iddelen

One more Turk in Magic would bring a little movement to this forum full of smart alecks. I must admit the idea excites me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbfixFpVJdo The referee looks alarmed by the way Hedo approaches him. Maybe he thought he will finally be punished for the bull**** refereeing. Luckily the second ref was not as aphephobic as the first one. Else Hedo could easily get the second tech while explaining (which would be quite funny). I think technical foul was acceptable but suspension is over the top.

He is what he is. One should still be able to admit that he played well in the 4th.

we lose this one but win the next one

Nice read. Hedo is the 454. greatest NBA player of all times according to the Slam Magazine. If that does not mean anything...

Though loss and horrendous officiating. But nice game thread though with so many posts.

Does this mean if Otis finds upgrades in these positions Magic will become a better team? I still don't think so.

Well, this is not entirely true. It is believed that unlike glucose-insulin regulation in your body all fructose is sent to liver. Your liver can process only certain amount of fructose at a time. If this amount is exceeded your body starts making fats from the fructose and sends them into your veins as triglyceride, which is the main substance of vegetable oil and animal fats. High levels of triglycerides can cause hardening of the arteries, heart disease or stroke which is quite a BAD thing for your body. So not every sugar is processed the same. I am neither a doctor nor an expert. Just sayin'.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Anyone who calls him lazy reg. one last game performance is either unjust or biased. His overall effort since the trade has been much much better than two years ago. And I think this is the point cetintas22 is trying to make.

It was reported that he's been eating spicy food a lot. Crohn's usually starts in the intestines. He is probably gonna be fine soon.

Actually this was what I was referring to in my previous post. Not having a pass-first PG allows Turk to act as a facilitator and a point forward in SVG's system. This strategy, which causes many match-up issues to other teams, would not immediately work with a PG that would prefer to have the ball in his hands most of the time (remember Calderon/Hedo or Nash/Hedo experiences). I am not saying that there might be other strategies in this case, but it would take time to establish those. Thus getting a better player for the weakest position does not make a team instantly better. It was a similiar situation with the assigment of Vince. Vince did not replace Turk, he replaced CLee - the weakest position on the team then. Turk was actually replaced by Barnes. On the paper Magic had become a better team all in all, but that new team was forced to play in another system than the finals team. I think this is exactly what Dwight lamented in his latest intervew: Does this mean he wants CLee back? I don't think so. He was rather missing the system, the chemistry and everything about the finals team. And the current team is the next best thing that resembles it. Unfortunately other teams become too strong in the meantime.

...along with my personal thanks for getting the best out of Hedo. Win over Pacers was SVG's 200th with Magic!

Nice read!

Let's assume for a second that our weakest position is point guard. Would Magic become a better team if we trade for a better PG like D.Williams? I doubt that. Such a trade would change the way we play a lot. I think this team we have now will get better in time, esp. at the defensive end. I assume Otis will be looking for another big before the deadline instead of a PG. And we will see where it gets us to. Another point is whatever we do we will always have a weakest position. Every team has one.

Not that I have (or had) any hope for early afternoon or late evening games soon as long as it is not beneficiary for NBA. But just out of curiosity: Who actually decides when a game is to be played. Home team, NBA and/or broadcasters?

+100! I'm all in for more afternoon games or late evening games (so that you can wake up early and watch the game) but 7.00 pm (which is 1.00 am in Centrale Europe) is just killing me ...and my job.

Now this is exactly our lineup at the moment. We'll see if it works.

SVG goes for this five in the 4th and we win: Jameer JJ JRich Hedo Dwight

I am not a big fan of Jameer but making a scapegoat out of one player for the late loses is just not right. OKC played exceptionally good basketball, were good in transition and ran back very well after turnovers and lost rebounds. I cannot remember if Magic had a fast-break point at all in the whole game whereas OKC definitely had a few. They were also shooting the lights out, whereas 3 Magic starters had less than 10 pts. each, and combined for 31% shooting. OKC starters on the other scored way beyond their season averages. Their worst scorer, Sefolosha, was shooting 100% from the field!!! That it was even a close game is almost a miracle and a sign that Magic will become better over time. The “trade” was just 3 weeks ago. Give these guys some time to gel before asking for Meer’s head. At the moment it is Bass’ I am more concerned about esp. at the defensive end, but probably that’s just me.

Reg. +/- stats D. Fisher has +46 and Mo Williams -43. How ridiculous is that?!

Here is the link. Funny stuff.

"'Hedo Turkoglu should have never left' He said it. I swear he did. Otis Smith said he might have made a mistake. In perhaps the first documented case in professional sports history of a general manager or coach perhaps admitting he made a personnel blunder, Magic GM Otis Smith told me the other day that the organization might have erred when it let Hedo Turkoglu leave two years ago. Now that Turk is back and meshing marvelously — just like he did two years ago when he was the second-most important player on a Magic team that went to the NBA Finals — Smith actually said these words: "Yes, I was wrong." But, of course, he added a qualifier..." Here is the full article by Mike Bianchi who had written right the opposite in his blog two years ago. I was quite pissed at Otis, when he let him go then. But I am happy he took him back and Hedo is even in a better shape now. Somehow it seems the universe is balanced again.

Wow, are you pregnant? Grats! :unsure:

For Pritchard it might have worked better, because Portland would be able to use Hedo as a facilitator considering their point guard situation then. But we will never know. I don't think he would have worked out well there either, Andre doesn't play as well off the ball as Jameer does and Roy really doesn't seem to like not having the ball in his hands, we are sort of a perfect storm for Hedo. If my memory serves me right Portland signed Andre after Hedo headed to Toronto. I don't think they would have signed him anyway, if Hedo had stayed. Hence I stay with "we'll never know". Vince was not a bad contract, he was a low risk gamble. If Vince didn't work out Otis knew that he could move him or not resign him after last year. He cost more for 1 yr, and gave us the flexibility to fix a problem if he didn't work. RIght! Vince was not a replacement for Hedo, he was some other player with better stats and a different style. He changed the way Magic played. His assignment also changed the chemistry. I remember Shard talking to the media how Vince needs the ball in his hands (rather to shoot than to pass) and how it was different with Turk. Changing the chemistry and the system of a team that had reached the finals is and was a far greater risk than the risk of signing Vince by itself. It cost time, money and team chemistry. That move by Otis was highly risky, if not bad. Ironically Vince’s assignment is proved to be a bad one in the very moment as the Suns trade happened. Overall Otis spent much more money to stay a contender than he could have. Side note: I really hope we can keep JJRich though. You mentioned that we didn't have Jameer and that is a fair point however we still didn't look too good against Boston with Jameer when they had KG. KG being out was huge for us, he is a big part of their defense and as our team was constructed we would not have been able to beat them in a series if both our teams were healthy. Bringing Hedo back and making no changes would have gotten us back to the ECF but not past Boston, it would have been essentially the same thing we saw last year in the ECF. Neither Hedo nor Vince would have put us into the finals against a healthy Boston team so what would be the point of bringing him back? The only thing that really matters is winning a title, not getting a bunch of regular season wins which we ended up doing anyway. Otis tried something different, it didn't get us over the top but because he didn't tie up money in that long term deal he allowed us to retool this year, that is why he made the correct decision. The real gamble would have been signing Hedo long term because at that point you have a contract that you will have a hard time moving in addition to Rashards contract. He would essentially be saying, we are going to bet we are going to win with this same exact team getting older. We were able to pick up Richardson and Hedo because Vince's deal was an asset (not necessarily Vince the player). Making that deal gave us more firepower in Richardson to go along with what we are getting from Hedo which is better than 2008 Hedo. I agree that KG being out was huge for us. On the other hand I also remember Big Baby playing exceptionally well in that series, whereas KG not having his best game before his injury. What I am trying to say is: Is it that certain that a starting five of Meer, JJ/CLee, Hedo, Shard, Dwight playing together in consecutive years with the same chemistry and in the well-known system would not be able to compete against a Celtics five with Rondo, Allen, Pierce, KG, Perkins. I am not that sure. Nonetheless I agree with many things you say like the importance of winning a title (esp. from Dwight’s perspective), Vince’s deal being an asset (not necessarily Vince the player) and so on. Where we don’t agree is the real gamble part. I am of the view that Magic would have had a better shot at winning a title if Otis had kept the main team core together that went to the finals (chemistry, system). He would still be able to make some adjustments, if need be. As we all witnessed Hedo’s so called unmovable contract has been moved twice in the last 6 months, as well as Rashard’s and Gilbert’s "unmovable" contracts. You, on the other hand, believe that the finals team had no chance against a healthy Boston (need for a change) and giving Hedo a so-called unmovable, long-term contract being a greater risk than changing the chemistry and the system of the team by signing Vince (low risk move, future asset etc.). I understand your point but I still disagree. But since it is probabilities we are talking about, we can agree to disagree.