The Ghost

I think the operating word is "predictable". We were becoming extremely predictable. As the disparity in the consecutive Atlanta playoff series showed, a lot of teams began figuring us out and shutting us down. The entire franchise's dependence on Dwight was often our undoing. Given his limitations (free throws, average post play), we relied on him way too much, but we kept going to him anyway because he was our superstar. LeBron James he is not, I think our future looks brighter for having moved on.

Big Baby simply doesn't know his own limitations. He thinks he has the stroke of Kobe with the Athleticism of Jordan, it's extremely frustrating. Too much time around KG I think. Poor shooting night from JJ but he's controlled anything decent we've done offensively tonight, so you can't complain too much.

I appear to be unintentionally lumping myself in the Ish Smith fan club, but honestly I don't really rate him. He is an extremely one dimensional player and it is questionnable whether he is really good enough for the NBA. My seemingly pro Ish sentiments are based on the utter despair that I felt watching Duhon every game last year. Both aren't/weren't good enough, we badly need Jameer back.

From what i've seen Ish has barely had an open shot, other than what he has had to create for himself (something Duhon couldn't do). Ish is a very average player but at least he has some transition skills (well he did last season anyway). Duhon was so untrustworthy as a point guard, that he literally did nothing more than (try to) carry the ball up court, and shoot the occasional wide open three. Two of JJ, Jameer or Turk had to be on the court the same time as him otherwise we had zero creativity.

I don't think anybody really believed Ish was a great player, but he at least offered more than Duhon (whose only role was the carry the ball up the court - although he struggled with that at times). Maybe is it the system or added responsibility, but he has just been a turnover machine so far this year.

Looks like Ish has regressed to fill the Duhon role. He has been terrible.

My main concern with this style of offence is that younger/inexperienced players just get completely lost. Also it appears to give Big Baby a licence to do whatever he wants. Which is obviously dangerous.

A very mediocre effort all around, but to me it just looks like we've run out of ideas. Based on tonight, it seems like any team with a semblance of defensive organisation will be able to completely shut down our offence.

As exciting as some our play has been in the first few games, our offence looks utterly clueless right now.

I'd never really thought about it fully before, but the bit about the other players in the league being liked purely on the fact that they just act like themselves, is so true. Dwight has tried so unashamedly to craft a polished image for himself, that it's impossible to have any respect for him. For example, I seriously dislike Kobe and KG, probably my two least favourite NBA personalities. But even in their most arrogant/b*stardly moments, they don't make me cringe like Dwight does when he is bafooning around looking for attention. It's easy to trash Howard now he has left, but that article sums up how i've felt about the guy for some time now. Obviously he was our superstar so I didn't hate him, but I always smelt a a lot BS in the way he presented himself.

I hate to open up old wounds, but I found this to be extremely righteous and to the point: http://deadspin.com/5958111/deadspin-nba-****-list-dwight-howard-the-superman-of-unfunny?tag=NBA-****-List That is all. GO MAGIC!

Apologies, that dawned on me right after posting it.

My only prediction for the game is this: Baby will ABUSE Boozer.

I think away games may be our undoing (in terms of reaching the playoffs). As long as JJ and/or Jameer don't suffer long bouts of injury then I think we'll be competitve til the end.

^This^ The problem I have with the no.1 draft pick is that we become one of THOSE franchises again that caters itself to and builds around an individual player (a la Dwight). This may be important from a commercial standpoint, but as a fan i'd rather be watching team excellence (like now) than a superstar putting up 40 every night and controlling everything on and off the court. I'd prefer it if we fight hard every night, help our current crop of rookies flourish and just let the situation evolve naturally.

This is beautiful :) You can tell there is a massive team ethic. It'll be interesting to see how we cope with adversity when it eventually arrives. I can't get over how awful Denver have been.

Good start! With that said, Denver look terrible. Aren't they supposed to be good?

I am PUMPED. No more of that 'Into Dwight in the post....freethrow' for 48 minutes.

I'm the opposite. So many experts, critics, fans are putting us down and saying we'll finish with the worst record in the NBA, but this hasn't dampened my enthusiasm. Why? Because I absolutely hated the way we have been the last couple of seasons. Everything about the team revolved around Dwight, and quite frankly it was suffocating and terrible to watch. We made too many trades based around supplementing/assisting Dwight's game, and because we had the most athletic big man in the league, we completely sacraficed the athleticism of the rest of the roster. Our playbook became incredibly one dimensional and if we weren't hitting threes then we were effectively beaten. I didn't feel overly proud to have a winning record or a dominant big man, because 90% of the time we had zero style. Any opposition team who put on their thinking hats could make us look completely stupid. Although we will probably be a losing team, at least we are now just that - A TEAM. No big shots around to handcuff our potential. We now have some athleticism and variety across the roster, and with the future cap space/options, things can only improve. Turk is infuriating, but his lazy/garbage plays will be highlighted this year. Last season there were so many areas of our roster that basically weren't good enough, but because we kept squeezing out the wins, it just papered over the cracks. The best thing about our situation is that we don't have any big commitments, so if a player wants to stick around for the forseeable future, they'll have to earn it. Too many players last year were getting a free ride and living off Dwight's dominance, and it just made us complacent. I know a ball hasn't been touched yet, but I miss nothing about the last few seasons. No our situation isn't ideal, but in my eyes it is infinately better than the end of the Dwight era. Rant over.

Amen. I don't think there is a lot to be gained from tanking a whole season and hoping we get a high pick, it'll just set us even further back in my opinion. We're better off slowly building from where we are now, even if it means a mediocre season.

First post! Greetings all. Orlando is the only place i've been to in the U.S (I'm from the U.k) but the main reason I am a Magic fan, is Penny. He was the reason I became a fan at least. Didn't really start following the team properly until a couple of years ago. By this I mean I actually started watching a lot of games (which is quite tough since we are 5 hours ahead of EST). Some of those west coast games have made for interesting mornings at work.