My Thoughts on the Series, the Magic

[RIP CITY 0]

Alright, hopefully this won't be taken the wrong way, because I'm not a Magic hater, and this is just my thoughts on the Series, and the Magic's team going forward.

 

I'm not going to re-hash the whole Series, but I'll say few things, then get to the Magic.

 

This Series was alot like last years Series really. The Pistons did a great job containing Dwight Howard, and clearly play much better defense than the Magic. The Magic are a better offensive team than last years squad, and are very good shooting the 3. The problem is that you can't live by the 3 point shot, it's not a high percentage shot, and without Dwight dominating the paint, it's not as effective. The Pistons really stepped up, and played well without Chauncey, and the Magic made too many mental errors, and just didn't exacute down the stretch of games. It was a great season for the Magic, one where they made alot of improvement in some area's, but the Pistons are just the better team.

 

Now onto the Magic, and some things I noticed about them in this Series, and a few thoughts I have about the team going forward.

 

1. Their team defense is not very good. Playing small ball (Rashard starting at the PF spot) doesn't help this, but the entire defense is not good. Jameer Nelson is basically a liability on the defensive end of the floor. Hedo, and Rashard are both pretty average defenders. And Dwight has too much responsibility for cleaning up the mess by blocking shots when these guys let their man go by them. They don't do a very good job rotating to open shooters, and closing out defensively as well. The Pistons got pretty much any shot they wanted in this Series, and outside of Dwight the Magic didn't do a good job on the defensive glass. Bringing in some better defenders should be a priority this off-season for the Magic.

 

2. As I said, playing small ball doesn't work in the Playoffs. I know most of you know this because I have seen it said on this board, but the Magic definitely need a physical Power Forward to play along side Dwight, and take some of the rebounding, and defensive pressure off of him. Rashard might be a mismatch for most teams on the offensive end because he can draw big men away from the basket with his outside shooting touch, but on the defensive end, he can't get inside and bang with Power Forwards, and it hurts the Magic interior defense, and rebounding. The Magic need to find a defensive Power Forward that can rebound the ball. I know they have Tony Battie, and that will help next year. But they still need a PF next year, and for the future. Battie isn't exactly young. Easier said than done, but they can't have Rashard starting at the 4 if they expect to beat some of the elite teams in the East.

 

3. And this one will probably sound harsh, but I'm going to say it anyway. The Magic need an entirely new Starting Backcourt. Jameer Nelson improved again this year offensively, and he's not a bad player. But he's probably the worst defensive starting PG in the NBA. He's also not very good navigating the offense, and creating for his teamates. He has pretty average court vision, and doesn't run the offense the way you would like from your PG. He would be much better as a backup that can come in and bring a scoring punch off the bench. Mo Evans is a solid defensive player, and I like what he brings on that end of the floor, but he simply doesn't give you very much offensively, and all though he is capable of hitting 3 pointers he's not consistant enough to be a starting shooting guard in the NBA. Again, this won't be easy, but I feel like the Magic will struggle to become an elite team until they find a better Starting Backcourt.

 

4. Dwight Howard is still very raw, particularly on the offensive end of the floor. This is both a good, and a bad thing. Bad for the time being, but great if he can improve in the coming years. Don't get me wrong, he's a great player, one of my favorite players in the League. But there are some things he needs to work on. He needs to work on some post moves, and putting a better, softer touch on his shots around the rim. He kind of throws the ball at the basket, and prays for the best when he isn't dunking or shooting the hook shot. He's hook shot is solid, and will continue to get better the more he works on it. He needs to work on his footwork around the rim, and develope a better variety of moves around the basket. He needs to work on dribbling/handling the ball better, and passing out double teams. Whenever he gets double teamed it usually ends up in a turnover because he's not very good at taking 1 or 2 dribbles and just going up without getting the ball stripped. And he's not a good passer, these are things that need to be worked on, because he will be seeing double-teams his entire career. He's a great player, with a TON of potential, but he's really just relying on his athletism at this point, and his skills are pretty raw. But there is no doubt in my mind judging by his work ethic so far, that he will be the most dominate big man in the NBA by the time he turns 25.

 

Hopefully you guys don't take any of that the wrong way. It's just some things that I noticed during the Series, and I felt like making a post about it. The Magic are a good team, and they put up a great fight in this Series, but those flaws I mentioned above I thought were the difference in the Series. Hopefully the Magic have a good off-season and can remedy some of this, and come back better than ever next season.

 

Good Series, and good luck in the future.

[RIP CITY 0]

Alright, hopefully this won't be taken the wrong way, because I'm not a Magic hater, and this is just my thoughts on the Series, and the Magic's team going forward.

 

I'm not going to re-hash the whole Series, but I'll say few things, then get to the Magic.

 

This Series was alot like last years Series really. The Pistons did a great job containing Dwight Howard, and clearly play much better defense than the Magic. The Magic are a better offensive team than last years squad, and are very good shooting the 3. The problem is that you can't live by the 3 point shot, it's not a high percentage shot, and without Dwight dominating the paint, it's not as effective. The Pistons really stepped up, and played well without Chauncey, and the Magic made too many mental errors, and just didn't exacute down the stretch of games. It was a great season for the Magic, one where they made alot of improvement in some area's, but the Pistons are just the better team.

 

Now onto the Magic, and some things I noticed about them in this Series, and a few thoughts I have about the team going forward.

 

1. Their team defense is not very good. Playing small ball (Rashard starting at the PF spot) doesn't help this, but the entire defense is not good. Jameer Nelson is basically a liability on the defensive end of the floor. Hedo, and Rashard are both pretty average defenders. And Dwight has too much responsibility for cleaning up the mess by blocking shots when these guys let their man go by them. They don't do a very good job rotating to open shooters, and closing out defensively as well. The Pistons got pretty much any shot they wanted in this Series, and outside of Dwight the Magic didn't do a good job on the defensive glass. Bringing in some better defenders should be a priority this off-season for the Magic.

 

2. As I said, playing small ball doesn't work in the Playoffs. I know most of you know this because I have seen it said on this board, but the Magic definitely need a physical Power Forward to play along side Dwight, and take some of the rebounding, and defensive pressure off of him. Rashard might be a mismatch for most teams on the offensive end because he can draw big men away from the basket with his outside shooting touch, but on the defensive end, he can't get inside and bang with Power Forwards, and it hurts the Magic interior defense, and rebounding. The Magic need to find a defensive Power Forward that can rebound the ball. I know they have Tony Battie, and that will help next year. But they still need a PF next year, and for the future. Battie isn't exactly young. Easier said than done, but they can't have Rashard starting at the 4 if they expect to beat some of the elite teams in the East.

 

3. And this one will probably sound harsh, but I'm going to say it anyway. The Magic need an entirely new Starting Backcourt. Jameer Nelson improved again this year offensively, and he's not a bad player. But he's probably the worst defensive starting PG in the NBA. He's also not very good navigating the offense, and creating for his teamates. He has pretty average court vision, and doesn't run the offense the way you would like from your PG. He would be much better as a backup that can come in and bring a scoring punch off the bench. Mo Evans is a solid defensive player, and I like what he brings on that end of the floor, but he simply doesn't give you very much offensively, and all though he is capable of hitting 3 pointers he's not consistant enough to be a starting shooting guard in the NBA. Again, this won't be easy, but I feel like the Magic will struggle to become an elite team until they find a better Starting Backcourt.

 

4. Dwight Howard is still very raw, particularly on the offensive end of the floor. This is both a good, and a bad thing. Bad for the time being, but great if he can improve in the coming years. Don't get me wrong, he's a great player, one of my favorite players in the League. But there are some things he needs to work on. He needs to work on some post moves, and putting a better, softer touch on his shots around the rim. He kind of throws the ball at the basket, and prays for the best when he isn't dunking or shooting the hook shot. He's hook shot is solid, and will continue to get better the more he works on it. He needs to work on his footwork around the rim, and develope a better variety of moves around the basket. He needs to work on dribbling/handling the ball better, and passing out double teams. Whenever he gets double teamed it usually ends up in a turnover because he's not very good at taking 1 or 2 dribbles and just going up without getting the ball stripped. And he's not a good passer, these are things that need to be worked on, because he will be seeing double-teams his entire career. He's a great player, with a TON of potential, but he's really just relying on his athletism at this point, and his skills are pretty raw. But there is no doubt in my mind judging by his work ethic so far, that he will be the most dominate big man in the NBA by the time he turns 25.

 

Hopefully you guys don't take any of that the wrong way. It's just some things that I noticed during the Series, and I felt like making a post about it. The Magic are a good team, and they put up a great fight in this Series, but those flaws I mentioned above I thought were the difference in the Series. Hopefully the Magic have a good off-season and can remedy some of this, and come back better than ever next season.

 

Good Series, and good luck in the future.

[fishybashi 0]

Great points. Very well taken. Good luck in the playoffs.

[Murphy13 185]

i read your series analysis paragraph...

 

i would say you are about 50% correct...in the sense that you were able to control dwight and that no team can live by the 3 without dying by it.

 

however, you are incorrect also. first, the two series are night and day comparisons. you only played better than the magic twice in this series, period. in the first series, you played better than the magic in every game. also, detroit clearly does NOT play much better defense than the magic. in fact, detroit only averaged 1.4 more ppg during the series despite the uneven foul calls(magic were +9 and had more fouls in every game but game 2)

and the fact that the magic were +40 on turnovers. what that means is that the magic beat themselves, and got screwed, twice. despite all that crap you only outscored us by one point per game. so, my thinking is that the magic actually played as good D as the pistons, considering how many mental mistakes they made, they still played the series tight. anyone that watched all 5 games know that the series was WAY closer than the final tally. the only reason why detroit won this series is because they took good care of the ball. you did nothing well aside from that, the stats prove it. we played poorly, but the pistons didnt exactly play well either, but atleast they took care of the ball...

[dullalive 0]

Classy.

 

Only 5 games vs us and you seem to judge our team better then most posters around here.

I agree with almost everything you said.

 

I have something to say about your team too. Don't rely too much on Stuckey in the future. He is a oversized Jameer in your team.

Don't think he can become a starter

[alexjbaum10 1]

our assist to TO over ratio for the series was 1:1

 

the pistons totally exploited our flaws on the offensive end...those scoring droughts weren't us just doing it to ourselves...it was their defense...and for us to force 3 TOs in game 5 is not playing the same caliber defense, especially when they force 21 TOs...his analysis is pretty much on point

[RIP CITY 0]

quote:

i read your series analysis paragraph...

 

i would say you are about 50% correct...in the sense that you were able to control dwight and that no team can live by the 3 without dying by it.

 

however, you are incorrect also. first, the two series are night and day comparisons. you only played better than the magic twice in this series, period. in the first series, you played better than the magic in every game. also, detroit clearly does NOT play much better defense than the magic. in fact, detroit only averaged 1.4 more ppg during the series despite the uneven foul calls(magic were +9 and had more fouls in every game but game 2)

and the fact that the magic were +40 on turnovers. what that means is that the magic beat themselves, and got screwed, twice. despite all that crap you only outscored us by one point per game. so, my thinking is that the magic actually played as good D as the pistons, considering how many mental mistakes they made, they still played the series tight. anyone that watched all 5 games know that the series was WAY closer than the final tally. the only reason why detroit won this series is because they took good care of the ball. you did nothing well aside from that, the stats prove it. we played poorly, but the pistons didnt exactly play well either, but atleast they took care of the ball...

 

I'm sorry, but the Magic's defense is not good. And I'm not going to comment much on the officiating because to be honest that was WAY overblown by many on this board.

 

The Pistons got whatever shots they wanted in this Series, and the Magic simply don't play very good defense. That's my opinion, and I am sticking to what I saw.

[Emory889 353]

Most of your points are right on target Rip and have been discussed at length here. We definitely need a true power forward and a upgrade at the shooting guard position. I personally think Jameer can develop into a good point guard (probably not a good defensive one though) but you certainly wouldn't have to look very hard to find a Magic fan that disagrees with me on that.

 

Thanks for the insight. Its interesting when it comes from a casual observer that doesn't have any bias towards the team.

[KillingInTheNameOf 63]

1. The reality is that we have a number of weak individual defenders, but play decent team D. If you really look where Detroit hurt us in this series, it was in isolations.

 

Detroit was able to exploit some things others team couldn't. I said before this season even began and I've echoed it all year, the one team Orlando doesn't want to play in the playoffs is Detroit.

 

2. Agree 100%. I've said this from the day we signed Rashard and proclaimed he would be our starting PF.

 

3. Agree 100% and I've said this all year long as well. To fall back on your previous point, defense starts at the PG position. When you are weak defensively there, you will never be a good defensive team.

 

4. I think you and many others underestimate how good a post defender Rasheed is. Dwight is still very raw in terms of his ability to pass out of the post and he needs to add a reliable shot from 8 feet. His post game is a work in progress, but is pretty solid. It's his inability to hit a j or a turnaround j, his inability to pass, and Rasheed's D that made him look as poorly as he did in this series. It also didn't hurt to have defensive pressure on every passer trying to make entry passes to Dwight.

[RIP CITY 0]

quote:

Originally posted by KillingInTheNameOf:

4. I think you and many others underestimate how good a post defender Rasheed is. Dwight is still very raw in terms of his ability to pass out of the post and he needs to add a reliable shot from 8 feet. His post game is a work in progress, but is pretty solid. It's his inability to hit a j or a turnaround j, his inability to pass, and Rasheed's D that made him look as poorly as he did in this series. It also didn't hurt to have defensive pressure on every passer trying to make entry passes to Dwight.

 

Yeah, you're right there, I didn't want to make it sound like Dwight struggling was all his fault, and based soley on those flaws in his game. Rasheed IMO, is one of the Top 5 interior defensive players in the NBA, and he's done a great job making things hard for Dwight the last couple years.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about Dwight though, yeah he has some flaws like I said, but he's still very young and can improve on all of them. Plus it's not like he isn't already a great player even with those flaws so he'll be fine once he fine tunes some things skill wise.

[Give Me Redick All Day 109]

quote:

Originally posted by KillingInTheNameOf:

3. To fall back on your previous point, defense starts at the PG position. When you are weak defensively there, you will never be a good defensive team.

 

Tony Parker is a pretty shoddy defender, yet their team is one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

 

As long as your help D is good, then being weak defensively at the PG position isn't as much of an exploit.

 

I'd even go out on a limb and say that Billups is the exception to the rule; him being the only true defensive-minded PG (then again, I really can't think of anyone else off the top of my head).

[RIP CITY 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Give Me Redick All Day:

Tony Parker is a pretty shoddy defender, yet their team is one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

 

As long as your help D is good, then being weak defensively at the PG position isn't as much of an exploit.

 

I'd even go out on a limb and say that Billups is the exception to the rule; him being the only true defensive-minded PG (then again, I really can't think of anyone else off the top of my head).

 

The Spurs can get away with it though because they have the best interior defender, best perimeter defenders in the NBA, and multiple defensive role players around Parker. They rotate very well defensively, and cover for each other very well. They also have great defensive gameplans set up by the best Coach in the NBA. The Magic don't really have any of that around Nelson except for a great shot blocker in Dwight.

 

And no Chauncey is not a good defensive player anymore. He was horrible defensively for most of this season.