Projections & Previews for Magic (Broussard & Hollinger)

[chosen12 75]

I hate it when my team is projected to be one of the top four teams in the league, so I can understand all the anger, doom, and gloom here in the thread.

 

Lakers are defending champs, Boston knocked us out of the playoffs last season, and everyone is in love with the major overhaul of Miami.

 

We made small tweaks to our roster. I don't understand why everyone is up in arms again, is it raining again?

 

The only post that makes any sense! Wow, by now we should all know that when certain people (espn talking heads) speak... "really"... nothing will be said!!

[E27 33]

If I'm not mistaken, we got to the Finals two years ago with everyone sleeping on us. Why freak out about ESPN hate?

[Franchero MVP 391]

I hate it when my team is projected to be one of the top four teams in the league, so I can understand all the anger, doom, and gloom here in the thread.

 

Lakers are defending champs, Boston knocked us out of the playoffs last season, and everyone is in love with the major overhaul of Miami.

 

We made small tweaks to our roster. I don't understand why everyone is up in arms again, is it raining again?

 

I think you're missing the point. I am personally not mad that we are listed 4th. I'm more mad at the reasons WHY they listed us at 4th.

[BMP 424]

The hell do I have to do with this?

 

You would totally do it.

[Ned Ryerson 94]

Future Junkie thread:

 

"Orlando wins, but still manages to miss 30% of their shots (Link)"

[Franchero MVP 391]

[KandiKane 136]

I hate it when my team is projected to be one of the top four teams in the league, so I can understand all the anger, doom, and gloom here in the thread.

 

Lakers are defending champs, Boston knocked us out of the playoffs last season, and everyone is in love with the major overhaul of Miami.

 

We made small tweaks to our roster. I don't understand why everyone is up in arms again, is it raining again?

 

I do not think our ranking by the ESPN is bad. Edited by bhnole: Do not use offensive language

 

It was what they had to say about the magic that was the stupid thing. There idiots, I wish ESPN was not a monopoly.

*Duhon has started for both the bulls and knicks, he is a great back-up who can start.

*Howard is improving every season on offense.

*Lewis will have a better season because he will not have a 10 game suspension, nor health issues of him or his daughter on his mind.

*Gortat, Anderson, Bass, Redick, Nelson, Pietrus, Howard are all still players who may have not hit there peak yet.

[Captain Hi-Top 791]

I do not think our ranking by the ESPN fags is bad.

 

It was what they had to say about the magic that was the stupid thing. There idiots, I wish ESPN was not a monopoly.

*Duhon has started for both the bulls and knicks, he is a great back-up who can start.

*Howard is improving every season on offense.

*Lewis will have a better season because he will not have a 10 game suspension, nor health issues of him or his daughter on his mind.

*Gortat, Anderson, Bass, Redick, Nelson, Pietrus, Howard are all still players who may have not hit there peak yet.

 

They're

 

ESPN is NOT a monopoly. They are a news and sports outlet. It's very difficult to have a monopoly on opinions, and you can find several other entities online and in print that offer their own opinions on sports related topics.

 

It doesn't state Duhon's role with the team, it questions it, seeing as how Orlando re-signed Williams who was the back up PG, it's a semi valid question, though due to Duhon's ability and J-Wills age and decline over the course of last season, it really is a no-brainer to realize he will be the back up PG.

 

It doesn't say Howard isn't improving either, it says that his summer spies say he hasn't been diligently working on his post game. What do YOUR summer spies say?

 

Say what you want about Lewis, but the fact is that his ppg and fg% have all been on the decline for the past three seasons. Sure, we turned him into a jump shooter and gave him a lesser role in the offense (last season), and he is shooting above his career average from behind the arc, but at this stage in his career, to expect some sort of resurgence is a bit misguided. Even is his shot attempts and ppg were to increase this next season, that has to come at the expense of someone else on the team and isn't an improvement in Shard's game, it's a change to the offense.

 

Gortat regressed last season, and plays extremely limited minutes behind Dwight. Anderson and Bass fight for back up minutes as well, though I think this is the biggest spot for improvement on the team, particularly with Anderson, I just don't think it will happen this season, I think it's going to take another season of work and JJ like dedication to improving his game before he really becomes a solid contributor. Pietrus hasn't shown that he can keep focused and stop himself from making silly mistakes long enough for me to expect any sort of significant improvement in his game, on top of that, he seems much more likely to remain parked out beyond the arc and less likely to show his past desire to attack the rim. JJ's biggest area for improvement at this point is his athleticism. It's not going to happen. He has turned himself into a valuable player for this team, but I don't think he has much more room for improvement. Now, as far as Nelson is concerned, I think he will have a better season than last, but he hasn't shown an ability to play with a chip on his shoulder regularly. It seems to be up to the media to motivate him by voicing concern. I'd have more faith in significant improvement on his part if it seemed like he brought the same intensity he is capably of every night.

 

Now, whether you agree with me or not on a player by player breakdown of the team, the bigger question is, do you think we are hands down, the favorite in the East, let alone the league?

 

The biased fan in me will say that we had what it takes to beat Boston last season, we just didn't get it done, and now, with a couple of small roster tweaks and improvements in individual games, we should be the better team. The biased fan in me will also point out that Miami hasn't played a game together yet, and they have everything to prove, having earned nothing in regards to expectations yet. The biased fan in me also thinks we could match up well with the Lakers. The biased fan in me would say that I expect Orlando to be the best team in the East, and have a solid chance at winning the championship.

 

The unbiased, realistic, fan in me will point out we did NOT get it done against Boston last year, and as such, both teams that made it to the NBA Finals SHOULD be ranked above us going into the next season (since none of the three teams in question made major changes). Miami looks terrific on paper. We all know this league caters to a particular style of play, and that bodes very well for a team that has both Wade and James in their line up. The expectations for Miami are very high, and that's reflected in these projections.

 

Fact of the matter is, even if we win 5 more games this season, we still have to show that we are better than these teams come playoff time. Placing us fourth overall is not unreasonable, and fairly accurate. It's not a slight against this team either, they are saying we are one of the four best teams in the league. If you don't agree with their reasons, fine, but try not to act like their comments here are completely coming out of left field.

[sharp/7/shooter 23]

Well, I'll say to be honest, I disagree whole-heartedly to almost, if not all of his opinions in this write up.