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I gathered writers, the best of the best in the blogosphere, to participate in a roundtable discussion and answer some of the most pertinent questions concerning the Orlando Magic as the 2011 NBA Playoffs are set to begin.

So, without further ado, here are the participants:

Zach Lowe, The Point Forward
Beckley Mason, HoopSpeak

Each individual provided a quick breakdown of the series between the Magic and the Atlanta Hawks, his opinion on the player that is the x-factor for Orlando in the postseason, and more.

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If the Orlando Magic make it past the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, is facing off against the Chicago Bulls (as opposed to the Miami Heat or Boston Celtics) the best chance for them to return to the Eastern Conference Finals for a third consecutive year?

Zach Lowe: No. I don’t see facing the Bulls as any more advantageous to Orlando than facing Boston or Miami. Conventional wisdom has it that the Magic have problems with Boston, but much of that conventional wisdom was based on the presence of Kendrick Perkins and overlooks how competitive games between the two have been. Bottom line: Boston, Miami and Chicago are all excellent teams, and the Magic will have a tough time beating any of them–just as each of those three will have to work to beat Orlando.

Beckley Mason: It’s a better match-up than Miami because LeBron just kills them, but I don’t think the Celtics, as they are playing now, would be worse than the Bulls. I think the idea that Boston could single-cover Dwight [Howard] with Shaq is fairly laughable, but at least he might draw Howard into some fouls. The Bulls on the other hand won’t isolate Noah, and so Howard would seem less susceptible to picking up cheapies against Chicago. In any event, to get past any of the top teams in the East, the Magic wings are going to have to shoot the lights out.

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One is fun, but twice is nice.

That’s the theme surrounding the series between the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks, as they face off in the playoffs for a second consecutive year.

Last season in the 2010 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Magic swept the Hawks by an average margin of victory of 25 points — the worst four-game sweep in league history. However, the tables turned as Atlanta was able to win the season series against Orlando, losing once in their four head-to-head meetings.

What changed? With head coach Larry Drew making the decision to start Jason Collins at center, that’s allowed the Hawks to defend Dwight Howard one-on-one while also defending the Magic’s shooters on the perimeter. Also, the trickle-down effect of starting Collins at center has allowed Atlanta to play Al Horford at the power forward position and Josh Smith at small forward, which has created mismatches in their favor, given that they’re being defended by the likes of Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson, and Hedo Turkoglu. Unfortunately for Orlando, Horford is too strong and skilled for either Bass or Anderson, while Smith is too athletic for Turkoglu. On the flipside, Horford is more than capable of defending Bass or Anderson on the perimeter, while Smith has the luxury of being a menace on the weak-side since he isn’t being dragged to the three-point line by Turkoglu as much as he was when Rashard Lewis was matched up against him.

Yes, things are different this time around and even though the Hawks’ efficiency differential is -1.4, which isn’t good, they have the personnel that will challenge the Magic much more than they did last year. It should be an interesting series to watch unfold.

A few days ago, I was able to ask Bret LaGree of Hoopinion a few questions to preview the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs between the Orlando Magic and the Atlanta Hawks.

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Given what occurred last season, how might the matchup between the Magic and Hawks be different this time around?

It’s really hard to lose four playoff games by 101 cumulative points. Only been done once! I don’t think either team is as good as they were last season which should make things more competitive even if the difference between the two teams is similar. This assumes it takes one really good team to create an historic margin of victory and, as teams are pulled together closer toward mediocrity they, by their very nature, become more evenly matched even as the quality of basketball declines.

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Heading into the season, the Los Angeles Lakers were widely seen as the favorites to win their third consecutive NBA championship. Even the Miami Heat, after making their free agent splash during the offseason, knew that the road to an NBA title went through the Lakers.

However, with more than half of the regular season gone by, Los Angeles is only tied for second in the Western Conference with the Dallas Mavericks and trail the San Antonio Spurs by seven games. Not only that but the Lakers are tied for fourth in the standings overall, so home-court advantage throughout the playoffs may not be a luxury that they’ll enjoy this year. That doesn’t mean that Los Angeles still isn’t seen as a threat to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy when it’s all said and done, but clearly their road is going to be a bit tougher than in previous seasons.

To preview today’s matchup between the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers, I asked Andy Kamenetzky of ESPN Los Angeles a few questions.

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In your opinion, who’s more important to the Los Angeles Lakers’ success? Is it Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol?

This isn’t a popular opinion among your average Laker fans, who often view Kobe as a cross between “basketball god” and “political prisoner,” but I’d say Gasol. To be clear, Kobe is still the best, deadliest and most talented player on this team and that’s not about to change anytime soon. But more often than not, Pau’s performances swing the Lakers in one direction or another.

At the top of his game, Gasol is a nightmare matchup in the high and low post, a facilitator (sometimes even more effective than Kobe), an outstanding offensive rebounder and an often underrated defender. At his most passive (an oddly recurring state this season), he settles for jumpers instead of making opponents defend him, gets pushed off his spots, bobbles the ball and rotates slowly. In the former mode, the Lakers can be brutally difficult to beat, even with Kobe off his game. In the latter mode, the Lakers become considerably more vulnerable, even with Kobe in a “Mamba” zone. Plus, when Pau dominates, Kobe can be less inclined to go into “takeover” mode, which sometimes creates as many negatives and positives.

The same correlation can be found between the Lakers and Lamar Odom, but I think Pau tips these scales slightly more.

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Later tonight, the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat will square off in a game that has a chance to be special. Or not. Right now, the Magic are a team struggling to right the ship.

Brandon Bass, the starting power forward for Orlando, is sidelined for the foreseeable future and the defense — predictably so — has fallen off a cliff quite a bit, even though head coach Stan Van Gundy and Dwight Howard oversee a unit that ranks fourth in defensive efficiency.

The Magic’s perimeter defense has been dreadful, at times, and when Howard is sitting on the bench, opponents have been more than happy to attack the basket because they know the big fella isn’t there to stop them. Ryan Anderson and, before his injury, Bass aren’t intimidating presences in the paint. This is an issue that needs to be resolved.

Not only that but after a hot start, Hedo Turkoglu has begun to slow down and he’s one of the reasons that Orlando has lost their way in recent weeks. During the Magic’s nine-game winning streak, Turkoglu was playing good-to-great basketball but recently, he’s been little better than average. If Jameer Nelson is seen as the heart of Orlando, then Turkoglu is the soul.

And right now, the Magic have been soulless lately.

The bright side is that Orlando still has time to fix their problems. A win against the Heat would be a good start, even if the Magic will have some troubles since they’ll be without the services of Bass.

To preview tonight’s proceedings, Surya Fernandez (writer at Hot Hot Hoops and contributor at NBA FanHouse) was kind enough to give his perspective on the latest happenings in Miami.

Fernandez provided his opinion where Udonis Haslem fits in with the Heat in crunch-time when he returns from injury, head coach Erik Spoelstra’s ability to get the most out of his players, and more.

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It’s a trick question, of sorts, but who’s more valuable to the Miami Heat — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, or Chris Bosh?

With the way the roster has been constructed, the Heat need steady contributions from all three to win. Yes, they’ve shown they can sometimes win when one or even two are out but if the Heat want to make a deep run in the playoffs all three must be healthy and at the top of their games, period. So it’s almost impossible to identify which of the three is the most valuable. Admittedly the Heat looked positively lost on offense when Bosh was recently out. Wade and LeBron can somewhat duplicate what each other can bring to the offense but their defensive contributions in tandem are also critical to team success. Wade is the sentimental favorite but if push comes to shove and I have to pick one of them, I’d go with LeBron by a hair because of his versatility.

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Photo by Fernando Medina

Two blockbuster trades.

Nine wins in a row.

For people that are wondering why there’s been a lot of attention surrounding the Orlando Magic lately, those are a few reasons. Every writer in the mainstream media and blogosphere has an opinion on the new-look Magic.

Like Beckley Mason, one of the rising stars in the NBA blogging universe.

Mason is the proprietor of HoopSpeak, a general basketball blog which joined the TrueHoop Network in October 2010 and is a must-read for hardcore fans. Mason and his colleague — Ethan Sherwood Strauss — aren’t afraid to touch on topics ranging from the ongoing saga involving Carmelo Anthony’s future with the Denver Nuggets, the confusing brilliance of Chris Paul, or even James Harden and his beard. As a result, it only seemed appropriate to tab Mason and gather his insight on one of the most popular storylines in the league. That other team in Florida.

Mason provides his opinion on how Orlando stacks up against the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference, the player (or players) that intrigue him the most on the Magic, and more.

For more wisdom from Mason, make sure to follow him on Twitter — @BeckleyMason

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It’s been 11 games since general manager Otis Smith pulled the trigger and made two blockbuster trades to shake up the roster for the Orlando Magic. In the meantime, the team has gone 9-2 — winning the last nine in a row. What are your thoughts on the moves?

When I read about these moves on Twitter, my initial reaction was “this makes the Magic incrementally better but this isn’t an earth shaking move.” I think that sentiment has been proven wrong.

Evaluating the trade today, I’d argue it’s gone a long ways toward solving the Magic’s greatest deficiencies over the first half of the season, which were that they didn’t push the ball enough for easy offense and didn’t have enough play makers on the court. [Jason] Richardson is, I think, the best transition shooting guard in the league. He’s great at shooting the spot up three and seems to beat his man down court a handful of times each game. He has this nuanced skill that I never noticed before he played in Phoenix, which is the ability to catch the ball over his shoulder/head like a wide receiver on a fly pattern then finish under control. He also loves oops, and Jameer [Nelson] throws a mean oop.

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AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

Here’s Part II of my interview (click here for Part I) with Kyle Weidie of Truth About It, who covers the Washington Wizards for the TrueHoop Network. In this segment, Kyle offers his own opinion on Gilbert Arenas.

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Will Gilbert Arenas’ knees hold up?

I think they’ll “hold up” … just how effective will they be in allowing him to do what he wants to do. Maybe Tim Grover isn’t the injury medicine man everyone lauds him to be, maybe it will just take more time with Arenas. Grover is pretty proven, so I’d side with the latter. But thinking of two of the more famous micro-fracture knee surgery comebacks — Jason Kidd and Amar’e Stoudemire — I feel that Kidd hasn’t really had to regain “lift” as it was never really part of his game and Amar’e is less dependent on it as a big man. No, Arenas was never a high flier, but that lift was very important not only to his jump shot, but also in his forays to the hoop where he’d use his quickness to blast past a defender, hang in the air, draw a foul and finish the shot.

Right now, I’d say give it some time and evaluate later, especially since Arenas appeared to gain weight during his “downtime” this past summer (earlier this season, I poked fun at Arenas “roundness,” if you will, likening him to Ledell Eackles). Of course, at one point before being traded Arenas expressed how he didn’t think he was overweight, even though he previously said something contrary to that. Who knows. But he was out for so long, I’m thinking it will take longer than the 27 games he’s played thus far this season for him to reach what’s now considered his top level, whatever that may be at this point (turning 29 on January 6 ain’t helping things).

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Photo by Fernando Medina

It’s fitting that Gilbert Arenas had his finest game in an Orlando Magic uniform last night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, putting up 22 points, 11 assists, five rebounds, and three steals. Why?

Because there’s two writers that cover the Washington Wizards and have been around Arenas long enough to provide insight to Magic fans on whether or not he is capable of providing the requisite firepower on offense that general manager Otis Smith is expecting from him after the trade.

It’s no secret that Arenas isn’t the player that he once was a few years ago when he made consecutive All-Star appearances and, looking back on it now, could have been inserted into MVP discussions considering his production and worth to the Wizards on the court.

That being said, what Arenas is Orlando getting?

Mike Prada of Bullets Forever and Kyle Weidie of Truth About It are here to answer that question and more. Part I will showcase Mike’s thoughts.

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Will Gilbert Arenas’ knees hold up?

I think they will, in the sense that they won’t force his career to end in the next four years. These things tend to take time in recovering. However, due to all the time missed and the lack of rhythm, I doubt he’ll ever be healthy enough to approach his production from 04-07.

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It’s been a tough time for fans of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Before the season began, if there was a team that was expected to battle the Los Angeles Lakers for supremacy in the Western Conference, it was the Blazers. The respective projection systems of John Hollinger and Kevin Pelton were bullish on Portland’s chances of winning the West. Why? The Blazers had a rash of injuries last year, yet were able to win 50 games. If Portland could avoid the injury bug, there was enough talent and depth for them to make a run at a championship.

In other words, the expectation was that the Blazers would experience a regression to the mean with injuries. Fast-forward to today and the outlook for Portland in the present and future is getting bleaker as time moves on.

What’s happened?

Aside from losing Greg Oden for the season as he undergoes microfracture surgery again, Brandon Roy — the Blazers’ franchise player — is suffering slow deterioration in his left knee that is not deemed fixable and as a result, no longer allows him to perform at an All-Star level. The kicker is that Portland was aware of Roy’s condition when they offered him a max contract in 2009, yet former general manager Kevin Pritchard acquiesced to public pressure and contract demands.

It should also be noted that Roy dealt with surgery on his right knee leading up to the 2010 NBA Playoffs. Needless to say, the Blazers are in a precarious position right now as a franchise.

To gain more insight on the beat in Portland, I enlisted the opinion of Ben Golliver of Blazersedge and gathered his take on a variety of topics — Roy’s injury and its significance to the Blazers, Oden’s future, and more.

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What does Brandon Roy’s fall from grace mean for the franchise?

I’m not sure we should call it a fall from grace, perhaps a fall from graceful drives to the hoop. It’s not yet clear what the long-term ramifications of Roy’s bad knees will be, but expectations are significantly lowered in the short term, and hopes for competing for a title in the mid-term are slowly slipping away. A lot depends on how effective Roy can become in his limited state, and how well he adjusts mentally to the physical changes. If he is a productive and efficient (but limited) player this time next year, it will make life significantly easier for new GM Rich Cho. If not, his five-year contract is a huge weight on the team’s salary cap.

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On October 29, the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat faced off in one of the most highly anticipated regular season games in NBA history. After a first half in which the Magic and Heat traded blows like a pair of heavyweights, things changed quickly at the onset of the third quarter. Miami tightened up their defense, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade caught fire from the perimeter, and — in the blink of an eye — an intense game between two rivals turned into a rout.

So much for a matchup living up to the hype. That was nearly a month ago.

My, how things have changed.

After a triumphant victory against the Magic, the Heat have looked mortal and are struggling with an 8-6 record. Injuries have taken their toll on Miami, sure, but this is a roster that looks lifeless and zombie-like. And with each loss, the shadow of president Pat Riley looms larger over head coach Erik Spoelstra. Cue Michael Corleone’s infamous quote from Godfather Part III.

So to preview the inner happenings of the Heat, I gathered the intelligent observations of Michael Wallace of the Heat Index. Formerly of the Miami Herald, Wallace has covered Miami for five seasons and knows what the deal is.

Wallace provides his opinion on Spoelstra’s future, the impact of the Heat losing Udonis Haslem for (possibly) the rest of the season, and more.

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On Twitter, you said that the Miami Heat’s loss to the Indiana Pacers on Monday was the worst loss you’ve seen in the five years you’ve covered the team. What was it about the game that made you feel that way?

When you weigh the talent level and expectations against the effort and performance the Heat played with against the Pacers, the disparity between those two sides was never greater in any of the games I’ve covered on this beat. That’s no knock against Indiana. But the Heat didn’t defend, didn’t play with passion, didn’t execute anything resembling offensive structure and really didn’t seem to take the loss as seriously, based on their postgame comments, as they probably should. Getting blown out at home by the Pacers simply isn’t acceptable for this team. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be.

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After nearly four months, the wait is over.

We know the story by now. LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined forces with Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat to create the SuperFriends. Afterwards, general manager Otis Smith and head coach Stan Van Gundy had a few words to say about the way James handled his decision (literally and figuratively), president Pat Riley fired back with comments of his own, Van Gundy offered a rebuttal, and here we are. The players for the Orlando Magic have been sick and tired with talking about the Heat, and tonight will be their chance to air out their frustrations.

To preview tonight’s matchup, I enlisted the wisdom of Kevin Arnovitz and Tom Haberstroh — both write for the Heat Index at the TrueHoop Network.

Arnovitz and Haberstroh provide their opinions on Mike Miller’s eventual role with Miami when he returns from injury, the matchup advantages for the Magic against the Heat, and more.

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It’s been two games, of course, but how have LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh looked together on the court?

Kevin Arnovitz: It’s far too early to assess meaningfully, but they’ve looked a little disjointed in the half court as a unit. They haven’t been on the floor enough yet to establish a rhythm to their sets or develop an intuitive sense of where the other two guys are going to be in less structured moments. Wade has been the least deliberate of the three — for better (W at PHL) and worse (L at BOS).

Tom Haberstroh: Like they have only played a handful of minutes together. The Heat seem to be experimenting with different sets to try to spark some chemistry and dust off the rust. But they’re not hitting on all cylinders yet and believe me, we’ll know when they are. There’s plenty of time to change this but LeBron has been far too conservative with the ball. He has barely attacked the basket in each of the opening quarters this season and that’s a large reason they’ve sputtered out of the gates so far. That will change as he gets more comfortable alongside Dwyane Wade.

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