| A Few Steps Away From Greatness Authored by Alessandro Martini - February 17, 2008 - 3:04 pm
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Halfway through the season, give or take some games, our beloved Orlando Magic are showing a lot of progress and, at the same time, going back to their roots of perennial underachievers, especially when you consider the record isn't so much better than last year.
In fact, the usual hot start materialized itself again with an unbelievable opening run that shoot the team right at the top of the conference, culminated in a win over the Celtics that made Orlando look almost too good to be true. As usual, the regular "early success story" ended around mid-december with a rollercoaster ride of Wins and Losses only outside fans could be shocked about.
Face it: no matter the changes in personnel, the new guys taken by trades or free agency, this squad seems to have established a trend by itself: start hot, go cold and disappoint the fanbase regularly. Even with a lot more scoring and a better overall direction in coaching, the Orlando Magic still have a few problems to solve: the following are just some points we regularly discuss on the boards...
The backcourt issue
Real PGs are few and far between so getting a legit "true" starting point guard, even by trading both Nelson and Arroyo, seems out of the question.
To be honest, on good nights they can deliver a nice 1-2 punch to most teams with their different skillset, but their holes on the defensive end stay the same no matter the final score. Too often opposing bench players go off against the Magic because they're just left too wide open. The number of no-names who've had career nights against Orlando are too many to list here, but most of them play the PG and SG position. Too bad, getting a star-caliber point guard won't be easy given the Magic's current contractual limitations.
Upgrades needed on the bench
What's gonna happen when Howard, Hedo (or Shard) have an off night? Easy answer: the Magic can't pull out the "W" even if their lives depended on it. Yes, Keyon Dooling can be a much needed spark plug from the bench, the same stands true for Arroyo (or Nelson if he isn't starting). And yes, sometimes another player from the "second unit" will reach the mid ten's in scoring but that's about it. You shut down, or just contain, three players and the job's done if you wanna beat Orlando.
Admittedly, it's not easy to slow down Howard, Turkoglu and Lewis on the same night, even though the Magic gameplan is so predictable other teams just need to be good at defending jumpshooters and/or denying entry passes in the post.
Still waiting for the new guys
Nobody will ask you about JJ Redick unless they're NCAA or Magic fans, and they still need to be pretty hardcore about that.
JJ's lack of playing time (his average went down from last year, already a bad rookie year) just shows no Magic fan should hold high hopes for the draft, unless he wants to be really disappointed.
Picked as an "ideal complement" to Howard for his outside shot, in almost two full seasons he's seen less time on the court than most players at the end of their careers.
Stan Van Gundy, like Brian Hill before him blames the lack of playing time on his defense, but Redick doesn't look so bad, given the Magic hardly play any "D" whatsoever.
On the Suns and Warriors bandwagon
It's no secret Stan Van Gundy's trying his best Mike D'Antoni impression, adopting a run&gun (or run & three) style that makes Orlando a lot easier on the eyes compared to last year.
There's just one little problem: the Magic have no Steve Nash and such gameplans absolutely needs a good/great playmaker to be really effective (see also Golden State with Baron Davis).
That's why some players seem lost on the court or can't maximise their potential, because ball movement isn't what it should (or could) be.
Also, the lack of a true power forward shouldn't be overlooked because Lewis isn't a PF and this hurts the team on the defensive end. When everything goes according to the plan, Orlando scores in the upper 100's and brings home the "W" but when the three isn't falling, the team clearly needs another presence down low able to grab rebounds or trade elbows with the opposing team's big men.
All the above isn't such a big deal when the Magic show up and play hard like they've been doing at the start of the season and in mid/late january on several occasions.
On those nights, this team has showed its best qualities especially in scoring, with three legit threats on the court (Dwight, Hedo and Lewis) hard to contatin by the opposition with their combination of size and athleticism, or good shooting if we just focus on Shard and Turkoglu. Granted, this team is far above last season's squad even if we take out Rashard from the roster (since his contribution has been smaller than expected).
In fact, the best addition is Stan Van Gundy as the head coach, especially the way he's been able to pull out more talent and production from last year's players. Hedo Turkoglu is already the main "Magic Most Improved" candidate, but Carlos Arroyo's better overall play is also something that stands out over 2007's team.
Dwight Howard himself is a MVP candidate and one of the best centers in the league, even with his recurring problems with turnovers and free throws. His role within the Magic's offense (when teammates don't forget he's on the court) has never been bigger, and his impact on some nights has been simply devastating for the opposion. Like we used to say last season, he just needed a more free-flowing offense to show his real potential: SVG has been able to do "just" that.
The last two pragraphs may sound too positive given the rest of this article, but they emphasize that we need to have faith in this team.
As a longtime Orlando fan, I'm sure the coach (before any front office's move) will be able to see the biggest issues and fix them as fast as it's humanly possible.
Be it via trade or just some lineup adjustments, this team will get nearer and nearear the ultimate goal: become a championship contender. It may take another couple of seasons, but we finally see what's the correct path toward greatness and it would be foolish to stray from it.
A note for anyone in the front office, if they ever read this: just focus on getting better and never be satisfied with the record, no matter how many games over .500 the Orlando Magic are right now.
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