jmmagicfan

quote: Originally posted by Drunk on Mystery: quote: Originally posted by Swish15: quote: I'd say Dwight is the most improved player on the team, in the division, and in the conference. The only player I'd say is more deserving is maybe David West or Chris Kaman. Dwight's ppg avg is up by 4+, his rebounds are up 2+, his blocks are up about .66, his turnovers are down .7 a game despite an increase in his usage rate, and his defense has gone from being average to likely 2nd team all-NBA behind Marcus Camby. Generally players who are picked high in the draft do not win the award. Dwight, being a number one overall pick, is expected to make huge strides from season to season and it would be a let down if he didn't improve. I wasn't responding to anything involving the award, which is meaningless anyway. I was merely stating that, in my opinion, Hedo isn't the most improved player, and I think statistically, I can back that up. You sure you want to go with Dwight for most improved? Hedo's ppg are up 6+, his rebounds are up 2+, and his assists are up 1.5+ over last year. I'd say that matches up pretty well. Can anyone say co-most improved?

quote: Originally posted by the notorious S.A.C.:I certainly realize you dont want shaq to come off the books and then try to add a free agent....we will se multiple examples of that move this off season thanks to Otis' brialliance. Wait we already saw that move last summer with darko.... What any astute gm in the league is trades his high priced expiring player to another club who is going to rebuild or is needing to quickly go under the cap to sign a high priced free agent. If Lebron says...Im leaving after the season...or wade...or bosh...that team has no leverage at the trade deadline and therefore goes into trade the asset or lose it mode....Hence Lebron could be acquired before the deadline if cleveland intended to revamp. Players demand trades all the time...see kidd, kobe and wade if miami doesnt improve. Teams dump salaries all the time, most arent dumb enough to let the guy walk for nothing....see shaq...weve shown a propensity to collect marginal talent and try to sell them as all stars to our fans and quite frankly after 10 years of clowns pulling the strings we are one player away form a 10-72 season. We certainly arent elite enough to just let a giant asset just plain expire. BTW every magazine and analyst Ive seen write a article or speak on this is floored by the magic letting those contracts expire. I confess, I am disappointed that those contracts will expire, instead of Otis being able to package someof them in a trade to fill a need. I just don't know that we need to be a part of one of the "big" trades. You say that we are one player away from a 10-72 season. I agree that if Dwight were suddenly out for a season, we would be hard pressed to win very many games; on the other hand, I also think that we are one player away from a 60+ win season. The problem is, was that "one" player available? I know it is a cliche, but sometimes the best move is the one you don't make. I was among those who took a few shots at Otis for not re-signing Darko. Now, if you look at the season to date, aren't you glad you have Rashard instead? Consider where we were when Otis took over, and where some of those players now are. Steve Francis still had a $14M+ year on his contract - Otis turned him into cap space to help get Shard, and indirectly, Evans and Cook. I believe Francis is not even in the league right now. Yes, we got nothing for GHill and Darko, other than cap space. But do you honestly believe that Turkoglu and Dwight would have seen the improvements in their games that we have seen this year if Grant and Darko were still here? We are currently the third seed in the East, and we have a solid core. The players whose contracts expire at the end of the season are role players, with the exception of Evans, who I think we have a good shot at re-signing. Yes, we still have a way to go. Yes, I am disappointed that Otis was unwilling (unable?) to find a trade that would make us better. However, with the dramatic improvement from where we were when he took over, I still have to give him the benefit of the doubt. With the possible exception of over-spending for Shard and Meer, his moves seem to be taking us in the right direction so far. We may look back in a few years and say those contracts were money well spent. Also, if you don't think you can get an impact player with the MLE - please remember that Hedo is in the middle of the MLE contract that brought him to the Magic.

quote: Originally posted by the notorious S.A.C.:Shaqs expiring is an asset...if it helped acquire Lebron, bosh, Wade or anyone other than pat garrity, foyle or acres it would be considered a positive. Otis is paid alot of money to be the guy that calls memphis not lets memphis call us....particularly with an asset set to expire at a known date and time! Im quite sure the Lakers picks will be late picks with their core and coaching...and kobe...who will now stay. Crittenton....well 18 other teams passed on him, so I dont think 2 late firsts and a #18 pick is alot for a player who may help you win it all. If he had moved the contracts for only a future 1st would it be better than what he did...heck...even move it for a future 2nd....anything...but to get zero...nada...not even a candy bar...and try to sell magic fans on we didnt want to mess with team chemistry...thats ludicrous...and an embarassment from your general manager. For the second time, just because a player with a $20M salary is coming off your books, doesn't mean you have all, or any of it available to sign a different player. I know this is a gross simplification, but the main idea is, if you are $12M over the cap, and you waive the $20M player's rights to remove his "cap hold", you are now $8M under the cap, and can sign a different player up to the that $8M. You can use all or part of the $20M to re-sign that specific player, and use him in a sign & trade. This makes Shaq a really bad fit for the Magic, who don't need a center to "clog up the middle"; which is what Phoenix needed him for. Marion is a good player, and might have been a viable option, if you traded Lewis. He may be more capable of playing the PF, and then you have "answered a need". The problems then becomes, 1) does Phoenix want Lewis enough to do that deal, and 2) can you re-sign Marion, either to keep or trade. I don't see Phoenix doing that deal, as Lewis doesn't answer their "need", and they didn't seem interested in expiring contracts for Marion. Could we have re-signed him, either to keep or to deal? Maybe, but why do it to "rent" him. Miami will now be under the cap if they release their rights to him. We wouldn't have been. I think we could have matched the deal Memphis got for Gasol. Unfortunately, so does almost every GM in the league. The fact that trade was such a complete surprise tells me that no one else knew about it before-hand. Otis was not alone in missing out on that option. That leaves JKidd as the other "big contract" player you mentioned. New Jersey got Ager, Diop, DHarris, Hassell, Van Horn, two first-round picks, and $3M for Kidd, Malik Allen, and Antoine Wright. Could we have matched that? If you go with the theory that Devin Harris was the "centerpiece" of the trade from the Nets perspective, then probably not. I don't think Jameer is that caliber yet, if he ever will be. Arroyo is older, and less likely to improve much beyond what he is now. Could we have thrown Redick, Battie, Arroyo, Bogans, and Garrity together with draft picks/money for a similar deal? Yes, but which deal would NJ do, especially with Kidd pushing for Dallas? Should Otis have done a deal with some/all of our expiring contracts to fill our biggest whole at PF? If it was the right deal, absolutely! Was the right deal available for a PF that would work for us and for the other team? Maybe, maybe not. I personally thought we should have aggressively pursued Stromile Swift, who was one of the first, smaller trades that happened prior to the Gasol/Shaq/Marion/Kidd mega-deals. I don't know if we pursue him or not? Prior to the deal happening, I hadn't heard anything about Swift being "on the block", so who knows if Otis tried to get him? Going forward, the Magic will be over the salary cap with the salaries for Dwight, Shard, Hedo, Meer, Redick, Battie, Cook, Gortat, Foyle, Bogans who all have contracts for next year. Even if both Foyle and Bogans decline their player options to become free agents, and you waive Gortat for the salary protection; you are probably at or slightly above the cap. We will have the ability to re-sign the specific pieces, and maybe another piece with the MLE. I'm okay with that.

quote: Originally posted by THEREALTRUTH:The real thruth is that the problem is not CA, THE PROBLEM IS: The stupid mistake of the 35Millions that J.Nelson is going to received. Good for J.Nelson and his family. This situation will happened with any NBA Player even better that Arroyo. Mr. Otis is trying to justified his bad move by sitting players for the entire game like Arroyo and Redick. Somebody have to awake him that the J.Nelson bad move was alredy done but don't give orders to SV to not playing Arroyo or Reddick. The ultimate truth - SVG had Arroyo starting while Jameer was out, and continuedto have him start after Meer came back, because the team was winning. A couple of bad games for CA, and the team losing is what put CA back on the bench. The team winning again with Meer back in the starting line-up is what is keeping him on the bench. Dooling is a better defender than either CA or Meer, and always brings energy off the bench. CA doesn't play as well off the bench, so unless he starts, he doesn't get minutes - no conspiracy. Meer is a little more consistent as a starter, and brings more energy off the bench than CA; which is why he can get minutes off the bench when he isn't starting, and why he inevitably takes back the starter position when CA has his slumps.

quote: Originally posted by the notorious S.A.C.:Let me elaborate on the failure of Otis. Could we have packaged enough expirings and a couple guys for shaq...sure...marion is a free agent in the summer so miami traded shaq just to clear cap space for the summer free agent crop. So we pick up an aging shaq....who seems to be playing quite well in phoenix in limited minutes. He has a great upside...maybe a championship maker next to dwight.... Now the downside....he cant play, his hip bothers him and we are stuck with a 20 million buck contract till 2009....lets see what free agents are available to spend 20 million bucks on that year...lebron, wade....wow...what a downside....Its a win win for the magic but we are now stuck and cant exceed the cap....for a long time. I hope youll think as much about Otis wwhen he gave up our opportunity for nothing and mismanaged one of the most important assets in our teams history. Just think we may have gave up lebron for nothing...it could have worked but we made no effort and mismanaged an incredible asset. I hope youll also enjoy that last year of rashards lengthy contract when he is getting 25 million in his 16th year in the league when Otis had no reason to add that year. Okay genius, what contracts/players do you think Otis could have packaged for Shaq, or Marion, or Kidd? The only players we have with contracts that could begin to match up are Dwight or Shard. Should we give up on Shard because he isn't the best PF in the East? News flash - he isn't a PF, just a professional playing out of position all year and trying to make his team better! I won't even suggest a deal built around Dwight for Shaq! Even Isaih Thomas isn't that stupid!! To get to Marion's $16M, or Shaq's $20M you would need to trade something like the following to get close without Dwight or Rashard: Arroyo $4M Dooling $4M (rounding up) Garrity $4M (rounding up) Battie $5M (Miami might not want, 4 years left on contract) Redick or Bogans $2-2.4M Cool, now we have Marion, another out-of-position SF to play the PF, but no backup PG; or Shaq, who doesn't have the 12-15 foot jumper so he will clog up the middle playing with Dwight, no backup PG, and no backup SG. How do these trades make us better?!? They don't in the short term, and they probably don't in the long term. If you get Marion you either better be able to re-sign and build with him; or you better have a pretty good sign and trade lined up. Think there are a lot of buyers out there? As for Shaq's contract, yes it expires in 2009, but just because you have a $20M contract expiring doesn't mean you have $20M in cap space to replace him. That means you now have to find another team to trade his expiring contract to, in order to get player(s) for him. And you want to get on Otis about tying our hands - you want to put them in handcuffs, and then wrap them with duct tape and chains.

quote: Originally posted by 30Assists:It's true that Dwight's a center and Bosh is a power forward, but did you see who had to guard him last game? Our boy Dwight. Granted, with a true PF, Dwight wouldn't have to, but Bosh is just a really good player, too. Dwight tends to have pretty good games against the Raps, anyway, so I'm not sure there's any "ownership" there - Dwight sweeps in a lot of boards and usually has a few blocks in games against the Raps. Like others have said, it's a matter of containing Bosh, but making sure he doesn't have help from his teammates. Yes, Dwight does get stuck matching up with Bosh a lot when we play Toronto; and yes, he does usually sweep a lot of boards and get a few blocks, but what concerns me is that they force us to try to match up with them. Toronto isn't a good match up for us, as their strengths seem to match up with our weaknesses. They have point guards who are good at getting to the middle off the dribble; and they have one of the best PF in Bosh. We have trouble keeping point guards out of the middle, and we have a career SF playing out of position at the PF. Anyway you cut it, that is a dangerous mix for us.

I like that Brian Cook is finally getting into playing shape, and that he is earning some consistent minutes. If he continues to work on learning SVG's defensive rotations, and continues to work on getting in better shape, he should continue to be a very valuable rotation player. I like that he is 28, in the prime of his career. I don't like his defense, as he isn't athletic enough, or a good enough positional rebounder. In fact, he reminds me a bit of Garrity before the knee surgeries. (Though I think Garrity worked harder!) I don't think he will ever be a starter, as I don't think he has the all-around game to take the position away from Rashard Lewis, even though Shard is really a SF. I am not saying that Lewis is a better defender (at least at the PF position), as they both get beat at the position; just that Lewis' all-around game is better. And if he can't move Lewis to another position, what chance would he have of replacing a legitimate PF? I like him where he is, playing 10-15 minutes off the bench; providing some instant offense, and being a little better than most other teams bench players. He is like Dooling - a good bench man on a good team. He could be starting for a poor team, but why would he really want to?

quote: Originally posted by jmmagicfan:If we are going to get any "free agent" signees for the rest of the season, we need to look at PF - Nick Fazekas was recently waived and is available, Mike Sweetney has been a free agent all season. Either would be better than Flip Murray, and possibly better than Augustine and/or Gortat.

If we are going to get any "free agent" signees for the rest of the season, we need to look at PF - Nick Fazekas was recently waived and is available, Mike Sweetney has been a free agent all season. Either wood be better than Flip Murray, and possibly better than Augustine and/or Gortat.

quote: Originally posted by MrHopper:If you all havent noticed playoff basketball is about one thing...MATCHUPS...alla the MAVS and WARRIORS last season...The lowest seeded team that gives us teh toughest matchup is the Raptors...bottom line...Bosh owns Dwight. And their guards EVERY GAME seem to have career nights against us...There is a reason for that...they are a tough matchup for us...only way we beat them is to pound the post..but this team is in love with the jumper so we know that wont happen..So my vote is to not see the Raptors at all during the playoffs While I agree with you about the Raptors being a tough matchup for us, I have to pick a (minor) bone with you about Bosh "owns" Dwight. What Bosh owns is the PF position, which we don't have a good matchup for him at. In case you haven't noticed, Dwight is a center.

I think we have to look at who we can realistically expect to have, and who we can realistically expect to sign for a portion or all of the MLE. Under contract Nelson Redick, Bogans(Player option) Turkoglu, Lewis Battie, Cook Howard, Foyle?(Player option), Gortat I don't believe either Maggette or Artest (please, no!) would actually sign for the MLE, so we need to look at players who can be had for all or a portion, and/or who might sign for the veteran minimum. We need to try to resign Dooling and Evans. I doubt that Bogans will opt out, so that means we only need one more guard. If we can get Jason Williams for a portion of the MLE, great. If not, I like Earl Boykins or Darrell Armstrong for a backup PG. Assuming that Foyle doesn't opt out (which he might!), you might be able to pick up Stromile Swift for another big. A cheaper option, if you work him into shape, is Michael Sweetney. Assuming Fran Vazquez' husband still won't let him come over to America, you still have a draft pick to fit in. This gives you the following: Nelson, Boykins/Armstrong, Dooling Evans, Bogans, Redick Turkoglu, Lewis, Draft Pick(?) Swift, Cook, Battie Howard, Foyle/Sweetney, Gortat You might be able to package some combination of Bogans, Redick, Draft Pick in a sign & trade for a better SG/SF, depending on if there is one you really like that will fit. (Please, not Artest, anyone but Artest)

quote: Originally posted by cac67: quote: Originally posted by Kramer:Well about 'Shard playing the 2, I don't think so. He plays the power foward position better than Turk and that would imply he is stronger and if I was to guess, a stronger 6'10 basketball player would be a slower, less agile one. So I bet Hedo would play shooting guard You think turk is more agile than lewis? Lewis is probably both stronger and more agile than Turk, but I don't recall hearing about him ever playing the SG spot. I believe Turk played some backup minutes there before coming to the Magic. Also, I think Turk is a (slightly) better ballhandler, so putting him in the backcourt makes better sense. Unfortunately, we don't have a big to start with Dwight up front who is better than an out-of-position Lewis right now; though Cook has shown some signs of being an effective option now that he is getting back into game shape, I don't think he has enough consistent presence to move Lewis out of the PF position. I said before the season started that Lewis would have a hard time competing night-in, night-out while playing the PF; and though he certainly isn't the best PF in the league, or even in the East, I have to take my hat off to him for the effort. Also, I don't think I have seen any press on him whining about playing out of position. Can you name any other max-contract player that has been forced by circumstance to play out of position so long, and has done so in as professional a manner? I can't!

quote: Originally posted by BRich:"we're not the best, we're not the worst" that about sums it all up. That's the state of our franchise. And that'll pretty much be how it will be for the next 5 years. They're content with that. I fail to see the flexibility we have. We have 55 million tied up in 10 players next year (maybe a million or two less if we don't bring back Foyle and Gortat). Some combination of Carlos/Dooling/Evans will have to be re-signed. And we'll have the draft/MLE to work with. And as far as I know, that would have been the case if we would have acquired a body today. Either way, we're going to be over the cap and working with exceptions and picks. I don't see how staying still today made us more flexible. It doesn't - you can go above the salary cap to re-sign certain of your own free-agents(Bird rights), and use them in a sign & trade; but if you go the sign & trade route I don't think you can combine them with other players. So, instead of trading Arroyo/Garrity for Thomas/minimum salary filler; you can only re-sign Arroyo and trade him by himself for another player(s) whose salary is in the same range(125%+$100K of his, maximum).

You won't see JJ playing much more than he does now unless two of the following are injured at the same time: Nelson Arroyo Dooling Evans Bogans

quote: Originally posted by Tough Break There:I'm satisfied with being the 3rd seed, and will be plenty happy with a win in the first round of the playoffs. Expecting anymore out of this team this is insane, and few predicted we'd be where we are at this point in the year. Titles build slowly. We have the money to sign role players and Vets that are willing to come in cheap and make us Title contenders. That's how the NBA works. The foundation is set, it will not take money and big name FA's to put us over the top. Especially when considering the two top teams in the East are rapidly aging. And the last time I checked the World Champs only had one All-star. Maybe you need to check again - the last time I looked they also had a finals MVP/PG in Tony Parker and a SG/SF sixth-man in Ginobili - both of whom would probably make the all-star team in the (L)Eastern Conference. Can you honestly say that you wouldn't trade any three of the Magic guards for Parker and Ginobili?!?! That trade would never happen, so it isn't really here or there, other than you point of the "World Champs only had one" being just plain silly. The point is that you have several expiring contracts on players that you probably will not re-sign, several players that are getting no playing time, at least one of which (JJ) other teams have shown interest in. With the crazy amount of trades that went down, I find it very difficult to believe that we couldn't get anything done for a reasonably good PF/C. The only thing I can think that might make no move a good idea is if you think there might be a PF/C that will sign for the rest of the season after getting bought out (Doleac?), or who isn't currently playing (PJ Brown?). I agree we will have "no money" other than the MLE to sign anyone else's free agents next year. As far as I am aware, we can go above the cap to re-sign most of our own. So, you re-sign a couple that you want, let the rest go, and fill the spots with your draft pick, one MLE free agent, maybe Fran Vazquez comes over, or minimum contract veterans who want to play with Dwight. Orlando Magic Trade Player Salary YR Next Year Carlos Arroyo $4,000,000 1 re-sign Arroyo or Dooling, not both James Augustine $687,456 1 probably goes, but might be a mininum contract fill Tony Battie $5,200,000 3 $5,700,000(?) Keith Bogans $2,440,000 1 probably goes Brian Cook (TR) $3,500,000 2 $3,850,000(?) Keyon Dooling $3,596,000 1 re-sign Arroyo or Dooling, not both Maurice Evans (TR) $1,740,000 1 re-sign Evans as reasonably as possible Adonal Foyle $1,219,590 1 probably goes, someone else will overpay him Pat Garrity $3,818,750 1 probably goes, someone else might pay a shooter Marcin Gortat $427,163 2 probably goes, but might be a minimum contract fill Dwight Howard (PPP) $6,061,274 6 $14,200,000(?) Rashard Lewis (TR) $14,884,951 6 $15,300,000(?) Jameer Nelson (PPP) $1,961,609 6 $6,000,000(?) J.J. Redick $2,000,160 2 $2,200,000(?), cheap insurance for the SG spot Hedo Turkoglu $6,373,900 3 $7,100,000(?) which leaves you with the following: Starting Backup PG Nelson Dooling SG Turkoglu Redick SF Lewis Evans PF Battie Cook C Howard Hopefully, you can pick up a decent big; either through the draft, or the MLE, and then fill the rest with what you can find. I wish we had been able to package some of those expiring contracts to get a starting PF, and I can't believe that Otis wouldn't pull the trigger on Kurt Thomas for Arroyo and an expiring contract. That only makes sense if the expiring contract they wanted was Dooling's or Evans'. You couldn't let both Arroyo and Dooling go without getting a PG in return.

The main points seem to be: What we are doing now isn't working, so why not try something else? and Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. I would have to agree with the first wholeheartedly, but the jury is still out on the second. (See Phoenix in the post-season the last few years) Perhaps instead of trying to shut down the other teams best player at the SG/SF position, we should instead take a page out of the other book - guard everyone else tight and make that player beat us by themselves. So what if Kobe scores 50 - keep everyone else under 10 and you probably still win. Isn't that part of how everyone is beating Miami this year? Concentrate on everyone else and let D-Wade do it alone?

quote: Originally posted by UCF Twinz:We suck at defense. We flat-out got our behinds handed to us by mr. hughes. He was just on tonight, man was throwing up anything and drilling it, he was in the zone. But the thing that got me was the second chance points they had and how easy they were getting offensive rebounds. We need a rebounder at the 4. We cant play small ball with lewis at the 4 anymore. We can not fall into a lull and expect to be a comptetive team come playoffs if we stroll in playing .500 ball. I said at the beginning of the year that Lewis couldn't play the PF for the full year. He isn't physically up to the pounding. Having said that, this trade works on the ESPN trade machine. Milwaukee gets: Smush Parker, JJ Redick, Adonal Foyle Miami gets: Charlie Villanueva, Carlos Arroyo Orlando gets: Udonis Haslem, Jake Voshkul, Royal Ivey It also is interesting enough for all three teams that it could possibly get done.

NBA, where the truly bizarre sometimes happens. You play the odds, try to slow down the "star" player, and make the other guys beat you. The problem is, we aren't really slowing down the star that much. Maybe it's time to try the other path. Shut down the rest of the guys, and make the "star" beat you by himself.

quote: Originally posted by BRich:I blame Dwight's baby LOL - yeah, the new papa isn't getting enough sleep at home. Maybe it istime to play J.J. and see if making the other teams SG play some defense will make their offensive game suffer. Apparently the defense being provided by our SG/SF isn't slowing them down much!

quote: Originally posted by StufFtheMagicDragon:I think Redick will be traded if not in the offseason then next season. There's no way: a) The Magic will let a guy who has been benched for 2 seasons get the playing time to become a star. The Magic are too PR oriented and are afraid if Redick turns into an NBA star (as popular as he already is with the home crowd) people will ask why was Otis and Van Gundy so foolish having him benched for 2 years? B) There's no way a competitor like Redick would want to stay in the happily-mediocre franchine that will never win anything with the three stooges -Vanderweide Otis and Stan- running it like it was an ice cream stand. I would have to agree with you 0%. For those of you math-challenged - it means I couldn't disagree with you any more if I tried. There are only two possibilities for J.J. to get traded: 1) You have to include him in a deal to get an established PF - Wilcox, Haslem, (maybe) Villanueva. 2) You have to include him in a deal to get an established SG who makes Evans, Bogans, and JJ all obsolete. Otherwise Otis does the smart thing, and hangs onto him as (relatively) cheap insurance. At the end of this season the following guards contracts expire: Arroyo Dooling Bogans Evans The odds are against the Magic resigning all of them, so now you go from being guard-heavy, to being short-handed. At best, you re-sign three; but probably not more than two (please let them be Dooling & Evans); and then you try to draft and/or sign a PF and another PG. At that point, JJ becomes the obvious beneficiary of the playing time.

Here is a three-way with Milwaukee, Miami, and Orlando that I think works for all three. Granted, we don't end up with Villanueva, Miami does, but I think this type of deal has more chance of getting done, and we do end up with Haslem. http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?playe...5~15~19~15&te=&cash=

I don't think we got value for TAriza, but I also don't think that his value was improving sitting on the bench. I doubt that this was the best deal we could get for Trevor. Evans is an okay addition, and I haven't seen enough of Cookie Blarrity to judge him, but combined they don't give us what Trevor might have. If nothing else, we might have tried a sign & trade with the Cavs for Varejao.

If you are going to dream, dream big. In no particular order. Kevin Garnett Rasheed Wallace Antwan Jamieson Carlos Boozer Elton Brand Amare Stoudemire Tim Duncan Chris Bosh I mean, come on, dream big!!

1: Rasheed Wallace - fills the biggest whole at the PF, without clogging up the middle for Dwight. He is one of the three biggest a**es in the league, he whines way too much, and I don't like him. But I would like him better playing for us than against. 2: Gary Payton in his prime - the "Glove" was an arrogant, mouthy a** in Seattle, but would have been a great compliment player with Dwight. A lot less PG penetrations to get Dwight in foul trouble, a decent passer to get the ball inside; a good outside shooter to keep the middle open, and a good aggressive drive and score/dish off guy. 3: Charles Oakley in his prime - tough, hard-fouling PF who could hit the 15 footer to keep the defense honest. Would have hated to have him playing against Dwight, but love to have had him dishing out his own version of payback alongside.

quote: Originally posted by random:In the first 9 games of the season, we went 7W-2L with him, only losing to Phoenix and Detroit. Then he got injured and without him we went 10W-7L. Now he comes back for the game in Houston and we come up with the W. Coincidence? I don't think so, he's our guy! Go Pat, Go Magic! I have said that I like Pat's game in conjunction with the other Magic players. He has the spot-up shot to draw the other teams PF out, and is willing to give up his body on defense. I am not saying that he is a good defender, so don't smack me on this! I am saying that he works hard to put a body on the PF and make them work harder to score. Should he be starting, no. Is he a valuable piece in the "4 shooters around Dwight to free up space" plan, yes. Will we win extra games because he played?? Maybe. Sometimes the games come down to one or two possessions. We always hear the basketball guys saying someone does the "little things that don't show up in the boxscore, but help you win a game". Are those little things bodying out the opposing PF one step when he is trying to make his move, or tipping a rebound so it stays alive instead of immediately being caught by your opponent?