Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images

A week ago, Magic Basketball’s team of writers were featured on a recent 5-on-5 roundtable discussion at ESPN.com, answering offseason questions pertaining to the Orlando Magic and providing our opinions on several topics, including our thoughts on Dwight Howard‘s future and more. But we didn’t stop there.

As a supplement, here is our 3-on-3 roundtable discussion on the Magic.

_______

What are your thoughts on Gilbert Arenas’ Twitter account?

Nate Drexler: Gilbert’s tweets are highly entertaining, but highly discouraging. I hate to make a big deal out of nothing, especially while there is no NBA season happening, but it’s almost all the evidence you need that he does not care about this game anymore. Being a goofball is one thing, but the aura that Gilbert has created in his tweet-o-sphere is childish to me. If I’m Otis Smith, Stan Van Gundy, or any Magic player, I’m thinking to myself, “I cannot wait until this guy is not my problem anymore.”

Eddy Rivera: Following Gilbert Arenas on Twitter has been one of my more hilarious endeavors since I signed up in 2009. If you want to see Arenas without a filter, then you’ve come to the right place. It’s refreshing to see that Arenas doesn’t hold anything back and you feel like you’re getting his real personality when he tweets. Sure, Arenas has gotten fined an undisclosed amount of money by the NBA for some of his content but at least he’s not playing it by the book. For Arenas, there is no book, just random pages.

Matt Scribbins: The pictures of him planking are the most entertaining I have even seen on Twitter and it’s not even close. His daily shoe contests are a fun way for him to interact with fans and reward his followers with a cool prize. I’ll give him credit for being honest, but he is probably to the point where he has offended nearly everyone. I think Foghorn Leghorn could probably sum it up the best – “It was the best of times, I said it was the worst of times.”

Read more…

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Read more…

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Read more…

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Read more…

Via Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com:

Dwight Howard reaffirmed his desire to stay with the [Orlando] Magic, but told NBA.com on Monday that he will definitely become a free agent rather than sign an extension in the next year and also left open the possibility he would reconsider his future in Orlando if the team does not win the title next season.

Speaking during a break at the adidas Eurocamp as part of a tour of the continent for the shoe company, Howard joked with reporters at a news conference and appeared in good spirits.

In a one-on-one interview afterward, though, he made it clear he is not happy with the collective personality of Orlando’s roster and that changes need to be made. The same message, he said, was delivered to owner Rich DeVos and CEO Bob Vander Weide in a meeting last week that included Howard sharing thoughts on everything from personnel to fan involvement and arena atmosphere at home games.

“I want to win a championship,” the All-Star center said. “I think the owners have to really know that. That’s been my goal and my mission since I’ve been in the NBA — to win a championship. I don’t have side goals or agendas. My main goal is to win a championship. I want to have 14 other guys who feel the same way.”

Asked if the Magic have that now, he said, “It’s off and on. Sometimes guys are there whole-heartedly and then sometimes I’ve had teammates allow people getting in their ears and things like that effect the way that they play and approach the game.”

Howard said he did not tell DeVos and Vander Weide specific roster moves he wanted to see.

For those that have been following this story closely, none of this is news.

It makes no sense for Dwight Howard to sign a two-year extension (the longest extension he’s allowed to sign right now) with the Orlando Magic right now, given the state of the roster. Howard is motivated by winning, and right now the only thing the Magic have proven to Howard is that they’re capable of doing nothing more than losing to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs. As such, Howard has every right to let the chips fall where they may, and see whether or not Orlando is capable of reconstructing an elite team and championship contender around him.

Howard’s message is clear — it’s championship or bust.

The wild card is the collective bargaining agreement. Until the players and owners can resolve that issue, there’s not much the Magic can do right now with regards to signing free agents, trading players, and what not. However, when the new CBA is ratified, Orlando needs to get to work. And fast.

Time is of the essence, and Howard has made it known that he’s not going to wait around for the Magic forever. The clock is ticking.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Read more…

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images North America

Read more…

Photo by Handout/Getty Images

It’s May and the Orlando Magic aren’t playing basketball right now.

Weird.

The last time the Magic weren’t playing basketball in May was in 2007 when they were swept by the Detroit Pistons in the first round, which was Brian Hill’s final year as the head coach. Once head coach Stan Van Gundy arrived, Orlando became accustomed to continuing their season beyond April to the months of May and June but not this time around.

Instead, the Magic are spectators and sitting at home after losing to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs.

As such, it seems appropriate to look back at what happened in the postseason for Orlando and chime in on Dwight Howard‘s future with the franchise. So without further ado, welcome to Magic Basketball’s first in-house roundtable discussion.

Credit goes to Matt Scribbins for the questions.

_______

If ifs and buts were candy and Zaza head-butts, the Magic would still be in the playoffs. What is your #1 if?

Nate Drexler: It would have been nice to see a healthy Magic team in the playoffs. If Gilbert Arenas was at 100 percent for the second half of the season, for instance, things would have played out differently. I only say it because Hibachi is a tremendous player, and the reason so many people are frustrated with his huge contract and poor play is they know what a huge impact he can have on a team.  As for this season, he was dead wood. That is why my biggest “if” is having Gilbert mentally and physically peaked for the playoffs.

Danny Nowell: The biggest if, for me, is what if Hedo Turkoglu had been the same Hedo Turkoglu that propelled the 2009 run. I know, I know, it’s easy to make him a scapegoat—and it’s not like he’s getting younger, so maybe his decline is strictly about aging—but what else would the Magic have realistically been able to get that they needed? Jameer [Nelson] showed up in spurts, Dwight had an historically good series; I think the key could have been a big ball handler that was aggressive when he needed to be and a creator when he didn’t. Hedo’s play was almost the direct inverse of that.

Matt Scribbins: The Magic would still be in the playoffs if they had a legitimate option on offense besides Dwight Howard. With help from the Basketball Reference database, I learned only seven players since 1947 have made 20 or fewer shots while attempting 68+ in the playoffs. Hedo Turkoglu did just that this post-season and bricked his way into the record books.  Hedo, one of the worst shooters in NBA playoff history, actually out did himself and provided his worst playoff shooting performance ever.

Read more…

AP Photo/John Raoux

Via Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel:

A week has passed since the Orlando Magic exited the playoffs with a Game 6 first-round loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Haven’t gotten over it?

Neither has the Magic’s chief executive officer, Bob Vander Weide.

“We didn’t get to our goal, so it’ll take me a while and I’ll deal with it,” Vander Weide said today.

“As we get prepared to get through the summer and some of the business issues, we’ve got to keep thinking how do we get better and how do we improve this club and how do we not fall short of our goals? Everyone that works for the Magic feels the same way. We never, ever thought we’d be out in the first round. No, I’m not over it and I won’t be for a while.”

Magic fans would nod their heads in agreement.

The expectation entering the season for the Orlando Magic was to avenge last year’s series defeat in the 2010 NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics and try to make their way back to the Finals.

With the Miami Heat and Celtics jostling for supremacy in the East, as well as the Chicago Bulls in retrospect, there was an understanding that the task at hand was going to be difficult but no one expected the Magic to lose in the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs.

Nevertheless, that’s what happened. Now Orlando has to pick up the pieces.