| 295 Authored by Jay Stone - February 3, 2008 - 11:25 pm
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During the history of the Orlando Magic, the team has had three legitimate franchise players. After Saturday night's win against the Pacers, all three players, Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Dwight Howard have now played an identical number of games (295) for the Orlando Magic. Let’s break down the numbers and compare the three franchise players to see who comes out on top during their 295 game stints with the Magic.
Winning and Playoffs:
1. Shaq, 2. Dwight, 3. Tmac.
Putting Shaq first here may seem cut and dried as his teams won .627 of his 295 games, better than Tmac or Dwight even matched in a full season, and he led the Magic to an Eastern Conference title. Shaq did however, get swept out of the playoffs each playoff series he lost, and had a much better supporting cast than the others. With Penny Hardaway, Horace Grant, Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott, Shaq had four of the franchise’s best ten players together with him for most of his duration with the team.
The case for Dwight over Tmac
Both players had poor supporting casts. Tmac had a gritty Darrell Armstrong, but beyond that he was surrounded by Pat Garrity, either Mike Miller or Drew Gooden, and then Juwan Howard for a year. Dwight’s supporting cast had talent but was not conducive to wining, Steve Francis had his last decent season, Grant Hill spent most of the time injured, which left Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson until Rashard Lewis joined the team this year. So why does Dwight get the nod? A couple of reasons, firstly with Dwight coming out of high school the Magic were not his team immediately like it was with Tmac, only in the past couple of seasons has Dwight taken over the team and since then it has shown improvement and made the playoffs. Secondly, in their comparative 4th years Dwight is on pace to have a better winning percentage than Tmac ever had, while Tmac packed it in mid season during the worst season in franchise history.
Scoring:
1. Tmac, 2. Shaq, 3. Dwight
The case for Tmac over Shaq
Shaq was an unbelievable scorer for the Magic, averaging 27.2ppg in his games with the franchise, but Tmac was better. Tmac averaged 28.1ppg and won two scoring titles to Shaq’s one (although Shaq was unlucky to lose a 2nd title to David Robinson). Tmac passed the half century mark in games four times to Shaq’s once, broke Shaq’s team record for points in a game (scoring 63 points), and also broke his record for most points in a season (with 2407). Dwight Howard has developed into a consistent offensive option, but he is a very distant third. His career high scoring average this year (21.7ppg) doesn’t even compare to the worst seasons Tmac and Shaq put up in their Magic stints.
Rebounding:
1. Dwight, 2. Shaq, 3. Tmac.
Tracy McGrady, for a guard, was a fantastic rebounder. He averaged 7 rebounds per game for the Magic, his 3rd place listing behind two of the most dominant rebounders the game has seen is nothing to sneeze at.
The case for Dwight over Shaq
Shaq started out a much better rebounder, he grabbed slightly more than Dwight in his 295 games (3667 to 3578), and, for now, holds the franchise record for most rebounds in a season (1122). In his first two seasons Shaq ripped down roughly 30.7% of the team’s boards. However, after his second season, Shaq focused more on scoring and his rebound averages and percentages dipped, in his final two seasons it was down around 26.4%. Dwight Howard didn’t start off as well, in his rookie season he grabbed just 23% of the Magic’s boards, but with less minutes played and being over a year and a half younger than Shaq we can allow some leniency. Since then, Dwight has grabbed over 32% of the Magic’s boards, including a whopping 35% this season. This season Dwight is on pace to obliterate Shaq’s season record for rebounds and instead of his scoring going down like Shaq’s did, it has gone up.
Passing:
1. Tmac, 2. Shaq, 3. Dwight
Shaquille O’Neal was quite a good passer for a center, he averaged 2.4apg and at times narrowly missed triple doubles by a few assists, including some 9 assist games in the playoffs. Tracy McGrady despite his scoring feats, was a fantastic passer and head and shoulders above the centers. He is one of only a handful of players in history to average 30pts, 6rebs and 5asts for a season. He had two triple doubles for the Magic, and 15 point/assist double doubles. Twice he had more than 40 points and 10 assists in the same game (including his 46point, 13 assist, 10 rebound triple double). Dwight Howard, after averaging almost 2apg last season, has dropped back to around his career average of 1.5 this season and has never had more than 6 in a game.
Defence:
1. Shaq 2. Dwight 3. Tmac
Tracy McGrady had the potential to be a much greater defensive player than he was. In his first Magic season he swatted 118 shots, (still the 12th best season by any Magic player), had a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of only 101, and swiped 116 steals for good measure. From there though, his blocked shot numbers dropped away and his defensive rating ballooned out to an eventual 110 during the franchise worst 2003-04 season.
The case for Shaq over Dwight
This is a similar case to the rebounding argument, but this time I give the edge to Shaq. Shaquille O’Neal had an unbelievable rookie season with regard to shot blocking, his 286 is still by far the franchise record. Despite his blocks dwindling as time went by and he focused more on scoring, all of his 4 seasons he blocked at least two per game. Dwight, is the 2nd best shot blocker the Magic have had and he is closing the gap to Shaq in regards to overall defense, In the past two seasons Dwight has cut his defensive rating down below 100 (a place where Shaq never got with the Magic), and he has stolen the ball more in his 295 games than Shaq did. Dwight is having his best shot blocking season to date, and is on pace for the Magic’s 3rd best season of blocked shots ever, but for now, Shaq keeps the edge.
Weaknesses:
1. Tmac 2. (Tie) Shaq & Dwight.
As far as weaknesses go, for a guard, Tmac had no glaring ability weaknesses, the major criticism on his time with the Magic only came in his last season when he gave up due to no help and too much losing. Tmac could score and pass, he was a great rebounder for a guard, had the ability (if not always the desire) to play great D, he could hit the three, shot good percentages and he averaged less turnovers than the two centers. For Shaq and Dwight, the argument is too close to call. Neither has 3 point range, Shaq was a worse free throw shooter but was the better passer, Shaq turned the ball over slightly more and had more fouls but also played slightly more minutes.
Other factors:
1. Dwight 2. Shaq 3. Tmac
Dwight Howard is an iron man, with 100% attendance he has reached 295 games half way through his 4th season whereas Shaq and Tmac needed the full 4 seasons to play as many games due to their injuries. All three came to the Magic at a young age, but Dwight gets more leeway playing his first game at just 18 to Shaq’s 20 and Tmac’s 21. Dwight was the youngest player in NBA history to record 1000 rebounds, 2000 rebounds, and 3000 rebounds, breaking Shaq’s own records for those marks, and is on pace to be the youngest to 4000 rebounds. Dwight’s 2007-08 season is the gem in his young crown, as he strives to become the first player to average 20pts and 15rebs since Moses Malone, some 25 years ago. Lastly, after 295 games, neither Shaquille O’Neal nor Tracy McGrady wished to be in Orlando any longer, whilst Dwight will roll out his 296th game against Dallas on Monday night and as he says, will be here with Mickey Mouse forever.
Who was best through 295 games?
(Scoring each category 3pts for 1st, 2pts for 2nd, 1pt for 3rd)
1. Shaquille O’Neal 15.5pts
2. Dwight Howard 13.5pts
3. Tracy McGrady 13pts
Shaquille O’Neal, for now, remains the best Magic player, but the 4th magic seasons of Tmac and Dwight have seen Dwight’s stock rise while Tmac’s fell, to the point where Dwight can now be seen moving marginally ahead as the better franchise player.
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