Don't Be Fooled

I have been very quiet over the last ten days or so due to the flu, the holidays, and the teams disinterested performances against a variety of opponents. Instead of bloging my disapproval of the Magics' state of affairs, I have been monitering your thoughts as well as the opinions of other Magic fans on a variety of fan forums. Obviously, the overall consensus has been that the make up of the team as presently constituted, is not good enough to make a serious run at the post season, which is what playing these regular season games is all about. Numerous trade scenerios have been proposed,some with a lot of consideration and merit. Last night, as you all know, we beat a pretty good team by a wide margin. Was this game an abberition, or does it signal the beginning of a brighter future? My take on this is that last night we beat a better team. That's it. Nothing has actually changed. Don't be fooled by this event.The Magic need to make some personnel moves to actually have a shot at making the playoffs. You all already have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done. Keep the ranting and raving going if you actually want to see this team make any constructive moves.As I believe I mentioned some time ago, there is someone in the Magic's P.R. department that actually scans the Magic fans sites to take the pulse of our sentiments regarding the team. We need to keep a fire under Dave and Otis' butts if we're ever going to see the type of truly competitive team that Magic fans deserve

WE WIN, WE LOSE, WE IMPRESS!

After beating the Knicks at M.S.G., and loosing in o.t. in Dallas, it is apparent that Grant Hills' return to the Magic makes us a much improved, more cohesive team. As the other players get more comfortable playing with him, and vise versa, we should become a more competitive and dangerous unit. If we can add one or two more necessary pieces before the trading deadline, we just might have enough to truly become a force to be reckoned with in the eastern conference. It should be interesting to watch what we do now, and how the rest of the season unfolds.

TRADE BAIT

After watching and digesting last nights victory against Denver, I am beginning to picture the present and future core of this team in two different ways. I think we could go with Steve at point, Deshawn at the shooting guard spot and Dwight at pf/center. The second scenerio would have Jameer at point, Deshawn at shooting guard, and Dwight at pf/center. I have not mentioned Grant Hill because I'm trying to speculate on our future. If we went in the first direction, Nelson, Hill, and Cato could be our trading pieces. If we choose the latter, Francis, Hill, and Cato would become available. You guys are very good at speculating on different trade options, so what do you think we could do if we made either set of players available on the trade market?

THIS TIME IT'S PARGO!

A seldom used Chicago Bulls player, Jannero Pargo,was instrumental in doing us in at home last night, 102-93. This is not the first time a relatively unknown,unused player has gone off like Kobe against us, nor will it be the last. After winning four in a row, we have now lost five straight. Does anyone besides me think it's time we did a reasonable assesment of our situation? Yes, I know that Grant is almost ready to return, and that will surely improve matters.Even so, it seems to me there are a number of matters that need to be addressed. What about our redundancy and overload at the guard position? What about our need for more athletisism at the swing position? What about center? Cato hardly looks like someone trying to prove something in his contract year. Is Kasun the answer? Should Dwight be moved there, and if so, what about power forward? What about Travis? Is there room for both him and Jameer on this squad? Is Fran really a dead issue? These are just a few burning questions I have, and I'm sure you can come up with more. What do you think?

MAGIC KICKED BY SPURS

The Spurs beat us 110-85 last night at our house. The final score looks much worse than the game actually was. We were even at half time, and despite Duncan taking the game over in the third quarter, we managed to cut the lead they built down to 7 points before we finally caved in. Pretty much a case of being out maned by a better team. I very much liked the efforts of Deshaun,Jameer and Travis, who all gave outstanding efforts in a losing cause.

WHEN A GUY NAMED DAN.............

The Bucks beat the Magic by 20 points last night. On a positive note, it was good to get to see Travis play a little last night. If only he and Jameer were a little bigger, what a dynamic backcourt these two guys would give us. On the negative note, when a guy named Dan whatever it is can walk thru your defense and pretty much score at will, it exposes a major problem with that defense. As far as I can see, the only guy playing good defense is Deshawn Stevenson. Contrary to what you would expect from looking at our defense ranking #2 in the league before last nights game, it is looking more and more like that distinction is based a lot more on our use the whole clock up offense rather than good defense. If you have any additional interest in this topic, please go back about half a dozen posts or so to "time to stop pretending" and look that over.

A QUICK MESSAGE TO DWIGHT

Hey Dwight: Stop worrying so much about your offense, and just concentrate on defense, rebounding and shot blocking.Whatever offensive capabilities you are destined to acquire in the N.B.A. will evolve over time. You have the potential right now to lead this league in both rebounding and shot blocking, as well as becoming a formidable overall defensive player. Don't worry about scoring a lot of points, or becoming an heir apparent to K.G. Think more in terms of Bill Russell or Ben Wallace. The sooner you develop this mindset and take away the pressure of contributing more to your team on offense, the happier and better off both you and the Magic will be,