The Ryan Anderbads

This is NOT a thread about the end of the world. This is a realistic basketball discussion about why we have NOT won a championship and why we are not showing championship form this season. The question then defers to what has been the "real" problem that has not got us that championship and why we are looking mediocre this year. So what I'm evaluating is the 08-09 season and the 09-10 season and now the 50 games of this season. This is solely my opinion, and I am by no means stating as any of this to be "fact" or "right". Just trying to vent. Before I go on I must say our 08-09 trip to the finals wass an absolute joke. Cleveland probably would have been swept or 4-2'ed at best by the lakers also. We beat Philly, KG-less celtics, and the LeCavaliers who had one player doing everything. We would have lost to boston if they had KG. Us having jameer is not nearly as much of an impact as Boston having KG. Rafer Alston was also playing about as good as jameer could have played anyways. 1. Is the problem SVG? Not entirely. Part of the blame does go to SVG but I would only say about 30% of it. SVG has dissapointed me over the years with numerous coaching decisions he has made with offensive schemes and playing time or lack thereof. Not playing bass in the boston series was a terrible mistake. I do not think SVG used Gortat properly at ALL. Gortat had offensive SKILLS. All SVG had Gortat doing was running around setting screens for everyone and "maybe" there would be a pass to him on a wide open roll to the basket for a dunk but that happened very rarely. Gortat I think could have been used as an offensive WEAPON. He has a better hook shot then Dwight AND better footwork. Why was the guy NEVER used as a primary option off the bench? It baffles me to this day to even think about what we could have done with him offensively. SVG has been a good defensive coach. The only real problem I'm having lately is him double teaming players who aren't even proving they can beat their own man 1on1? What the heck? Really dumb. 2. Is management the problem? 40% of blame goes to management. Otis has failed really hard I believe. I do like getting Jrich, but in the long run he is probably going to be moved next year which makes this a total fail if we do not win it all this year. Was hedo the right move? Only time will tell. As of right now I like it but that could change if Hedo doesn't recover from this injury and play the way he WAS playing pre-injury. I absolutely HATED getting rid of rashard who has done so much for us and was a good friend with a lot of the players and was just going through a slump. Arenas was an upgrade at backup PG but that's not hard to do when your backup is Chris Duhon. Rashard could have still helped our team. We have lost SOOOOO much depth after these trades in our frontcourt. Having Gortat/Bass/Anderson on the bench solidified us as one of the deepest frountcourt teams in the league. Now we just have Dwight playing 50 mins a game. God forbid Dwight gets injured then this whole forum will explode, and rightfully so Otis should get fired if that does happen because we will have lost our only hope of even competing in the playoffs if that did happen because we could have had Gortat to fall back on. That's all lost now. Getting rid of Courtney Lee was terrible. Getting rid of Ariza was terrible. Letting go of darko was terrible(just kidding). Ultimately, I believe we can not win a championship with Dwight as our primary offensive option AND the anchor of our defense. That is asking a lot of someone who isn't that skilled on the offensive end. Dwight is at his best when he is playing GREAT defense and cleaning up missed shots and rebounding everything. We need a GO-TO scorer or we will continue to fall short I believe every year. This falls on management to get that done, and bringing in guys past their prime(vince,gilbert,jrich) just isn't going to get it done I don't believe. Jrich has been a pleasant surprise though, if he stays more consistent then maybe just maybe this will be a great move, but nobody knows yet until the playoffs. 3. Are the players the problem? 30% of the blame goes to the players. Courtney Lee missed the layup. Last year Vince Carter choked really hard, including rashard and just about everyone on the team besides Dwight/Jameer in game 4 and 5. The players have NOT played to their fullest potential in big moments. Even our superstar, Dwight Howard has not lived up to his own hype. The players ultimately even make bad coaches look good or even bad management look good because they play beyond their "expected" numbers and produce. They really haven't done that in my opinion. If the players don't play "smart" then we will probably never beat a team like Boston or LA...and dare I say even Miami now(ugh). The players need to get the ball to dwight when he is wide open under the basket. Not the coaches...not the management. Playing with no energy after 2 days off for 3 quarters is inexcusable. Playing with no energy when we are trying to get BETTER as a team is inexcusable. So, tell me what you think is the real problem - Coaching, management or the players?

I've been watching Earl Clark since high school. Isn't that a good thing that he added 10 lbs of muscle? You are making absolutely no sense with this statement..."wtf he added 10 lbs of muscle...kthxbai...?" Is that what you're trying to say? Lol. You kids are funny. Oh, and thank you for completely disregarding everything else I said in that statement.

TO your first point: I doubt you even watched him with the Suns...so I won't even get into that but I can tell you he has made a drastic change since moving from PHX to ORL in not only his play but his body. Adding muscle and putting up 500 shots after every game he doesn't play in. Also, his confidence is much improved....and if you play basketball then you know basketball is ultimately a game of confidence. That has been a huge improvement since the trade from PHX to ORL.

You said how can you "know" all of this in his short amount of minutes...so I countered with how could we know Dwight was a great player with nothing but high school minutes played? Well, it all comes down to raw talent and Dwight had that and so does Earl. The ceiling for Earl is not as high as Dwight but he can become a very good player. Much better then Ryan Anderson. Is it that hard to understand?

I think I was stating Earl Clark has raw talent. Not the same quality of Dwight's but it is there. To you're first point...everybody thought the Magic front office smoked a huge bowl before drafting Dwight over Okafor. That turned out to be quite wrong. Obviously Earl's ceiling isn't as high as Dwight's but it is MUCH higher then Bass or Anderson's and if you think otherwise then you just don't have an " EYE " as they call it in the basketball world for real talent. When Earl Clark gets as much playing time as Bass/Anderson consistently for an entire season and plays like ****....then send me a private PM and complain about how stupid I was. Until then...there is really no valid argument you can make to prove me wrong. Up to this point I can argue that he has brought more to the team in his short amount of minutes played then both Bass/Anderson.

I watch a lot of basketball. Not just NBA...I watched Earl play at Louisville. What you're saying is when we drafted Dwight did ANYBODY on this damn message board think he was going to be what he is today? That answer is NO. We drafted Dwight purely based on a small sample of high school games and RAW TALENT(Earl Clark has this). The fact he had some VERY similar traits to what Earl has now is why we drafted him and the front office got on their knees and prayed he would become a dominant center....and he did(over time). If you evaluate Earl as a basketball player and not in his "minutes played" then you will realize this guy has great potential. Far greater than Ryan Anderson. I will personally place bets with anyone on this forum that Earl Clark will have a greater career then Ryan Anderson ever will. So you're basically saying Dwight was a dumb draft pick by saying he had "no proven minutes" to actually evaluate his potential. Dwight laughs at you. Earl Clark can be a great player. Only if stan let's him spread his wings.

I'm sorry but if you think Ryan Anderson has more upside then Earl Clark then this discussion is done. Have you been watching Earl Clark play? Lol? He drives to the basket very consistently when he gets the ball. I'm starting to think you're just trolling me. Let me explain what Earl Clark has that Ryan Anderson will never have. Ok? 1. Athleticism 2. Basketball IQ 3. Length 4. Raw Talent 5. Fearless Let me tell you this. I watch Magic games with a lot of Laker/other NBA team fans. When we played the Lakers...all my friends could talk about in the first quarter of that game was "Earl Clark is the only good player on your team besides Dwight", along with many other friends who have said similar things when he was actually getting playing time against other teams. You just don't have an eye for raw talent if you think Ryan Anderson has more upside then Earl Clark. That is insane.

I've been a critic of SVG for awhile. I ultimately think it's a mixture of poor play/coaching/management like I said in the thread I created 2 weeks ago.

1. Stan Van Gundy needs to get his **** together. Earl Clark sitting on the bench is really pissing me off, he is arguably better then both Anderson/Bass and has way more upside then both. I also feel like he is indeed holding Gil back, he needs to let Gil be Gil when he is on the court or this will be a waste of time and ultimately a second round exit in the playoffs. Why are we ALLOWING Ryan Anderson to take contested 3's when Dwight is dominating. Many CONSISTENT problems I see on a game to game basis from SVG's coaching, not just one game. 2. Hedo Turkoglu is playing like the old guy at the local YMCA. 3. Ryan Anderson is a chucker. Nothing more, nothing less. 4. Earl Clark is our ONLY player with upside on this team outside of a small chance Gil gets back to his old form..but hes on the bench<_< 5. Trade anyone not named Dwight to get someone who can actually drive to the basket. Earl Clark is the only person who has shown he can do that and Stan doesn't want to play him, so trade anyone on the team to get someone who can. 6. Panic.

I was actually the 1k post. I'm God.

This.

Talking about Gerald Wallace. He's going to portland.

Another quality player gone with the Magic nowhere near the discussion guess Otis "likes this team"

I think we should make a move for Iggy actually. Philly needs to move forward...send them Jrich and cash or a pick.

CP3, Gay, Iggy, Bust

OTIS GO GET STEVE NASH. I DON'T CARE IF HE IS 50 YRS OLD. THAT BOI CAN PLAY BALL. NOW GITRDONE.

Why the hell would Dwill want to go to jersey to lose every game from now to the end of the season? The hope of playing with Dwight next year? Doubt it...very dumb decision by Dwill.

IBTL

I'm asking the same thing. Jameer/Anderson(or Bass) should have been just as attractive and if not then throw in a pick or even J rich for the hell of it. Not sure how we couldn't get involved with this.

D will could have waited to sign with us....damn the east is stacked with stars now...

Can we make a move for Gallinari?

Not nearly as entertaining as hyped to be. Nothing has really been good since dwight won in 08. A rookie can't live up to that much hype before a dunk contest..just way overhyped blake griffin and I think a lot of the fans we're very disappointed because he honestly didn't even live up to half the expectations. He definitely had some pretty sick dunks that he couldn't complete because of nerves I think..I would like to see him back next year when there is a lot less pressure on him.