Are the Magic Soft?
Dwight HowardWhen the Magic really put the hurt on another team - as they did to the Heat on Sunday - they do so by working their way from the outside-in.
So what happens when their outside shots aren’t falling?
In general, Orlando is incapable of setting a physical tone on the block, dominating a game in the paint in order to open up things for their shooters.
I feel terrible saying this about my Eagles - but there’s a comparison to be drawn between these two clubs, though they obviously don’t play the same sport. Philly’s coach Andy Reid insists that his crew establishes the pass first before they’re able to run Brian Westbrook or Correll Buckhalter against a defense, preoccupied with concern about the passing game.
The Magic have the same problem, applied to basketball. They want to knock down three’s from all over the court, and then try to get Dwight Howard the ball on the block when a defense is hesitant to double-team him.
However, that brings up a problem. What happens when they’re not hitting from deep? Last night, when the Magic went 9-26 from three, what did they do to compensate? In Stan Van Gundy’s opinion, they didn’t really do anything.
“Our starting lineup brought nothing to the game. I’m embarrassed and disgusted by what I saw. I don’t know if our players are, but they should be.
“Our guys want to talk about being a contending team. We’re still not tough enough and we don’t play hard enough.”
I ripped Dwight Howard in these pages not too long ago, saying that he really doesn’t bring the hammer like he could. But I don’t think that it’s fair to put all of the blame for Orlando’s “softness” on his shoulders.
And though there are some rumblings of “maybe Rafer Alston wasn’t such a great idea after all” as he went 4-12 from the floor for 10 points, 5 assists and 4 turnovers, I wouldn’t say that he’s the issue.
In short, I think that Orlando needs to establish some sort of “power game.” Dwight doesn’t have the ability right now to overpower an entire defense like Shaq did when he played in Orlando and L.A. His sweeping hook shot is improving, but he doesn’t really wear out anyone on the front lines with his offensive game. Chicago’s front line of Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas looked just as spry at the end of the game last night as they did right after tip-off. If they were going against the Diesel circa 1998, they would have had their hands on their knees, waving to the sidelines for a sub.
Stan Van Gundy can yell and scream his head off that his team isn’t tough enough, but right now, he’s not putting them in the right positions to prove their toughness. With four guys on the perimeter and Howard on the block, the Magic give up on every single offensive rebound unless it comes somewhere within Dwight’s hemisphere. If he doesn’t elevate and pull it down, they basically concede the possession and try to get back on D to prevent transition.
If I’m Stan, the one guy I get on is Rashard Lewis. In a big game against the Celtics in late January, Rashard crashed hard on the O-boards consistently, pulling down 9 offensive rebounds in a single outing. Maybe he can’t do that every night, but putting up a donut in that category shows that he isn’t putting forth enough effort.
I’d also incorporate some hi-low schemes. Both Rashard and Hedo Turkoglu have the size and the skill to operate at the free throw line, facing the basket, where they can drive, pass, or shoot. And by positioning another 6-10 forward there, Van Gundy would give his squad another player in position to attack the offensive board.
Maybe then they could prove that they’re not “soft.”
Source: ESPN
February 25th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Steve A says:
Dwight Howard, although he puts up big numbers, is a 2nd Banana. The magic would never win a championship with their current makeup. They need a top flight pg/or wing, which they don’t have. In the words of Charles, you die by Three’s, you don’t live by them…agreed
February 25th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
sans says:
Way to get after Ron Jeremy for not coaching his players to be tough. You can whine about your players effort all you want, but in the end, they play within a system established by the coaching staff. This wouldn’t be an issue if they had Billy Donovan.
February 25th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Dime Magazine says:
I think Orlando blew it by not doing whatever they could to land an A-List point guard at the trade deadline. I wrote about the perfect guy for them HERE. They could have had him but settled for Skip. No ring for them this season…
- PC
February 25th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
control says:
What the Magic have to do is have someone Jackie Chan kick Dwight right in the junk before each game…get the guy ANGRY. With his speed, size and strength there’s no one in the league that should be even slowing him down, he just has to get a streak of Mike Tyson meanness into him.
Run the offense through him, and rely on him to draw people to him to free up spot shooters for wide open threes. I’d hit Rafer with some horse tranq before each game so he mellows out and doesn’t go off for 10-20 shots a game.
February 25th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
nola says:
live by the three. die by the three. in college where only one game matters, you can live by the three. but when you’re playing 7 game series, you die by the three.
February 25th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Chaos says:
just a kick in the ass is not gonna make the team tougher, just the one guy. the team needs to get rid of (and i cant believe i am saying this) hedo turkoglu and get a bruising PF or get one off the bench and move Lewis to his natural position at the three
February 25th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
MSkittle says:
How can they be soft when they have the most dominant big man in the league?
They have a makeup like the mid 90’s Houston Rockets.. Dwight doing his thing on the inside and surrounding him with shooters..
Don’t overreact to 1 game!
February 25th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Kudabeen says:
More soft without Jameer attacking…They lack a hammer…I think they need a Artest, Reggie Evans, Matt Harpring, Nocioni, or any guy that don’t mind scrapping…JJ had some fire before he was neutered by the Magic franchise…”Turn my swag off…”
Dwight is like the big kid that is afraid to break the other kids on the court. Even when he gets in a little situation where someone is over doing it he tends to take the high road, but the high road don’t put that little extra fear in your opponent that the greats perfected…You want the defender to worry about being embarassed. If they think you won’t crush them completly if they get too physical they will continue to knock you and your team out of the playoffs.
Detroit would take Magic out of their game with bully ball and Detroit isn’t really built like that or at least they weren’t last year…It is more a testiment to Orlando’s lack of toughness and experience. Anyone on their team been in playoff wars like that? Anthony Johnson??
February 25th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Heckler...formerly 'yallallreadyknow' says:
problem with the magic is the following:
*Coach. stan van gundy is not as good as advertised. he doesnt talk to his players. and he is a screamer from the sidelines. no player likes that. gotta agree with Sans on this one. Your the coach van gundy, you fix the issues
*Defense. They dont play any defense. Do any of you believe this team can get a quality stop when they need it? If they play the Pistons (as current standings) in the 1st round, can this squad stop Rips curl? Allen’s penetration? or rotate to Rasheed at the top of the key if the game depended on it?
*Players. their NOT deep and dont have a lot of size. after dwight, this team is small and lack physical toughness. and dont try to sell me tony battie. if hedo opts out, they should sign-n-trade him to GS for stephen jackson. get added toughness.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Kudabeen says:
Also I will add…Since Dwight seems so keen with mimicking and stealing Shaq’s persona, he should also adopt that Bruising Punishing aspect of Shaqs game…No he isn’t as massive as Shaq, but that shouldn’t stop him from planting those basketball sized shoulders in people teeth and chest.
Orlando literally should have traded Turk for some “Tough Juice” AKA…Caron Butler…
February 25th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
nola says:
cant believe you just compared them to the 90’s rockets.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
SteveNash says:
tht rockets team had Otis Thorpe and Vernon Maxwell… plus sam cassell wz ill… so don’t ever COMPARE this magix squad with that ROCKETS squad
February 25th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Kudabeen says:
Don’t forget Horry…
February 25th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Kudabeen says:
Awesome Dirk Nowitizki interview. He is pretty raw, but not disrespectful…He pretty much called Shawn Bradley a lame…LOL
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-237/Dirk-Nowitzki-Speaking-Candidly.html
February 25th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Big Shot BOB says:
I dont’ see why that didn’t offer Turk in a trade for someone like Sheed. He would give them that veteran toughness there looking for plus add defense. I think he would be a great look next to D-Howard.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Big Aaron says:
That’s exactly it. Otis Smith has been so single-minded about filling the franchise with nice guys, they’re not real bruisers on the court. I’d love for my Magics to pick up someone who would throw an elbow back at someone who tried that on the other end.
I think thye major thing stopping Dwight from growing that mean streak is that the refs officiate him differently. Other teams bigs are allowed to hack the shit out of him on the other end, but he gets called for a lot of soft fouls, which really makes him almost scared to throw down in the paint. If he were to grow this side of himself, the league would be in serious trouble. His offensive game has already picked up but I’d love for him to just flip out one day and just completely drop someone who decides to clamber over him in the paint or throw him an elbow. Guys would certainly think twice to doing it again.
I’ve always thought the Rashard/Hedo combo could probably do with being broken up for Shard to head back to SF and Get a real bruising, take-no-shit power forward. Jameer is probably the only tough player on the squad.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Bron42 aka Downtown Funky Stuff Malone says:
@heckler, the magic are one of the top defensive teams in the league
@kuda, ya someone like caron would help alot. and I doubt he would mind leavin the wizards.
It all goes back a few years…orlando had the #11 pic and used in on self proclaimed bruiser fran vasquez…Fran came over for a day, said the nba was too tough for him and went back overseas where he could shine only to never be heard from again. So in the long run, the magic wasted a lotto pic, and the bruising 6′10 pf that was supposed to go beside dwight never happened and they settled for tony battie and foyle.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
George W Kush Sr says:
I dont understand why they dont run pick n rolls with Hedo and Lewis with Howard as a off pass option. This way Howard’s threat is there from the beginning instead of waiting to drop a few threes before incorporating him.
If they lose Hedo this summer they better sign Artest, I cant believe they didn’t go after Scola when the Spurs just gave him away.
Both management and the coaching staff need to make some adjustments to their schemes.
February 25th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Prof. TX says:
They’re built like an NCAA team, one center and four guys shooting 3’s. It works for the regular season, but doesn’t work so well for winning a series. Just ask the ‘run and gun’ Suns about how different the post-season is.
February 25th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
karizmatic says:
I don’t think Howard is a second banana, I think he needs to develop his post game more, just dunking is not an effective offense. But they do need a top flight 2 guard. If I were them I would be absolutely open to trading Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis if I could get a big time 2. I don’t know who that would be though.
February 25th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Kudabeen says:
Karizmatic:
2009 SG Freeagents Magic can consider doing a sign and trade or something for:
Ronald Murray - underrated baller
Allen Iverson - would fit in with this group, but him and Jameer couldn’t be your backcourt
Jamal Crawford - Might be the answer and GS had interest in Turk anyway…
Anthony Parker - Can score and is an underrated defender. Has great size that would balance out the backcourt…
I would also say don’t dismiss Pietrus…He plays well when he is healthy…He just needs to get time on the floor. I like him at the 2…
February 25th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
karizmatic says:
@ Kudabeen
I like Pietrus, but I’m thinking of a big time 2 guard, on the level of Wade or something…and I know they can’t get him. Perhaps Redd when he gets healthy, or a healthy Agent Zero? It would be good if they could get someone like Durant. The thing is I’m looking for the classic guard-center model. Either you go with a nice big guard like Magic and Kareem, or Penny and Shaq, or you go with a nice two guard like Kobe and Shaq or Wade and Shaq. Once Howard diverifies his game, he’s going to need a complimentary guard like that to be a real contender. Rashard Lewis and Turkoglu aren’t going to get it done.
Jamal Crawford is interesting
Anthony Parker is also interesting, but for them they might as well keep Pietrus if he can stay healthy.
February 25th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Meica says:
Yeah, Noah and Tyrus Thomas were spry at the end of the game because Brad Miller was bruising it up with Dwight Howard all game.
While I would agree that the Magic are soft (that’s what you get for being a Disney team), Joakim Noah is soft. While I didn’t thing much of the trade at the time, the Bulls are all of a sudden a very good team. They have a very nice mixture of youthful talent and veteran poise. Right now the Bulls have about four to five guys off the bench that are legitimate NBA starters plus a very potentially mean combo of D. Rose, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng. Watch out Eastern Conference.
February 25th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Fire Katz says:
Is Andrew Katz a waste of oxygen?
February 25th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Drink the Haterade (KB24 Chip 09) says:
maybe they could trade hedo and rashard for JJ
February 25th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Drink the Haterade (KB24 Chip 09) says:
the hawks would be stupid to do it, but they have done worse things before, like passing on Deron and CP3
February 25th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Al Qaeda Jada says:
yeah, they’re soft and it’s because of Howard
Dwight’s too much of a jokester/clown, Shaq’s a funny guy but deep down he’s ruthless in the paint
honestly, I think if Bynum could stay healthy he’d be a better big man than Howard
February 26th, 2009 at 4:20 am
AB_40 says:
it’s too late in the season to start playing like a power team. who play inside out. outside in teams don’t win titles. you live by the jumpshot and you die by the jumpshot… in the playoffs the D get’s harder and all jump shooting teams DIE by the jumpshot
October 4th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Malonedeek says:
The Magic are too soft in my opinion. They refuse to drive the ball to the basket. They settle for three point shots and long ranged jumpers. If I were Stan Gundy I would lock them all in a cage with Kimbo Slice. They are a team that relies on there jumper to win gains. So if they have a bad shooting game they will lose the game. Look at Game 4 of the playoffs. They shot 5-27 from the from the 3point line. This horrible shooting night obviously resulted in a loss for them.