• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Orlando Magic have suspended power forward Glen Davis for tonight’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Saturday’s game against the Indiana Pacers because of what team officials are labeling ‘conduct detrimental to the team.’ Davis had an outburst during the team’s shootaround this morning at Amway Center as the team went through some of the Cavaliers’ plays on the team’s practice court. Davis and coach Stan Van Gundy ultimately got into an argument. Van Gundy would not discuss many of the details of what happened, but Van Gundy and a witness said the disagreement never turned physical. [...] That said, Davis has developed a reputation within the Magic organization as an intensely emotional player. In December, the Magic and Davis agreed to a four-year deal worth about $26 million, and the Magic acquired Davis and swingman Von Wafer in a sign-and-trade deal with the Boston Celtics for power forward Brandon Bass. Davis’ play so far this season has been up and down. At times, he has provided the bone-crunching screens, the hustle plays and the rebounding the team coveted when it acquired him. But at other times, Davis has migrated too far from the basket and attempted jumpers that are out of his range.”
• Ish Smith is looking forward to playing in his first game with the Orlando Magic.
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Magic still believe Howard leaves the door open to staying at times, and felt good about the possibility…. until the team lost six of eight games in a recent stretch. The Magic are still banking on the fact that Howard’s ability to make $30 million more in Orlando (bigger raises for a player who re-signs with his own team) plays a major role in his decision.”
• Head coach Stan Van Gundy is complimentary of Kyrie Irving.
• Jason Richardson will play against the Cleveland Cavaliers after sitting out the last two games.
• Should the Magic call Dwight Howard’s bluff of leaving money on the table? Jerry West, a consultant for the Golden State Warriors, thinks so.
• More on Glen Davis’ two-game suspension.
• Jared Dubin of Hardwood Paroxysm: “While the Magic attempt to stave off a Dwight-induced self-destruction, Cleveland is looking to prove that they belong in the playoff conversation in the East. Kyrie Irving is having one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history, Anderson Varejao is off to the best start of his career and the Cavs are winning much more than anyone had any right to expect.”
• Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie on Howard’s appearance in the All-Star Game: “By all accounts, he’ll still be with the Magic by the time the All-Star game tips off on Feb. 26. And Magic fans, mindful of the nationally televised audience and their own team’s dodgy future, will no doubt give Howard the biggest standing ovation he’s ever heard as he’s introduced. That’s how fans work. They’ll save the boos and hisses for when Howard eventually leaves the team this summer. And he will leave this team. Which will make the ovation — as a recruiting tool — a needless exercise. Sad.”
• More from Dwyer: “We were in favor of Smith trying to get something, anything, for Howard last fall. But after needlessly re-signing Jason Richardson and Glen Davis to two too-big deals, the Magic have to drag Howard along as long as they can and either hope for that slim chance that he’ll return, or take whatever cap freedom they’ll get with a clean break. This team could get a “clean break” by offering Howard up later this month for all expiring deals, but why waste the income and run of a potential play into May just for what you’re about to get for Howard anyway plus some potential draft picks in the low first round?”
• Davis has been strange this season for the Magic.

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

I’m sure you guys care an awful lot, but after weeks of deliberation I have decided that I am in fact going to watch the Super Bowl. It’s not merely that two of my four least favorite teams are playing, it’s just that over the past year, I’ve lost most of my love for any football game in which the Packers don’t play.

The NFL has become such a bloated procession of hypocrites and idiots that I sort of feel forced to stop watching. If you’re going to just troll the bejeezus out of me with continuing excessive idiocy, at some point, I have to stop proving you right about how much viewers will tolerate garbage being stuffed down their throat, you know?

I’ve always hated the announcers, but John Gruden constant referring to every player with a preceding “this” (“This Jason Pierre-Paul is really special” or “If you’re coaching Joe Flacco, you have to tell him to explain that facial hair”) has taken my rage to new levels.

The video replays are maddening; there is no more intellectually stultifying way to spend three minutes than staring at a referee’s butt while former professional idiots on the other side of the split screen spend four minutes going over a touchdown catch like a crime scene.

I hate how the football media so relentlessly drums up faux masculine outrage — I know we’re all “warriors” or whatever, but not even a literal bantam rooster would be so insecure as to care what fat Rex Ryan said about them for the 374th straight week.

Finally, the league’s hypocrisy over player health has become too much for me. They care so much about player safety that they want to add regular season games! And it’s not that football is systemically violent as a product, it’s just that a few angry dudes break rules at a faster rate than we can fine them! I will stick to basketball, thank you very much, where we are blessedly free of racially driven policy controversies and commissioner fans accuse of rigging the outcome of league events.

So basically, I’m watching because the people in my life already think I’m enough of a tendentious prick. I heard on the radio today that not only will Kelly Clarkson be singing the national anthem, but that something called a Blake Shelton will be singing “America the Beautiful” and I thought to myself “Thank God I won’t be watching.” And then the face of everybody I’ve known since high school appeared in my vision and said “Dude, it’s the Super Bowl. You really are always like this, aren’t you?”

So I will watch and hope that everybody on the field but Hakeem Nicks is killed in a fan riot over a forty minute replay review.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Thunder 95, Mavericks 86
I enjoy the meme of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant not being able to coexist. I’m not the first person to point this out, but since getting his extension, Westbrook has once again established himself as the second-most explosive penetrating point guard, giving the Thunder a demon-charged wrecking ball, the most graceful and consistent perimeter scorer in the league, and a shooting guard who plays basketball like MF Doom, with a better command of internal rhyme and rhythm than any other player. But, hey, YOU GOTTA HAVE AN ALPHA DOG, right? There’s no way one of the five most efficient offenses in the league can keep working when everybody likes each other and they’re all super young, right?

Clippers 112, Thunder 100
I love this part of the season, because it’s when good teams start to play like good teams. Watching Chris Paul with good teammates is like watching those torture interrogators in spy movies; he just keeps pulling new and horrifying tricks out of his bag and being all “So you still won’t talk, eh? How about this pocket pass to Blake Griffin? No? What about this corner jumper from Caron Butler?” Eventually, all but the best defenses in the league leave the interrogation room missing their finger nails with their eyes swollen shut, having divulged the state secrets of pick-and-roll defense.

Heat 97, Bulls 93
Too many games between actual good teams this week to show love to hilarious crap ones. I have a confession: I have become an actual, honest-to-God Derrick Rose hater. Don’t get me wrong. I love watching him play. He’s phenomenal. But I’ve been so turned off by his army of internet fanboys that I LOVE watching him screw up occasionally. Even when you praise Rose, three hundred people are going to get in the comments section and all-caps you about your masculinity. It’s particularly charming when it happens in the same game as LeBron missing some free throws. It’s ALMOST as if fourth quarter play has nothing to do with your testosterone level, but can be the product of variance at a bad time. Nah. Derrick Rose has way bigger stones than LeBron. He’s way more of A WINNER ALPHA DOG.

INTERMISSION

Bonus YouTube video of Rose highlights whose comments devolve into hilarious irrelevant macho nonsense!

MAILBAG

For our first response, I have to air a grievance.

Since I started putting our email address (mbnhoops[at]gmail[dot]com) on Twitter, we have become inundated with spam from GreenHitz rap company. I will never, ever listen to Top Dolla, Waho by the Hoti or Blazaham Lincoln, GreenHitz. I promise I won’t ever do it. It is so soul crushing to see a full inbox and be all “Readers!” and then be all “I HATE YOU, YUNG SLAPPY.”

GreenHitz spambot, when I am in control of the interbotz, you are first against the wall.

Reader Robert sent us in the Orlando Magic drinking game he and his housemates use. I’m sharing it in a public document here.

Now, the idea is a beautiful thing. I’m not wild about all of the rules here, but look at the document, readers, and email us your suggestions. At some time in the future, we here at MBN will follow these rules and post the results online somewhere in some fashion — a sort of live-drinking thing that might involve Twitter or something like that. We want your feedback.

Reader and email essayist Brian:

“Why do the Magic keep forcing the ball to Dwight Howard in the post? During this latest deluge of losses, the 4-out-1-in set has been downright unwatchable. I would say a dozen plays per game (complete guess) end with Howard taking a rushed shot or getting stripped and then throwing his arms up in the air and yelling “c’mon man!” to the referee. Often, this is because the Magic toss/dribble the ball around the perimeter without any sense of purpose for the first 15 seconds of the shot clock.

Is this an unintended consequence of Howard calling out his teammates for caring about their own point totals too much — now they force the ball to him to avoid conflict even if it crushes the flow of the offense? It’s like when you make drinks for some friends to encourage conversation and someone tells you to make the next one stronger, so you over-correct and 30 minutes later they end up cornering you to talk about their supercool new job at a mineral rights law firm and their love/hate relationship with McDonald’s breakfast and how Rick Perry I mean Katy Perry is everything that’s wrong with pop music. Yeah, that’s exactly what it’s like for the Magic right now. Exactly.”

Brian, I think that you have correctly identified a problem but misidentified the cause. Forcing the ball into Dwight is really the only answer to this offense; you need to be drawing doubles to kick the ball out to shooters, and for the most part, Dwight has responded (although you’re correct that it hasn’t looked as good as it does when he’s fully engaged).

I think the bigger problem is, as you hint, perimeter indecisiveness. Bad shots happen because the offense is not acting quickly or with confidence; it gives time for defenses to recover, and Hedo is happy to shoot a fadeaway in the left corner off the dribble. Bad times all around, but it’s still (mostly) not Dwight’s fault. Posting him remains one of the best offensive propositions in the league.

Reader and commenter Carlo Simone:

I apologize that this week I’m going to get preachy and philosophical. This past Saturday, we lost my father-in-law to cancer. This tragic event coincided with the Orlando Magic’s descent into despair and I learned a valuable lesson. Sports have the tendency to mirror life but they are not the totality of life. While my favorite team seems to be evaporating before my eyes it doesn’t come close to the loss of a human that touched so many. Thus it seems that we should keep that perspective when thinking about what the next steps for the team should be. Remember that losing a player isn’t the end of a franchise. We can, and have before risen from the ashes. So in this dark time, keep faith Orlando Magic fans. We will reign again in the NBA. And if we don’t, we have each other and a love of basketball to see us through.

Carlo, we’re honored you’re connected enough to MBN to share this thoughtful observation. Our thoughts are with you and your family. I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that the next time I’m moved to punt my cat across the room because of the Magic, I will think of you being a much stronger and rational person, and I will be pleased to have you in our community. Again, I wish you and your family the best in these times.

OUTRO

That’s it for this week, y’all. Thanks again for the emails — we love connecting with our community. Please, drop us suggestions for the drinking games, questions about the Magic or ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD at mbnhoops[at]gmail[dot]com. Peace!

Danny Nowell is a contributing writer for Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Smith, 23, signed with the Magic on Thursday as a free agent and is expected to provide immediate help at point guard. Coach Stan Van Gundy said Smith will “definitely” play Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Smith is by no means ready, but Van Gundy has little choice. Starting point guard Jameer Nelson will miss the game against the Cavs because of concussion symptoms. Nelson is not expected to play until Monday at the earliest. The Magic released veteran combo guard Larry Hughes after Wednesday night’s win against the Washington Wizards to make room for Smith, a true guard. Van Gundy hopes Smith, 6-foot, 175 pounds, can help the Magic advance the ball up the floor. Teams have been pressuring the ball lately, forcing turnovers and causing the Magic to get into their offense late.”
• More from Robbins: “As tipoff approached Wednesday night, Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he had no doubt his players would begin their game against the Washington Wizards with plenty of energy. Something concerned him, though. He worried what would happen if the Wizards went on a run. Would the Magic’s fragile confidence shatter? Would everything snowball out of control, just as it had several times within the last week? Would the Magic lose a fifth consecutive game for the first time in Van Gundy’s tenure? The Magic wound up passing the test. But not without a struggle. Fueled by their 3-point shooting, Orlando overcame a turnover-filled first half to beat Washington 109-103 at Amway Center.”
• Jameer Nelson is recovering well from a concussion.
• Head coach Stan Van Gundy is trying to persevere as the Orlando Magic try to snap out of their losing ways. To say it’s been a struggle for Van Gundy is putting it kindly.
• Ish Smith is eager to make an impact with the Magic.
• Tom Ziller of SB Nation states that Dwight Howard is a volatile scorer: “Howard, surprisingly, is right behind ‘Melo. Seeing a big man so high on the list fights conventional wisdom, which is that since big men tend to have higher shooting percentages, their production is more reliable. While Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge all seem to bolster that hypothesis with relatively low volatility marks, Howard — a regular near the top of field goal percentage rankings — is a blinking signal of doubt. One possible explanation: Dwight earns so many free throw attempts and shoots them so poorly that if he has a bad day at the stripe, he’s likely to have a bad day in the scoring column. (That the season has been short and that he had a monster scoring game against Golden State could affect things too, though the game didn’t throw his average too far away from expectations.)”
• Orlando is a roster filled with volatile scorers.
• Noam Schiller of Hardwood Paroxysm blames the Magic’s slow descent into irrelevance due to the decline of aging veterans like Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson: “If you add these two and a half improving youngsters to what used to be a solid array of role players and semi-stars, this should be a far better Magic team than last season. Maybe not Chicago or Miami level, but as close as it gets out East. Of course, that’s contingent on the non-youngsters as well. And that’s where, umm, sad.”
• Recapping Orlando’s win last night.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk: “After four straight losses Magic will take the win, even if they let the team with the worst offense in the NBA put up 103 on them. The Magic’s defense was bad (except on John Wall who hit just 1-of-12 shots but did have 10 assists). Their offense was good enough to counter it — Dwight Howard and Ryan Anderson each had 23, J.J. Redick had 21.”

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

AP Photo/John Raoux

BOX SCORE

The Orlando Magic were able to defeat the Washington Wizards by the score of 109-103, snapping a four-game losing streak. The Magic have been losing a lot lately, dropping six of their last eight games, so a win — even if it was against one of the worst teams in the NBA — was a welcome sight for them. Orlando was led by a balanced attack, as four players scored in double-figures. Dwight Howard led the way for the Magic, finishing with 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field (including 11-of-16 from the free-throw line), 18 rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Ryan Anderson finished with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field (including 6-of-9 from three-point range) and seven rebounds. J.J. Redick chipped in with 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field (including 3-of-4 from three-point range and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line). Hedo Turkoglu had 16 points, five assists, and four rebounds. Nick Young led the way for the Wizards with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field in roughly 21 minutes of playing time. Rashard Lewis had 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field (including 3-of-4 from three-point range), eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals, playing one of his better games since leaving Orlando. Three other players for Washington scored in double-figures.

Aside from the second quarter, the Magic had a lead against the Wizards for most of the night. In that second quarter, Washington briefly took the lead against Orlando thanks in large part due to a furious scoring run that was triggered by their second unit. From the 1:00 mark in the first quarter to the 7:01 mark in the second quarter, the Wizards went on a 22-5 run.

With a 5-man unit of Shelvin Mack, Jordan Crawford, Chris Singleton, Trevor Booker, and Kevin Seraphin, they completely outplayed the Magic’s second unit for a brief stretch in the game. While Orlando was chucking up shots from the perimeter, Washington was aggressive in attacking the rim while sprinkling in some jumpshots here and there. The Wizards’ energy was utterly insane at times, as they were pressing on defense, outhustling the Magic, and getting a number of offensive rebounds. Washington was making all the effort plays and Orlando was not. That allowed the Wizards to take control of the game in the second quarter. However, as the period went on, the Magic were able to restore law and order on the court, going on a 15-2 run sparked mostly from three-point shooting. From then on, aside from a brief malaise in the third quarter, Orlando was in the driver’s seat the rest of the way.

It should be mentioned, however, that another of the main reasons that the Magic were able to go on a 15-2 run in the second quarter was because they switched to a zone defensively. Yes, after Washington made their big push, Orlando was forced to use a zone to slow them down. The strategy worked, as the Wizards didn’t attack the zone properly and settled for jumpshots. But for head coach Stan Van Gundy to call for a zone against Washington is a little embarrassing.

In any case, the Magic were able to shut the door on the game in the fourth quarter because Turkoglu went into “Mr. Fourth Quarter” mode, scoring nine points in the period.

After Chris Duhon got hit in the eye inadvertently by John Wall dribbling the ball up the court, Van Gundy was forced to hand over all the point guard responsibilities to Turkoglu for the remainder of the game.

Which also meant Van Gundy used a rarely-used crunch-time lineup of Redick, Von Wafer, Turkoglu, Anderson, and Howard. The lineup worked, as Orlando ran a number of 3/5 pick-and-rolls with Turkoglu and Howard in crunch-time, with Redick, Wafer, and Anderson spreading the floor, to seal the win.

Nevertheless, even though the Magic won the game, it’s a little alarming that it took good-to-great performances from Howard, Anderson, Redick, and Turkoglu to get the job done while simultaneously benefitting from Wall shooting 1-of-12 from the field. Granted, part of the reason is because nearly every player, aside from Wall, for the Wizards played abnormally well. But it doesn’t change the fact that Orlando had to rely primarily on four guys. It doesn’t even matter that Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson are out with injuries because, to be frank, this has been how the Magic have been winning all season.

A lot of Howard, Anderson, Redick, and Turkoglu with little else.

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

AP Photo/John Raoux

Orlando Magic

109

Final Recap | Box Score

103

Washington Wizards

	Dwight Howard 6-10 FG | 11-16 FT | 4 STL | 18 REB | 23 PTS | +16 It says a lot about Howard’s greatness as a player that he put up 23 points, 18 rebounds, three assists, and four steals, and it never felt like he made a big impact in the game. A good free-throw shooting performance was a sight for sore eyes, but he should have done more offensively. Ditto on defense. Howard’s effort defensively left a lot to be desired.
	Ryan Anderson 7-12 FG | 6-9 3P | 1 AST | 7 REB | 23 PTS | +14 During the broadcast on Sun Sports, there was a poll that asked who was the best power forward in Magic franchise history? The choices were Terry Catledge, Horace Grant, Rashard Lewis, and Anderson. Grant was the fan’s choice but if Anderson plays long enough in a uniform for Orlando, he has a chance to be the best. Anderson is that good of a player.
	J.J. Redick 5-7 FG | 8-8 FT | 2 AST | 2 REB | 21 PTS | +15 This is about as good as Redick can play on offense. If you’ve ever been curious what is Redick’s peak as a player offensively, even though it was against the Washington Wizards, this game is a perfect example. His jumpshooting was on point (3-of-4 from three-point range) and he got to the free-throw line (8-of-8 from the free-throw line). His defense could have been a lot better though.
	Hedo Turkoglu 5-16 FG | 2-6 3P | 5 AST | 4 REB | 16 PTS | +5 For three quarters, Turkoglu was chucking up bad shots and playing porous defense. But in the fourth quarter, Turkoglu got his act together and ran 3/5 pick-and-rolls with Howard to perfection as the Magic were trying to put the game out of reach against the Wizards. When Turkoglu is engaged, as he was in the final period (scoring nine points), he can be quite good.
	Washington Wizards Despite being ranked 30th in Offensive Rating (dead last in the NBA), Washington had little trouble scoring against Orlando. That says a lot about the Magic’s energy and effort defensively — or lack thereof. In any case, the Wizards’ unsung heroes was the second unit consisting of Shelvin Mack, Jordan Crawford, Chris Singleton, Trevor Booker, and Kevin Seraphin. They played extremely well together.

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Jason Richardson and Jameer Nelson will not play for the Orlando Magic tonight against the Washington Wizards. That’s the word from coach Stan Van Gundy, who spoke to the press moments ago following the Magic’s shootaround. Richardson will sit out his second straight game. Richardson originally suffered what team officials are calling a bone bruise on Jan. 12, missed several games and then returned to the lineup on Jan. 20. But Richardson continues to experience some weakness in the knee, and it’s difficult for him to get the knee loose after he goes to the bench in a game and after halftime. Magic officials don’t want his injury to linger. Nelson suffered two hits to his head on Orlando’s loss Friday night in New Orleans, and he has suffered from concussion-like symptoms since then. His return will be subject to the NBA’s new concussion policy, which was adopted in December and is being overseen by neurologist Jeffrey Kutcher. Van Gundy said Nelson’s symptoms have started to subside and that Nelson appears to be on track to play Monday.
• Head coach Stan Van Gundy is curious to see how the Orlando Magic respond to adversity.
• Chris Broussard of ESPN Insider: “If left up to Howard’s camp, the Magic would have been informed about Howard’s clear desire to leave before the new year. His representatives want him to force his way out of Orlando now. But Howard has kept them at bay. He’s refused to rescind his trade request, but he’s also refused to upgrade it to a trade demand. The Magic view that as hope they can keep him. But it’s more likely Howard doesn’t want to hurt the city’s feelings and turn all of Orlando against him. And as long as Howard leaves even an inkling of doubt about his intentions, he’ll remain on the team.”
• The Magic have slumped offensively as of late. Why?
• Three trade ideas involving Howard and the Chicago Bulls.
• Nate Drexler makes an appearance on TrueHoop TV to talk about Orlando.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk: “There is a Howard trade rumor void because the Magic are not looking to move him right now, they are trying to convince him to stay. Which seemed a lot easier a couple of weeks ago when the Magic were playing well. But Orlando has lost four in a row and is playing without energy or execution. Normally this is where a team leader like Howard steps up and holds teammates accountable, but is anyone going to listen to a guy with one foot out the door?”
• After an 11-4 start to the regular season, the Magic are now pretenders.
• What should Orlando do with Howard?
• Mark Heisler of SheridanHoops.com: “At 12-5, press says Dwight should finish season there. At 0-4 since, with Dwight ripping teammates for not handling his situation better, will press say Magic should: a) Trade him now, b) Waive him, or c) Suspend him for season?”

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

On Monday in the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers, head coach Stan Van Gundy was forced to use a second unit that consisted of Larry Hughes, Von Wafer, Quentin Richardson, Earl Clark, and Glen Davis. Van Gundy briefly utilized that 5-man unit in the fourth quarter as well.

If it hasn’t become clear by now why Dwight Howard wants out or why the Magic aren’t very good at the moment, witnessing Hughes, Wafer, Richardson, Clark, and Davis play on the court at the same time should put things into focus. Orlando is bad because there’s a lot of bad players on the roster right now.

The funny thing is that it wasn’t too long ago when the Magic were one of the deepest teams in the NBA, if not the deepest.

During the 2009-2010 season, Orlando trotted out — by all accounts when looking at the numbers — the best team in franchise history. Literally from top to bottom, the Magic had quality players at each position. The point guards were Jameer Nelson, Jason Williams, and Anthony Johnson. The wing players were Vince Carter, Matt Barnes, J.J. Redick, and Mickael Pietrus. The bigs were Rashard Lewis, Ryan Anderson, Brandon Bass, Dwight Howard, and Marcin Gortat. For Van Gundy, this was Noah’s Ark on steroids — he didn’t have everything in twos, but in threes and fours.

And give general manager Otis Smith credit at the time. With a savvy trade and ownership’s blessing to spend, Orlando was setup nicely that year until they ran into the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Unfortunately for Smith, what he built he also destroyed (with some help from guity parties like the Celtics).

Out went Williams, Johnson, Carter, Barnes, Pietrus, Lewis, Bass, and Gortat. In came Chris Duhon, Hughes, Jason Richardson, Wafer, Hedo Turkoglu, Quentin Richardson, Clark, and Davis. And let’s not forget the Gilbert Arenas experiment either.

In case you’re keeping score, this has what the Magic have become.

Let’s get this out of the way. PER is not an end-all, be-all stat. Like any other linear metric, it has its flaws. That’s why when evaluating a player, it’s best to marry scouting (the eyes) and statistics (the numbers) together. That being said, it’s the advanced statistic that’s probably the most publicly visible. In this case, PER will be used to offer a snapshot look at the transformation of Orlando from an elite team and championship contender to an also-ran.

Warning: it’s not a pretty picture.

In 2010, every player for the Magic was rotation-quality. For example, when Nelson tore his meniscus in his left knee, Williams filled in as the starter, Johnson stepped in as the back-up point guard and Orlando didn’t miss a beat. That type of depth is a luxury any head coach would like to have in the league during the regular season (depth doesn’t matter as much in the playoffs). For Van Gundy, he had a harder time finding minutes for Bass and Anderson as the 10th man in the Magic’s rotation. It was an embarrassment of riches.

Not so much in 2012.

For those that have played more than 100 minutes in the regular season so far, Orlando has six players with PERs under 10 (the league average is 13.8 this season; for those that are curious, the league average was 12.7 in 2010). Six. And in Hughes’ case, he has a PER in the negatives. Oh but there’s more. Granted, he’s played in roughly 300 less minutes this season but Wafer has a higher PER than Jason Richardson. The same Wafer that was a throw-in to the Davis-Bass trade. It’s true that Richardson is nursing a sore knee but still.

Again, PER isn’t perfect. There are other linear metrics out there, like WARP, that are also valuable evaluators of a player’s worth and should be used in conjunction with PER. But let’s liken PER to the first layer of many that reveal the inner-workings of a player or team. In the case of the Magic, it doesn’t take long to realize there are a lot of bad players on the loose. Van Gundy is being forced to use six players that shouldn’t be seeing any minutes.

Not to mention that, in the case of Turkoglu, he’s playing like he doesn’t care right now. As for Howard? It’s more than obvious that he’s regressed compared to last season, whether it’s due to him coasting at times or whatever. As for Anderson and Redick, they’ve played well up to this point but it’s not enough for Orlando to be competitive.

When the Magic were winning, it was because Howard, Anderson, Redick, and Turkoglu were performing close to or up to their standards simultaneously with sporadic support from the others. During Orlando’s recent slide, it’s been Howard and little else. And when Howard’s been bad, you get a 56-point clunker against the Celtics on January 23.

People may want to point the blame on Van Gundy but he didn’t trade away nearly the entire roster or offer 4-year contracts to Jason Richardson and Davis during the offseason (what was the point of the NBA lockout again?). This is the bed Smith has made. Unfortunately for Van Gundy, he has to sleep in it.

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “It’s not a new tradition, but some teams’ fans start games standing on their feet, only sitting after the home team scores. Now I realize Magic fans might risk suffering from corns and bunions by the time the cold-shooting Magic find the basket during this slump. But why not pump up the struggling Magic right out of the box Wednesday night against the Wizards? Give them a standing ovation at tip-off. Let loose. Occupy Amway Center. Go crazy. Treat it as a playoff game. The Magic are having troubling summoning energy, so provide some for them in this marathon schedule. Leave the wine bar and get to your seat before tip-off. Act like Duke fans, the Cameron Crazies. Yell, stomp your feet, applaud, razz the Wizards, impact the game. Bring back the wave.”
• General manager Otis Smith doesn’t plan on making any moves right now.
• Andrew Lynch of Hardwood Paroxysm: “Two things here, Orlando. First, the league was a lot more fun when it seemed like you were a good team capable of challenging the Heat and Bulls in the playoffs if everything went your way. I don’t want to overreact to a handful of games, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but knock it off. Immediately. Second, your little quarter-season swoon made it a lot harder to defend the Sixers as a legitimate team (whatever that phrase means; it’s the question people ask all the time). Getting a win against the Magic meant something two weeks ago. Now? Not so much.”
• Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “The Magic will never respond to Howard again, and that’s on him. They’re lost in a brutal five-out-of-six-games debacle, and Howard’s public proclamation calling out Magic teammates last week has compounded issues. Despite his inability to separate the get-me-out-of-town Dwight and the I’m-your-leader Dwight, the organization knows one thing for sure: They’re the same guy.”
• What should the Orlando Magic do with Dwight Howard?
• John Hollinger of ESPN Insider proposes the Magic trade Howard to the New Jersey Nets: “Because of Kris Humphries’ involvement it couldn’t be consummated until March 1 and can’t be done on the Trade Machine, but the deal is Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon and Hedo Turkoglu to New Jersey for Brooks, Humphries, Brook Lopez and Mehmet Okur. The Nets could actually get a $3.1 million trade exception for Lopez as well, while the Magic would get one worth $3.2 million for Duhon. In addition, New Jersey can include four first-round picks: Its own picks in 2012, 2014 and 2016, and a pick owed to it by Houston from the Terrence Williams trade. It’s the best way to get Orlando out of its salary-cap mess and give it the pieces to rebuild, and obviously it puts New Jersey in great shape with a Howard-Williams core.”
• The losses are piling up for Orlando.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk tries to examine the Magic’s woes: “The bigger problem is leadership — someone needs to step up and hold people accountable in the locker room. But can Howard, with one foot out the door and flirting with other cities, really be that guy? Teammates seemed to have tuned his rants out. Someone else will need to fill that role. Don’t expect a sudden Dwight Howard trade move either. The scenarios are out there, but as we have been saying the feeling around the league is the Magic are not going to trade him this season, but if they do it will be after the All-Star break the last weekend of February.”
• Would the Chicago Bulls be wise in going all-in for Howard?
• A look back at Orlando’s loss against the Philadelphia 76ers.
• Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “As bad as it looks, I caution you to look at the calendar before you try to pinpoint what has sickened the Magic. Six games in eight nights is no time for a sweeping diagnosis, and it doesn’t get much better from here. On Wednesday, the good news is that the Magic get the Wizards at home. The bad news is, it’s the start of a stretch of five more games in eight nights. Onward they all go, in the dementia-inducing, post-lockout NBA. The only thing we know for sure is that more losses, whatever the culprit, will spawn more Dwight drama, more headlines and the kind of pressure that would splinter any locker room. Given the circumstances, the relentless schedule that is taxing everyone, this long free-agent good-bye has the potential to end even uglier than the last two we’ve endured.”
• The Magic are getting exponentially worse by the week.
• Apparently, Stephen Jackson may be the ticket for a team to trade for (and keep) Howard.
• A Fran Vazquez update.
• Derrick Rose is indifferent with Howard joining the Bulls.
• The trust between Howard and his teammates is gone for the Magic.
• Zach Lowe of The Point Forward: “Here’s how bad the Magic’s offense has been: In four of those eight games, they scored at a per-possession rate lower than the Wizards, the league’s least efficient offensive team. (They managed this in one other game before this stretch — against Chicago on Jan. 6.) In two others of those eight games, they barely edged out Washington’s average scoring rate, according to Hoopdata. Six recent games, six performances on par with the very worst scoring team in the league. But some of those performances were really bad, beyond just Wizards bad. In four of those recent games, the Magic failed to crack 87.5 points per 100 possessions — a barrier that sits a full 12.5 points per 100 possession below the league’s average, and well below the Wizards. Those truly awful performances, including three that are just completely off the scoring map, are where Orlando’s season begins to separate itself from the run-of-the-mill struggles every good team goes through.”

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.