter.
- Chris Broussard of ESPN Insider: “Vince Carter‘s wishy-washy play will only get more disappointing and inconsistent after a summer’s worth of aging; Rashard Lewis’ pattern of declining productivity in each of his three seasons in Orlando should continue; and summer spies say Dwight Howard hasn’t been diligent about adding post moves to his sub-par offensive arsenal, so there’s not much reason to believe the Magic will improve this season.”
- Summer spies? For what it’s worth, Broussard is the same individual that reported that Baron Davis’ weight has ballooned to 260 pounds in the summer, which turned out to be false.
- Who are some of the richest players in the NBA?
- Do defenses really win championships? Is that axiom true? Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference investigates: “These findings still bear out the axiom of defense winning championships, but the split between offense & defense is much smaller than it had been when we included pre-merger seasons. Going back to our earlier example, to have the same p(C) as a team with an average offense and a -5.0 defense, an average defensive team would have to score only 5.8 more pts/100 poss than average if we use this equation. However, the continued prominence of defense even when we drop the heavily D-oriented Celtics dynasty from the sample does suggest that, all things being equal, teams should prioritize excellence at that end of the court if they want to win a championship.”
- Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie: “Dwight Howard pays attention to defense. He runs with a smile on his face and won’t remind you of Elvin Hayes in the low post, but he is a dominant force, an MVP candidate and the best player at his position. He also doesn’t turn 25 years until December. Which just doesn’t seem fair, if we’re honest.”
- Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook takes a look at how Orlando beats double-teams on offense.
