Posts Tagged → Otis Smith
April 16th, 2010
Friday’s Magic Word
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Magic SF Matt Barnes said Thursday that his camp spoke with the franchise about extending his contract or awarding him with a new deal. ”Yeah, we talked to them,” Barnes said told the Sentinel. “We’re going to wait until the season’s over.” Barnes’ agent is Aaron Goodwin, who also represents Magic C Dwight Howard. Barnes signed a two-year deal last summer, but he can opt out of his contract at season’s end. He has said he would love to stay with the Magic.”
- Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated lists the Orlando Magic as one of the teams that has a chance to win a championship this year: “Orlando attempted more threes than last year, while Dwight Howard averaged two fewer shots per game; but he is shooting a higher percentage at 61.1 percent and he is likely to win another defensive player of the year award. Put it all together and coach Stan Van Gundy has wrestled an apparently disparate roster back into title contention. They enter the playoffs on a 20-3 tear along with the confidence that they can reprise last year’s upset of Cleveland. They surely look like the biggest obstacle the Cavs will face this spring.”
- Britt Robson of Sports Illustrated previews the first round series between the Magic and the Charlotte Bobcats: “This could be a much tougher test for the Magic than it first appears. Their 3-1 season edge over Charlotte included two victories in the first three weeks of the season, before the Bobcats acquired Stephen Jackson. Since then, Charlotte extended Orlando to overtime before losing and then went into Orlando and beat the Magic in mid-March. Points will be precious, as Larry Brown’s Bobcats led the NBA in defensive efficiency (fewest points allowed per 100 possessions), Orlando was third and both teams play at a slower-than-average pace. If Orlando isn’t hitting its three-pointers, Charlotte could steal a game on the road — and the Bobcats finished (31-10) at home.”
- Charles Barkley chimes in on Orlando.
- Doug Collins recognizes that it’s not all about threes when the Magic play: “Normally teams that take a lot of threes play small. They stretch you out, they run, they quick shoot the ball and they want to get into a shootout. [The Magic have] Dwight Howard back there anchoring that defense blocking or changing shots. One of the things I love about Orlando is they’re a team that can get hot and throw up huge numbers but they can also beat you in a game where defense wins.”
- Want to know why Rashard Lewis has struggled against the Bobcats this season? Ben Q. Rock of Orlando Pinstriped Post provides an explanation: “The poor shooting in spot-up situations is absolutely cause for concern, as spotting up is how Lewis gets 42.9% of his offense on the season, according to Synergy. That figure increased to 60.9% against the Bobcats, which makes his decline in effectiveness in those situations so jarring. He scored 7 times in 28 possessions when spotting up, or just 25% of the time for 0.679 points per possession, as the above chart shows. For the season, spotting up? He scores 45.5% of the time and produces 1.218 points per possession. What a dramatic drop-off. Thing is, Lewis can’t stop shooting. Orlando needs him to continue firing away, predominantly from beyond the arc, for its offense to work. He’s going to have to spot-up against the Bobcats, and he’s also going to have to convert those chances at a much higher rate. So the next question is, “how?” Honestly, he just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.”
- Bill Simmons of ESPN.com attempts to prove that Orlando can’t win four straight playoff series with Vince Carter on the team.
- Two of the top 10 five-man units in the playoffs, sorted by efficiency differential, are owned by the Magic. John Schuhmann of NBA.com has more: “The Magic starters are the best starting unit in the East, both offensively and defensively. If you’re willing to look at smaller sample sizes, you’ll discover that replacing Howard with Marcin Gortat gives you even better results, (Def: 85.2, Diff: +33.4), which doesn’t make a lot of sense, because Howard is the prohibitive favorite to win his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award. The starters-plus-Gortat lineup played in just 21 games together, and for just 74 minutes total.”
- With the use of video, Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook breaks down the strengths and weakness, plus the tendencies, of Orlando and Charlotte.
- Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller of NBA FanHouse offer a fun and insightful preview of the matchup between the Magic and the Bobcats.
- Tim Povtak of NBA FanHouse: “At the start of practice Friday — in a mundane, two-on-two, pick-and-roll drill he has run a thousand times in his career — veteran Vince Carter surprised everyone by cutting loose with a dunk so emphatic, so focused, that it shook the goal, looking like something he did a decade ago in a nationally-televised game. Even Magic center Dwight Howard was impressed, turning to general manager Otis Smith, who was watching from a distance: “I guess he’s ready for the playoffs,” Howard said with a nod. Carter, 33, never has been more ready to play basketball, knowing through the next eight weeks he can redefine his career, change the perception he has fought the last 12 years, that he is nothing more than a great individual player who can dominate the highlight tapes. He wants to be known as a champion. And he finally has the chance to do it.”
- As Tom Haberstroh of Hoopdata shows, Howard gets a lot of And-1′s.
- Meet Jameer Nelson, Orlando’s championship x-factor, according to Austin Burton of Dime Magazine: “He wasn’t there for most of the ‘09 Finals run, so in a sense he’s still playing catch-up. By the numbers, it’s been a subpar year for Jameer: His scoring is down, his shooting percentages are down, his steals are down, and his turnovers are up. He also missed a solid month of the schedule with injuries. With Vince Carter assigned to create offense and run the pick-and-roll with Dwight Howard in crunch time, Jameer just needs to protect the ball, hit open shots, and defend his position.”
- Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference’s statistical plus/minus projection likes Orlando in 5 against Charlotte.
- Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus: “If you consider yourself a connoisseur of defense, the matchup between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Orlando Magic is the series to watch. On the final night of the regular season, the Bobcats passed the Magic to finish the season as the NBA’s top defensive team. While the two teams have very different styles–Charlotte thrives thanks to excellent wing defense, forcing turnovers and solid performance in the paint, while the Magic funnels everything toward the league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Dwight Howard–both have proven very successful. It’s on the offensive end that the two teams differ in results. Orlando’s fleet of excellent shooters around Howard set the NBA record for most three-pointers in a season. Charlotte has been substantially below average on the offensive end this season, which explains why the Bobcats are the seventh seed while the Magic boasted the league’s second-best regular-season record and is a heavy favorite in this series.”
- Will there be a title rematch between the Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers? Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie breaks down the possibility.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in News • 13 Comments
April 14th, 2010
How Did the Orlando Magic Get to This Point?
Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images
For Billy Donovan and Stan Van Gundy, it’s a tale of two stories for two head coaches that are in two different positions right now. While the Florida Gators are currently undergoing a rebuilding phase after winning back-to-back NCAA men’s basketball national championships in 2006 and 2007, the Orlando Magic are enjoying an era of prosperity not seen since the mid-’90s when Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal were household names. It’s no secret that Donovan and Van Gundy will forever be linked in Orlando lore after the drama that unfolded in the summer of 2007. Long story short, Donovan accepted then declined the Magic’s offer to become head coach after Brian Hill was fired and as a result, Van Gundy ended up with the job. The question is, how did we get here? How did Orlando become a powerhouse in the NBA?
Look no further than the man that “replaced” Donovan.
There’s no doubt that other people should be credited with returning the Magic to prominence, including the DeVos family (for paying the luxury tax), general manager Otis Smith, and others. But at the end of the day, Van Gundy is at the epicenter of this era. Van Gundy is defining the narrative that is unfolding in Orlando and it’s an interesting one, to say the least.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Analysis • 12 Comments
April 8th, 2010
Thursday’s Magic Word
- Tania Ganguli of the Orlando Sentinel: “Magic General Manager Otis Smith can see both sides of the discussion about whether or not NBA players should dedicate so much of their summers to playing for their countries. He understands the struggle of players with limited free time. Mostly, he supports it because playing for your country is an honor. His star, Magic center Dwight Howard, re-affirmed his commitment to play in the World Championships with Team USA this summer. But Smith acknowledges his might be a situational perspective. ‘I guarantee you’ll get a different answer from a general manager that has an abundance of European players,’ Smith said.”
- Good news. Dwight Howard’s AAU team is doing well. The DH Warriors are 7-1 and won their last game on a buzzer-beating half-court shot by Matt Clark.
- Sean Deveney of The Baseline chooses Josh Smith over Howard on his ballot for Defensive Player of the Year and explains why: “Howard is a dominant defender and fearsome in the lane, and it’s likely he will win this award. But the reason Smith edges him on my ballot is that his athleticism allows him to get out and defend the perimeter, and is one of the chief reasons the Hawks are able to use their switch-everything approach to pick-and-rolls.”
- Jason Williams is a player that doesn’t get his shot blocked very much.
- Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus chimes in on a team’s ability to win close games: ”There are, generally speaking, two schools of thought on close games: That they reveal a team’s true ability and that they are decided by luck. My research on the subject last year for Basketball Prospectus offered a middle ground, suggesting that good teams win close games more often than bad teams, but that the element of randomness mitigates the talent gap.” In the Magic’s case, they perform worse than expected in close games. Red flag?
- Vince Carter, according to Dime Magazine, is one of the most hated players in the NBA: ”Hated by the entire city of Toronto and possibly all of Canada. Critics get on him for settling for jump shots, even though every other high-flyer before or after Vince has been encouraged to adjust their game eventually and take more jumpers. Call him soft, call him lazy, but then he drops 40 or gives you a game-winner and your point becomes moot.”
- Tracy McGrady wants to be back in Orlando. Ditto with Mike Miller.
- Ben Q. Rock of Orlando Pinstriped Post talks about the possibility of either McGrady or Miller re-joining the Magic during the off-season: “Obviously, there are downsides. Miller’s had trouble staying healthy, and though he’s still a deadeye shooter–he’s posted a True Shooting percentage of better than 58.8 in each of the last 6 seasons, and he’s second among swingmen (minimum: 30 minutes per game) at 60.8% this season–he’s spent each of the last 3 years trying to re-invent himself as a point forward, and has thus passed up numerous open shot attempts. Also, his lateral mobility is more-or-less gone, which makes him a defensive liability. McGrady has his own set of red flags, as he’s recovering from microfracture knee surgery and still trying to figure out how to play without the benefit of the all-world athleticism that helped him win back-to-back scoring titles in 2002/03 and 2003/04. Oh, and the way he sulked his way out of Orlando after that disastrous 21-61 season has made him Public Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of most Magic fans. Owner Rich DeVos, who’d be footing the luxury-tax bill once again next year, might be loathe to pay the man who publicly trashed his franchise after demanding–and being granted–a trade. So they’re likely not going to be the Magic’s top options this summer [...]”
- Paul Forrester of Sports Illustrated isn’t impressed with Matt Barnes‘ poise.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in News • No Comment
April 2nd, 2010
Friday’s Magic Word
- Dime Magazine: “The Orlando domination started with Dwight Howard’s Kraken act in the paint. The Centaur cruised his way to a light 17 points, 20 boards and five blocks (including one where he just snatched a J.J. Barea shot out of the air), showing some nice moves and carrying himself with a little bit of an edge. For example, in the final minute of the first half, Dwight almost decapitated Jason Terry on a ball screen. About 30 game seconds later, as the final seconds of the half were ticking down, Terry tried to launch a shot from just inside half court. Dwight rudely swatted it away and stomped off to his halftime interview.”
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel thinks it would be a mistake for general manager Otis Smith to pursue Tracy McGrady in free agency during the off-season.
- Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated lists Matt Barnes ($1.6 million) as a member of the All-Judicious Team, which recognizes players that have helped their teams at a bargain price.
- Add Holly MacKenzie of SLAM ONLINE to the list of people that were impressed by one of Howard’s blocks last night against the Mavericks: “The Dwight ‘block’ of J.J. Barea was phenomenal. He just grabbed the ball in the air, as though it was a pass attempt from Barea to him and then went the other way.”
- When ESPN writers were asked: ”Other than the Lakers and Cavaliers, what two other teams do you see as most capable of reaching the NBA Finals and why?” … the Magic were a unanimous choice.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in News • No Comment
March 31st, 2010
Wednesday’s Magic Word
- Adonal Foyle gives the Magic State of the Union address: “I’m here to report that with respect to the Orlando Magic team, the state of our union is strong. The team has been performing at an absolutely wonderful pace – obviously demonstrated by our victories. And the emergence of Vince [Carter] as the force we knew him to be has definitely started to pay dividends – he’s obviously much more aggressive going to the basket. These games gave him an opportunity to demonstrate why he is here and emerge as one of the best players these last few months.”
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Barring any unforeseen setbacks, the Orlando Magic should have their full roster available to play Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said Vince Carter (sprained right big toe), Mickael Pietrus (sprained left ankle) and (sprained right thumb) and everybody else on the roster practiced today at RDV Sportsplex.”
- Want to see video of Dwight Howard‘s impersonation of Charles Barkley? Click here.
- Trey Kerby of Ball Don’t Lie conducts an interview with Howard, asking him a variety of questions that range from serious to silly. When asked if the team finally being healthy for an extended period of time has been the main reason why the Orlando Magic have been playing well lately, Howard answers: “I think that’s one thing that’s gotten us to the level that we’re at today, but another thing is that all the work we’ve put in in the offseason, and all the things we do every day in practice to get better finally started to show up. We’re big believers in hard work, and how hard work can overshadow anything. We understand that. We work extremely hard in practice to get better, and I think that’s why we’re playing at the level we’ve been playing at as of late. We understood that early in the season we were going to have a lot of ups and downs because we have a new team and we all have to get used to playing with each other, and just playing with guys like Vince Carter, Brandon Bass, and Matt Barnes. It’s a new situation for our whole team, so we really just have to learn how to play together, and we’re gelling at the right time. And I’m happy. I don’t think we’ve reached our peak yet, but I think we’re on our way to being that team we’ve all hoped for.”
- Mark Milner of Hardwood Paroxysm thinks that Howard deserves a few votes for MVP, even though LeBron James will undoubtedly win the award for a second consecutive year.
- Head coach Stan Van Gundy stated yesterday that the MVP “is just an offensive award.” Pat McManamon of NBA FanHouse disagrees.
- Jonathan Abrams of Off the Dribble looks back at general manager Otis Smith‘s decision not to re-sign Hedo Turkoglu during the off-season.
- By the way, Turkoglu is now coming off the bench for the Toronto Raptors.
- A little over a week ago, Foyle told George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel that he’d like to be a general manager in the NBA after he retires from playing basketball. Eric Freeman of The Baseline is surprised.
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com writes about Howard’s day on the job at Champs Sports at The Florida Mall.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Analysis • No Comment
