• The Magic and the Kings keep getting linked by trade rumors. Ron Artest to Orlando? Shareef Abdur-Rahim to Orlando? But Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty proposes another: Mike Bibby. He looked around the league and assessed Bibby's relative value to other teams, as well as what those other teams can offer in return, and classified Orlando as a team that intrigues him. He explains,

  "Bibby fits the gunner-around-Dwight philosophy and Orlando has the expirings and young talent to pull it off. Jameer Nelson is a bit of a problem, though."

  I don't think Bibby is such a great fit here, honestly. He's in the same shoot-first mold as Jameer Nelson, and for whatever reason the team has played better with pass-first Carlos Arroyo at the helm this season. So no, I'm not sure that he's the answer, especially when our biggest need is a power forward who can defend.

• Speaking of trades, the good folks at Hardwood Paroxysm put Carlos Arroyo on their list of "20 Players To Be Freed from Captivity." Here's how they explain it:

  [Arroyo]'s playing too well to bench, but not well enough to put in front of Nelson's big fat contract. This is in a league where Jason Williams starts for a team. This must be remedied. The Magic will be happier. They can put Nelson and the contract in the slot and let him run the show.

  I disagree, frankly. Trading Arroyo leaves us with only Keyon Dooling as the backup point guard, and that's not his natural position anyway. Keep Carlos here, please.

• Keith Bogans' line from last night: 8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 butt-pat.
• Dwight Howard will once again participate in the Sprite Slam Dunk competition. He'll face-off against Gerald Green, the defending champion from the Minnesota Timberwolves; Rudy Gay from the Memphis Grizzlies; and Jamario Moon from the Toronto Raptors. After getting robbed last year, Dwight is back with a vengeance, and has told the Orlando Sentinel's Brian Schmitz that he has a plan. Henry Abbott, of TrueHoop fame, writes, "isn't Howard breaking some kind of unwritten rule by admitting that he's taking the contest so seriously?"
• Str8 Hoops has this compilation of nicknames for NBA players. Oddly enough, "Turk" is not included next to Hedo Turkoglu's name, but "Glu" is. Does that mean we have a "Sweet Lew" (Rashard Lewis) and a "Sweet Glu"? (Hat-tip: Kelly Dwyer)

	vs.
12-20		22-13
Arco Arena
10:00 PM
FSN Florida
Probable starters:
Beno Udrih	PG	Carlos Arroyo
John Salmons	SG	Keith Bogans
Francisco Garcia	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Mikki Moore	PF	Rashard Lewis
Brad Miller	C	Dwight Howard

The Kings inspired me to start the original 3QC. Just throwing that out there.

Despite being based in cities on the opposite sides of the United States, the Magic and Kings share some similarities: They both pursued Stan Van Gundy to fill their coaching vacancy, with Van Gundy faxing his Magic coaching contract to Orlando from a Sacramento Kinko's store; former Magic guard Reggie Theus is the Kings' first-year head coach; Hedo Turkoglu started his career with the Kings and is playing the best basketball of his life for the Magic; the two teams reportedly discussed a Turkoglu-for-Ron Artest swap this summer, although that rumor was debunked; and there were rumblings of the Kings sending Shareef Abdur-Rahim to the Magic to replace the injured Tony Battie. Good thing for Orlando that deal never happened: 'Reef is out for the season after undergoing knee surgery in December.

But the teams are much different in the standings. The Magic are first in the Southeast and are 9 games above .500; the Kings are 4th in the Pacific and 8 games below .500. And whereas the web's best Kings blog, Sactown Royalty, gets a bajillion hits a day, I'm lucky to reach 125. So there's that.

UPDATE: Here's an insightful article from Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee (you may have to create a username to read the aricle, but it's worth it) that explains in great detail how Stan Van Gundy went from house-hunting in Sacramento with his wife (using a Kings company car, no less) to faxing a signed Magic contract to Orlando. Stan regrets not informing Geoff Petrie of his decision and wishes he handled the situation better. The reader comments section is worth a read also, if you're in the mood for a chuckle. Here's a gem from "kingsrulal":

Van Grungy did the Kings a favor by going elsewhere. He is a below average coach who doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself. Reggie is a much better coach and person.

Additionally, "apounders" cites the Magic's poor home record as a sign of Van Gundy's coaching mediocrity. It was awfully convenient for him to omit mentioning the Magic's league-best 15 road wins.  

Tipoff is at 10 PM because of the whole time-zone thing. As far as who will start tonight for Orlando, I'm not sure. Arroyo seems to have taken over the starting point guard job for now, but Van Gundy's replacement of Keith Bogans with Keyon Dooling on Friday night didn't really yield much. Bogans matches up better with John Salmons than Dooling does, so I figure he'll get the nod tonight.

Let's play a game of "You Be the GM". Here are two players from which to choose to fill out your roster:

Although Option 2's statistics aren't as good as Option 1's, they still compare favorably. Both players are 25-years-old. Based on the stats, most coaches and GMs would choose Option 1 over Option 2. But with more context, the choice becomes less obvious. Read more after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

• Bill Simmons posted part two of his four-part NBA season preview, and the Magic are involved. He lists them as finishing with 44 wins, good for 4th in the conference. Prior to the season, he had us winning 36 games, or 13th in the conference. Why does he expect a big increase in wins?

  Because they stumbled into a definitive identity: Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu handle the scoring, Dwight Howard handles the boards, Jameer Nelson and Arroyo handle the ball and everyone else is just happy to be there. It's a simple basketball team with a smart coach and an efficient goal.

• InsideHoops knows who's on the NBA's All-Star ballot. The Magic are represented by Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Dwight Howard. No surprises there. (Via TrueHoop).
• Commenters in this post at SB Nation's Kings blog, Sactown Royalty, propose Sacramento/Orlando trade scenarios.
• Meanwhile, Brian McCormick wants the Kings to trade Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Orien Greene to Orlando for Carlos Arroyo and Trevor Ariza. I'd try it in the Trade Machine, but it won't let me because Greene can't be traded until December 15th or until 3 months after the day he signed with the Kings, whichever is later. In any case, I would not make that deal. Trevor has proven over the past two games that he can provide energy and athleticism off the bench, something this team desperately needs. There's no reason to mortgage him for a three-year Shareef rental.
• Mike Bianchi writes that Magic fans are lucky to have such great owners because, hey, at least they aren't Clay Bennett of the Seattle SuperSonics. That's nice, but it reminds me of this Bill Maher bit from last year:

  Prop 87 out here in California is about lessening our dependence on oil by using alternative fuels, and Bill Clinton comes on at the end of the ad and says, "If Brazil can do it, America can, too." Excuse me, since when did America have to buck itself up by saying we could catch up to Brazil?!

• Stan Van Gundy answered a question that had been on the minds of many of the Magic faithful: why hasn't Trevor Ariza seen more playing time? As usual, John Denton has the answer. Van Gundy explained that he doesn't like to make adjustments when his teams are "on a roll," as the Magic were before the Suns crushed them at home on Saturday. He added that Trevor's performance on Saturday was "professional" and "fabulous." So it sounds like we're going to see more of him.
• Bethlehem Shoals offers his take on the Shareef-to-Orlando rumors over at Fanhouse. I agree with his assessment that the Magic need cap flexibility, and thus trading valuable expiring contracts to Sacramento for Shareef Abdur-Rahim is not a good idea. The Magic's need for a big man is only temporary; why trade for an aging power forward with three years left on his deal when you can sign a veteran to a one-year deal?
• Wondering which Magic players might get traded this season? Brian Schmitz lays down the odds in his blog. Carlos Arroyo, Pat Garrity, Keith Bogans, J.J. Redick, and Ariza are among the players he thinks the Magic might trade away in 2007/2008.
• Who else but Jerry Greene, my favorite Orlando Sentinel writer, would pass along the news that Orlando-area Dunkin' Donuts locations will give away free donuts the day after any Magic win? He explains:

  • You need show no proof of watching the game.
  • The game doesn't even have to be on local TV and it doesn't matter if it is played home or away.
  • Just show up the day after a victory and pick the free doughnut of your choice.

    How cool is that? They did the same thing in Tampa/St. Pete with The Baseball Team Formerly Known As The Devil Rays and gave away about 110,000 doughnuts as the TBTFKATDR actually won 66 games.

• Speaking of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, check out DRaysBay, SB Nation's Rays blog, which has recently undergone some cosmetic changes to fit in with the rebranding of the baseball franchise.

• John Denton thinks the Magic should be able to obtain Shareef Abdur-Rahim from the Sacramento Kings to bolster their weak frontcourt. Abdur-Rahim makes sense for Orlando, Denton writes, because he has good career averages in scoring and in rebounding; has a fairly reasonable contract; and is represented by the same agent as Dwight Howard, Aaron Goodwin. Because Abdur-Rahim's contract exceeds the $2.6 million the Magic were awarded from Tony Battie's injury exception, they'd have to trade one of their players with expiring contracts: Carlos Arroyo, Keyon Dooling, or Pat Garrity. It's important to note that nothing is imminent and there isn't anything to indicate that discussions have even taken place between the two teams.

  Personally, I don't think 'Reef will do much to solve our rebounding problems. If anything, he's an older, more expensive Tony Battie, and we'd be stuck with him until 2009/2010. Pass.

• Denton also notes that J.J. Redick has been limited in practice due to a sore back and will definitely sit out tomorrow night's game against the Sonics. There's a possibility he could return Wednesday against Cleveland, but it's unlikely. Friday against New Jersey is a reasonable date to expect J.J. to be available.
• Carlos won the Ace Hardware Helpful Player of the Month award for his efforts in the community. Congratulations, 'Los! And thanks for all that you do for Orlando.
• Nuss of SuperSonicSoul has this sobering comparison between the NBA and World War I. It puts basketball in perspective, and is well worth reading.
• UPDATE: I don't know how I missed this story earlier, but apparently the City of Orlando still doesn't have all the land it needs to build the Magic's new arena. The plot of land still needed has belonged to the same family since 1947; the family is believed to be asking for $15 million for it. Further complicating the issue: the fact that there are still tenants living on the property. And I thought the FSN/Bright House situation was tricky. Yikes.
• UPDATE: Wes over at Mavs Moneyball updated Dallas fans on the statistics of Reyshawn Terry, the draft pick whose rights are owned by the Mavericks and who is currently playing in Europe. In that vein, I researched our boy Fran Vazquez. He's averaging 4.7 points and 1 rebound in 9 minutes per game for FC Barcelona.