Goulet

Yes Vince has been taking a lot of shots but if he needs to take 15-20 shots a game to get back in the rhythm, then I am willing to have some 1-14 or 3-15 nights if we start seeing him score 25 a game in a couple weeks. Vince will get it together eventually, it is a game of streaks, he will turn it around with the FG%. Also it's not like we aren't trying to get Dwight FG attempts. Teams are fouling him more often/harder/ and earlier in the shot clock than last year. Watching the Utah game last night, anytime Dwight put the ball on the floor they would all dip down and clog the paint with double or triple teams, then if he would make an aggressive move and try to score they would just shove him or jump on his back and send him to the line. I think the key is to make sure we run our offense through Dwight, that does not mean he needs a certain amount of shots per night. That means we through it in to him then he can make a decision with the ball. It would have been foolish for Dwight to take 10-15 shots last night because they all would have been against double teams. If teams are going to play Dwight this way then I think the shot distribution will stay a little lower for Dwight. Having said all that, I wouldn't mind seeing Rashard get some more post up opportunities. If VC's shots go anywhere, I would like to see them go to Lewis and JJ(If he keeps up this great play) Go Magic!

quote: Originally posted by datmagic:if Andre 3000 plays, we win. Lol nice

I do not understand the reasoning behind the title to this thread. 3rd in the east? The average of all the voters is 2.2---I'm no Einstein but to me, that seems a lot closer to 2 than 3 so if anything they are predicting us to finish 2nd. But now that I look at the other teams, Boston got a 2.1 and Cleveland a 1.7. so if you look at it that way, we got the third highest ranking even though its closer to 2. So I guess I answered my own question. Go Magic!

The one positive-We save 1.6 million dollars if Lewis doesnt play the first 10 games. They mentioned it in the ESPN article. A little extra spending money in Mr. Devos' pocket.

The only way I see us pulling off a deal with them is if we get Nenad Krstic in return because we will need a back-up center. Then maybe we ask for Livingston and the ability to swap 1st round picks with them in 2010. Now I would go for this trade if they would because Nenad makes less than Gortat and is only under contract for 2 years instead of 5. So we would still have a legit back-up center, we would have more PG depth(even though Livingston doesnt fit our PG mold because he cant shoot the 3) and we would move from pick 25-30 in the draft to around pick 3-10. Or if this is asking too much, we could just ask for a 2nd round pick instead of switching firsts, I dont know how much value Gortat has to the rest of the league...

quote: Originally posted by Knappy: quote: Originally posted by the notorious S.A.C.:If there were some way of turning brian hill into our 3rd point guard knappy would explode! What would be great is if Carlos went to NJ. Love it.

quote: Originally posted by Miller4Prez64: quote: Originally posted by rtillaree: quote: Originally posted by Miller4Prez64: quote: Originally posted by est. 1984: Yeah they're stacked at PG, but when they had the opportunity to let him walk they passed on it because for whatever reason they probably want to get something out of him down the road whether it's his play or having him as an asset. Stacked at PG? A SG playing out of position, a rookie, and two scrubs is stacked? Watson is their best pure PG. I really hope at this point we end up signing him simply so the majority of us can all just stare at you... I hope we sign him too but the Warriors aren't letting a young talent walk when they can keep him for cheap. Im not saying they wont match the offer but I do not think you should be so certain, they already have 6 guards on their roster all of which are young and have potential just like Watson(except for Claxton). I think its a little ridiculous to criticize Otis for offering him a contract just because they might match. Thats the way the process works, and you would be foolish to not offer a contract to a player you like just because the other team might match. Lets hope that they dont match because this young guy definitely seems like he could bring some energy and scoring off the bench and with Stan screaming at him after every play, he may turn into a decent point guard if he takes Stan's harsh advice the right way.

Great signing. Its amazing how much everyone is debating this. Bass is a very talented young player that will make a large impact on our team and we got him for a pretty good price. Good job Otis, instead of signing Hedo to an overpriced deal, we got Carter and Bass. I dont know about everyone else, but I am very excited to see this team get on the floor. Go Magic.

My question is it beneficial for Anderson to even be playing? We need to find at least a couple guys to sign from this squad. We know Anderson will be a staple on our bench and may eventually start some day but we do not know what we have in these other guys. Is it good for Anderson to be out there getting a lot of minutes and shots when we already know he has a spot on the team? The positive is that he is getting some early work and can hopefully be in the grove early in the season but the downside is he is taking minutes and shots from the guys we need to evaluate for the end of our bench. GOOD or BAD?

quote: Originally posted by Lewis4thewin: quote: Originally posted by Goulet: quote: Originally posted by Lewis4thewin:ager will stick. ager, pargo, and hendrix is not a bad last 3 guys on the bench. I dont see how Ager would have a roll on this team, he is a 6'5" SF who can not shoot the 3 AT ALL(he's made 8 in his career and none last year) and has little ball handling skills. Unless he develops a jump shot, I can not see Stan or Otis wanting him on our team 1. hes a shooting guard. 2. he was jj'ed for his first 3 years on the bench. when you play 5 minutes a game in 78 career games in 3 years its hard to get your stroke. 3. heres his 2006 draft profile. Strengths When talking about all-around offensive threats at the wing position, Maurice Ager

quote: Originally posted by Lewis4thewin:ager will stick. ager, pargo, and hendrix is not a bad last 3 guys on the bench. I dont see how Ager would have a roll on this team, he is a 6'5" SF who can not shoot the 3 AT ALL(he's made 8 in his career and none last year) and has little ball handling skills. Unless he develops a jump shot, I can not see Stan or Otis wanting him on our team

quote: Originally posted by ReeceGaines: quote: Rasheed Wallace

Yes we especially could use a decent third PG now that we got rid of Lee and may not have Turk back, last season when Jameer went down AJ and Hedo were able to split time with the PG duties but if Hedo is gone then we need a decent third option or need to hope that Jameer stays healthy all season

Duncan has been listed as a PF for all-star voting the last couple years along with some others on that list but maybe Duncan will slide back over to C for voting with Yao out and Shaq gone.

By basketball standards, 6'10" is not almost 7' but yes he would definitely add some muscle to the end of our bench if nothing else. What i found interesting is that he was 5/13 from 3 point range, I know the European 3 is different but that's good to see that he has some sort of jump shot. In my opinion it would be good for him to get another year or two of seasoning before he comes over and tries to crack our squad but im always open to seeing what he can do in the summer league.

Everyone keeps talking about how we need another starting caliber SF/PF and although I dont think it would hurt, I dont see it as being necessary. We have a versatile team and with the way Pietrus and Lewis can slide around, all we really need is an SF to play about 10-15 minutes. If you start Nelson Carter Pietrus Lewis Howard Then Lewis can slide down and and play 10-15 minutes at SF when Pietrus comes out with Anderson backing up the PF for 20-25 minutes. In this scenario, Pietrus would only have to play about 25 minutes like he did last year and we would be relying on JJ to give us about 12 minutes a night(So that might be a problem, but you could give more minutes to Pietrus by letting him slide down to back up SG on nights when JJ doesnt match up well) Also if we are able to sign Gortat then Howard and Gortat can play together occasionally allowing Lewis more minutes at SF. So...long story short, we definitely could use another starting caliber player but it is not vital as long as we can sign a couple decent bench players, especially an SF to play about 15 minutes.

Everyone keeps talking about how we need another starting caliber SF/PF and although I dont think it would hurt, I dont see it as being necessary. We have a versatile team and with the way Pietrus and Lewis can slide around, all we really need is an SF to play about 10-15 minutes. If you start Nelson Carter Pietrus Lewis Howard Then Lewis can slide down and and play 10-15 minutes at SF when Pietrus comes out with Anderson backing up the PF for 20-25 minutes. In this scenario, Pietrus would only have to play about 25 minutes like he did last year and we would be relying on JJ to give us about 12 minutes a night(So that might be a problem, but you could give more minutes to Pietrus by letting him slide down to back up SG on nights when JJ doesnt match up well) Also if we are able to sign Gortat then Howard and Gortat can play together occasionally allowing Lewis more minutes at SF. So...long story short, we definitely could use another starting caliber player but it is not vital as long as we can sign a couple decent bench players, especially an SF to play about 15 minutes.

quote: Originally posted by Kberto:This movie will make Kazaam look like a best picture winner at the academy. Dwight, why? What are you going to tell me next, the movie stars Michael Cera? This is mac man bad. If you ever rip on Michael Cera again i will come to your house and cry outside your window. You have either never seen arrested development or you are deaf. those are the only logical explanations i can come up with for you not thinking he is funny.

Kum Ba Yah my lord, Kum Ba Yah....

quote: Originally posted by ucfknights22: quote: Originally posted by Naught-Nole-Magic: quote: Originally posted by ucfknights22:This is a little off topic but what about tickets? I know they went on presale this morning at 10. I have the code but when I use it for game 1 and game 2, it's not showing any tickets. Are they sold out already or do they only sell so many in presale? i think that's because pre-sale starts TOMORROW morning, the 2nd. My guess was right. If you have the presale code, you can buy tickets today. I was able to get tickets already for game 2. Would anyone mind posting the pre-sale code if they have it?

So if we play boston then obviously they have homecourt advantage but if we play chicago then we get home court adavantage and the first game of the series right?

quote: Originally posted by Dr. Evil:Yeah Rip@! Good to see you have no friends on your board to chat with.

Redick has played some great D tonight. Redick gets beaten off the dribble a lot but since Hamilton loves to work off screens so much, it is actually working into J.J.'s favor. He understands screens and movement without the ball, because that is how he scores most of his points. He has chased Hamilton all night and done a great job at it. Also he realized that Gortat cant catch crap so he gave him a bounce pass on his last drive to the hoop so that Marcin wouldnt fumble it. Great game for J.J.

Wow Dwight looks tiny next to Shaq

I'm watching the Bulls game on WGN and they were talking about who should have made a move before the deadline that didn't, and the announcer said the magic should have made a move especially with Nelson out for the season. I guess he doesn't consider Alston a move or just forgot, but we play them in a couple nights and hopefully Alston can refresh his memory.