You may remember this post from May, in which I tried to navigate the NBA's salary cap to see what the Magic could do this summer in free agency. Now that we're closer to the beginning of the free-agent signing period (Wednesday, July 9th), I thought I'd take another look at it. I've presented my findings in a Q-and-A format. For this post, I consulted Larry Coon's NBA Salary Cap F.A.Q., Storyteller's Contracts, ESPN's 2008 NBA Free Agent list, and the Orlando Magic's official roster page. We hope you find this guide helpful.

Question: How many players do the Magic have under contract next season, and what are they owed?

Answer: Currently, the Magic have 11 players under contract, owed a total of $60,553,339 next season. While the league has yet to release its official salary-cap data, we can say with absolute certainty that the Magic are over the salary cap. Here's how everything breaks down by player...

Note: for this table, "Age" refers to a player's age as of October 31st, 2008, when we expect the NBA season to begin.

... and by position...

Make the jump to read the rest of the Q-and-A.

Continue reading this post »

Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Keith Bogans celebrate the Magic's come-from-behind victory in Game Four of their first-round playoff series with the Toronto Raptors.
Photo by J.P. Moczulski, The Canadian Press

I don't think there are enough words to describe how proud I am -- and how proud we all should be -- of our team. The Magic outscored the Raptors, 33-20, in the final period of yesterday's Game Four to secure a 106-94 victory and a 3-games-to-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Our guys battled back from an early deficit to seize control of the game in the fourth quarter. Allow me to heap superlatives on them:

• Rashard Lewis tied a season-high with 27 points, and set a season-high with 13 rebounds (aided by a career-high-tying 7 offensive rebounds)
• Dwight Howard set a career-high with 8 blocked shots, which also sets a Magic franchise record for blocks in a playoff game. His final swat came with two minutes to play and the Raptors trailing by only 5. The Magic got the rebound and Rashard Lewis drilled a back-breaking three-pointer to seal the win.
• Jameer Nelson played a nearly flawless fourth quarter, with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting. The only blemish on his line that period? 2-of-4 from the free throw line. That's it. That's all he did wrong. This effort coming from a guy who collapsed after Game Three due to bak spasms. Outstanding.

Basically, we had an answer for everything Toronto threw at us. 39 points for Chris Bosh? Fine. 13 assists for T.J. Ford? Okay. Didn't matter. We were simply the better, gutsier team yesterday, and that bodes well for us as the series continues.

That's not to say we're worldbeaters or anything. Being up 3-1 is nice and all, but it doesn't mean we're about to win the series. The last time we were up 3-1, well, the Pistons ate our lunch in the next three games thanks to Tracy McGrady's big mouth, so pardon me for not pulling out the confetti just yet. But our victory yesterday was so impressive that Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer thinks we'll make the Finals by 2009 if we strengthen our second unit. I hate to forecast so far into the future, but there's no question that we're making a strong case for belonging in the discussion about the NBA's elite teams.

I am thoroughly impressed with the victory. A similar effort tomorrow night, even if Jose Calderon (2 points, 1-of-7 shooting) and Ford (12 points, 6-of-16 shooting) finally get back on track, should result in a series victory and a spot in the second round of the playoffs.

Dwight Howard pulls down one of his 22 rebounds to ignite an Orlando Magic fast-break in their 114-100 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Wow. What a game, right?

The Magic got of to the hottest start imaginable against the Raptors in their first series-opening home playoff game in over a decade. They shot a blistering 80% in the first quarter, hitting 9 of their 11 three-pointers, and scored 43 points in the period. The Raptors had no answer for, well, anything. Many of the three-point attempts were uncontested.

But the hot shooting wasn't the only reason the crowd was pumped up. Dwight Howard blocked three shots in the first nine minutes, setting the tone defensively. And Hedo Turkoglu got his once-a-month driving dunk in, barreling into the lane from the left corner, elevating past Andrea Bargnani, and throwing it down with his right hand.

The first period showed the differences between the teams' coaches. Our coach, Stan Van Gundy, did not change his game plan at all. We shot the three-pointer, like we have all season, and we made opponents pay for leaving our shooters open. In contrast, Sam Mitchell shuffled his starting lineup, putting Andrea Bargnani at small forward for the first time all season. He hoped Bargnani's size would present problems for Turkoglu, but he was wrong. Curiously, Jamario Moon, the Raptors' best defender and usual starter at small forward, played just five minutes. Perhaps Mitchell will be more inclined to play him more in Game Two...?

But everything changed after the first period. Obviously, we weren't going to keep shooting at an 80% clip, but the dropoff was tremendous. Simply put, we went cold. After shooting 16-of-20 for 43 in the first quarter, we went 15-of-36 for 42 points over the next two, and headed into the fourth period with a scant 10-point lead.

But that's when Dwight Howard took over.

More precisely, he didn't take over until after the Raptors pulled within 5 on a Jason Kapono three-pointer. But from then on, he decided this game belonged to him, and to him alone:

• Coming out of the ensuing timeout, Hedo Turkoglu took a contested two-point jumper, but it went in anyway. 90-83, Magic.
• Rasho Nesterovic missed badly on the other end. Dwight rebounded...
• ...ran the floor, and was rewarded with a slam dunk off a Turkoglu assist. 92-83, Magic.
• Jose Calderon missed a fairly open three-pointer. Dwight rebounded...
• And was there to clean up the mess on the other end, when Turk missed a layup. 94-83, Magic.
• Kapono missed a wild three when he tried to create off-the-dribble, which is something we can let him do. Dude does not have a handle. Keith Bogans got the rebound.
• After an illegal defense against the Raptors, and Rashard Lewis' ensuing missed technical free throw, the Magic ran a set play for Bogans, who was to shoot out a three of the right corner. The shot was too strong, the ball bounced off the far side of the rim... and Dwight was there for the putback slam. 96-83, Magic.
• Toronto called timeout. Didn't matter. Dwight played the passing lanes and came up with a steal...
• ...threw it ahead to Jameer Nelson, who laid it in. 98-83, Magic. Ballgame.

I've seen Dwight play plenty of games over the past several years, but I've never seen him dominate, on both ends of the floor, like he did yesterday. It was his best game at the professional level, and is nearly unprecedented for someone his age. Only three other players since 1986 have recorded 25-point, 20-rebound, 5-block efforts before age 23: Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Shawn Bradley. Of those players, only Shaq did it at a younger age than Dwight did yesterday.

So, should we get out the brooms and prepare for a sweep? No. God, no. In the 68 possessions in periods two through four, we scored 71 points, for a dreadfully low offensive rating of 104.4, so it's not like we dominated the Raptors from start to finish. Jameer Nelson and Maurice Evans won't play this well every night, just as Chris Bosh and Forderon won't play as poorly. We have the more talented team, but still only won yesterday because of (a) freakishly hot shooting and (b) Toronto's reluctance to exploit Jameer Nelson's defense. However, we will win this series. But not every game will be as easy.

Buckle up. It's going to be a long series.

The Toronto Raptors' victory over the Miami Heat tonight, combined with the Philadelphia 76ers' loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, assured the Raptors the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a first-round matchup with the Orlando Magic. The Cavaliers benefited from a questionable foul-call with 0.2 seconds remaining. Odenized has the video.

Bad news for us, because I really would prefer to play Philadelphia. But the Raptors haven't played well lately, as Doug Smith notes (HT: TrueHoop) and are vulnerable. Then again, we aren't exactly blowing teams out either. Maybe a matchup against the Magic is just what the Raptors need. Chris Bosh (averaging 33.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, .645 FG% vs. Orlando this season) and Jose Calderon (14.3 points, 7.3 assists, .600 FG%) must be salivating right now...

I'm not looking forward to the playoffs. It's nice to be there, but that's simply not good enough. And against the Raptors, I'm not sure we'll stick around very long.

• Jameer Nelson's injury is worse than the Magic initially thought, John Denton says. When Nelson collided with Dwight Howard's elbow last Tuesday against the Spurs, the team took him out and he was diagnosed with a bruised jaw. Now? Concussion, Jameer's third in the last 17 months. Nonetheless, Jameer plans to start this Saturday against Cleveland.
• The Magic's recent rebounding woes have Stan Van Gundy searching for answers. Notably, both Van Gundy and GM Otis Smith acknowledge that Rashard Lewis will play power forward next season, but want to switch him to his natural small forward position. So where does that leave Hedo Turkoglu? To no one's surprise, Smith says he won't sign a free-agent or D-Leaguer to replace the injured Brian Cook. Sure looks like we're due for a heavy dose of Pat Garrity.
• In light of Gilbert Arenas' surprise return to the Wizards' lineup last night, Brian Schmitz cautions Magic fans against overlooking any of the team's possible first-round playoff opponents. The Wizards, Raptors, and 76ers would each present challenges to the Magic in the first round. I'd rather draw the 76ers. Although they have indeed won 20 of their last 27 games, as Schmitz points out, they're also a poor three-point shooting team, and we have the firepower to bury them early in games and to keep them at-bay. Washington, even with Arenas back, doesn't scare me nearly as much as the struggling Raptors do. Chris Bosh could average 35 points a game over the course of a single series, and the T.J. Ford/Jose Calderon point guard monster would have its way with our point guards. No, thanks.
• Yesterday, Pat Garrity helped the charitable organization Feed the Children distribute food and "personal care items" at the Downtown Recreation Center. Garrity isn't much of an asset to the Magic on the court, but he's a great asset off it, which is why I hope the Magic can make room for him in their community relations department.
• A few days ago, Sentinel scribe Mike Bianchi wrote about the significance of winning the Southeast. There are times when I really disagree with Mike. This is not one of those times.
• Speaking of, the Magic's online shop now carries this t-shirt and this hat to commemorate the Magic's Southeast Division championship.

A quick site-related note: Mike From Illinois, whom you may know from Orlando Magic Blog, will handle 3QC's recapping duties for the Magic's next three games: Saturday against Cleveland, Sunday against New York, and Wednesday against Chicago. I'm taking a bit of a break from writing recaps, but I'll still post previews and open threads. Thanks to Mike for agreeing to pinch-hit.

	vs.
47-27		50-22
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Chris Paul
Maurice Evans	SG	Morris Peterson
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	P. Stojakovic
Rashard Lewis	PF	David West
Dwight Howard	C	T. Chandler
19 Nov 2007: Magic 95, Hornets 88

I did a double-take when I looked back in the archives and saw we beat the Hornets in our first meeting. Really? We beat the Hornets? Then I remembered that Chris Paul missed that game, and Tyson Chandler left early with a knee injury. So we eked-out a victory over a team missing the best point guard in the league and its All-Star caliber center. Forgive me if I'm not too enthusiastic about that win, which also happened to be the last time Trevor Ariza played in a Magic uniform; we traded him to the Lakers for Maurice Evans and Brian Cook the next day.

The New Orleans Hornets are really freaking good. 50-22, on top of the best conference in the NBA, and, by extension, on top of the best division in the NBA. But because they play in a small market, haven't gone on a huge win streak, and didn't make a huge trade this season, they're flying under the radar. For more on the Hornets, let's hear from Rohan, who writes for At The Hive.

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3QC: Chris Paul is a legitimate MVP candidate having arguably the best "pure" point guard statistical season (21.6 points, 11.3 assists, 2.7 steals, 49% shooting as of this writing) in the history of the league... and he won't turn 23 until May. How high is his ceiling? Can he -- or anyone else, for that matter -- play the position any better than he is right now?

Rohan: This guy is playing scary basketball right now. You put it well- he is indeed having the greatest year statistically in the history of the point guard position. His 28.8 PER eclipses anything Oscar Robertson, or Magic ever did; in fact the top 10 PER years by point guards are all Magic and Oscar, except for CP up at number 1. Right now there's nobody even close to Paul; Nash is posting a 21.1 (his best MVP year was 23.8), and he's the closest guy there is to Paul this year. In fact, Nash, Jose Calderon of Toronto, and Utah's Deron Williams are the only other guys in the 20's, but Paul is getting close to the 30's nonetheless.

Pretty much any Hornet telecast you tune into, you'll hear the announcers comparing Paul to another great, Isiah Thomas. Comparing with the same stage in Isiah's career, Paul shoots about 3 percent better, pulls down half a rebound more per game, shoots 12 percent better from the stripe and 4 percent better from long range, is about even on steals and assists, but impressively averages an entire turnover less. And according to Dean Oliver's DRtg stat, Paul is actually the better defensive point guard overall.

As far as his ceiling goes... let me just say, I'd be happy if he didn't improve from his current level at all. That said, there's two things I can pinpoint as areas of potential improvement. The first is a must- improving defensively against bigger point guards. I'm sure you've heard of his struggles against Deron Williams. The Jazz guard has about 4 inches and almost 40 pounds on him, which is huge. CP is going to have to learn to outsmart Williams on the court, and rely on his quickness to defend him. Utah's the one team I absolutely do not want to see in the playoffs, and the Chris Paul-DWill matchup is a large part of that. The second potential improvement isn't as much of a necessity- I want to see if Chris Paul can continue his fantastic improvement on jump shots. He came into the league at 45 eFG% and is currently at 53%. That's a testament to the work he's put in during the offseasons, and if he can ever come near Steve Nash levels (ie, 60%), playing against him would just be unfair.

3QC: In a Q-and-A session with ClipsNation, I gave Steve an opportunity to talk about how great Al Thornton is. So, in that vein, I'm giving you a few paragraphs to rave about David West, the Hornets' starting power forward and arguably the league's most underappreciated player. Have at it.

Rohan: Haha, I just kind of went off on Chris Paul, so this feels weird. Nevertheless, I'll gladly take the opportunity. West is one my favorites for one big reason: he gets maximum results out of his specific skill set. What I mean by that is West isn't as athletically gifted as the Howards (who is?), Amares, Odoms, or Garnetts of the world. When you watch him play, you won't be awed by an explosive first step or come from behind rejection into the eighth row. Even with Paul continually throwing alley-oop lobs, you'll never see West on the finishing end of one of those dunks. And he understands that. When he first broke into the league, I (and other Hornets' fans) came to know him as a tireless worker on the glass. Gradually, he improved his offensive game, year by year.

West is equal parts power and finesse- one of his go-to moves is powering his upper body into a defender, before taking a soft fall away jumper. Unlike most power forwards, he will give you a decent cross over as part of his drive to the hole. One thing you and your readers might not like though is that he'll be yelling every second of every minute of every game (at the refs). I'm stunned he hasn't gotten more technicals this year, but off the court, he's a really low-key and mild mannered dude.

3QC: Talk a bit about the job Byron Scott has done coaching this team. Certainly having the All-Star talent of Paul and West helps, but he's also turned the likes of Ryan Bowen, Rasual Butler, and Melvin Ely into regular rotation players. Is there a more deserving candidate for Coach of the Year?

Rohan: I say he's COY. First, I don't think he gets enough credit for the offensive system he's implemented in New Orleans. A lot of people will just point at Chris Paul and say it's pretty easy to coach with a point guard like him. However, they miss how well he's taught the other Hornets' players their specific duties on offense; New Orleans implements a highly complex variation of the Princeton offense. This allows the finds CP has to make to be a lot less risky; Peja Stojakovic is having one of the best seasons of his career due to the way Scott has set up the offense for him.

On the defensive end, Scott makes his case even stronger. In the last three years, the Hornets have jumped up in defensive efficiency rankings, starting at 20th, getting to 16th, and culminating at 9th. That's really impressive to me when you have a guy like Peja Stojakovic as a starter. Stojakovic isn't atrocious, but he's certainly a weak link; Scott specifically designs the defensive strategies, game to game, to cover for Peja through various types of help defense. On the player-coach interaction front, Scott has successfully integrated a known head case, Bonzi Wells, and a guy coming off a 2 year NBA ban, Chris Andersen, back into the rotation. That has to count for something.

3QC: Along the same lines, how about the work Jeff Bower has done in assembling this team? It really is hard to imagine better complements to Paul than Peja Stojakovic at the three and Tyson Chandler at the five. Does he deserve Executive of the Year consideration? Or is he just really, really, really good?

Rohan: Yeah, this team has been assembled through some very shrewd moves over the past few years. Number one is obviously the Chris Paul selection (by all accounts, New Orleans had him higher on their board than Deron Williams). The P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith for Tyson Chandler deal is looking brilliant. The decision to slowly elevate David West into the starting PF role (let alone giving him a chance as an undersized PF) instead of pursuing a big name free agent has worked out beautifully. Getting a three point shooter some pegged to be on the downside of his career has paid dividends. Most impressive, to me, was Bower pulling the trigger on acquiring Bonzi Wells, and reacquiring Chris Andersen. You have to understand that this was a playoff team with or without those two guys. Bower could've easily sat back, and have been absolved of any of the potential blame that comes with acquiring a head-case and a former drug user. Instead, he showed real commitment to building a bona fide contender- he put his own neck on the line for the good of the franchise. To me, that's worth just as much, if not more, than signing two big name free agents in one offseason (Boston).

3QC: This question's really just for fun. This year, the Hornets introduced an alternate logo, cleverly titled the "fleur de bee," to be worn on a jersey patch. What's your take on the fleur de bee? I ask only because I think it's the best alternate logo in the league, and because not enough people see it.

Rohan: Hahaha, you're right, it's indeed a clever play on the "fleur de lis" and props are in order to whomever coined that. I think it really showed the Hornets commitment (at the time it was released) to the city of New Orleans, with all the drama floating around about leaving the city. The city and its fans have just rewarded the franchise's commitment by showing up to games en masse these last two months.

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Thanks once again to Rohan for his insight. Check out his site, At The Hive, for more on the Hornets. Click here for my answers to his questions about the Magic, including my take on Rashard Lewis' contract. Another great resource for Hornets news and analysis is Hornets 247. There's also this great post about the Hornets at Hardwood Paroxysm.

As Biased Fan reminds us in this comment here at 3QC, a Magic victory over the Hornets tonight goes one step closer to helping the Jazz secure home-court advantage in the West. I think we owe them that much, since their drubbing of the Wizards last night sealed the Southeast Division title for us.

The tip's at 7 on Sun Sports, and there really is no excuse not to watch this game. Clear your schedule. Chris Paul should will be a joy to watch, even if when he's shredding our perimeter defense.

Get them donuts. Go Magic.

Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu fires a jump-shot during his Magic's 102-87 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night. Turkoglu lead the Magic with 24 points and 8 assists.
Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

The Magic managed to defeat the Raptors fairly convincingly, 102-87, on Tuesday night despite only grabbing two offensive boards and having their bench outscored 40-20. The reason? Timely scoring from Dwight Howard and from Hedo Turkoglu, an efficient offensive game from Rashard Lewis, and an opponent playing without its best player.

Neither team played inspired ball in the first half, but the Magic put it together in the early stages of the fourth quarter, letting T.J. Ford single-handedly grind his team's offense to a halt. Ford took the Raptors' first eight shots in the final frame, scoring 13 points in that span. However, he also committed 4 turnovers, which the Magic converted into eight points. By the time any other Raptor did anything offensively in the fourth quarter, Toronto trailed by 9 points, and never got closer than 7 the rest of the way.

Hedo Turkoglu came through in the fourth quarter once again, scoring 7 points, but it was Dwight Howard who went berserk. He made all 7 of his shots in the quarter, most of them dunks. Toronto was helpless to stop Dwight Without Chris Bosh to force him further away from the basket.

Four big surprises this evening:

• The Magic made Jose Calderon look ordinary. Calderon finished with only three assists, which is the second-lowest total he's had as a starter this season. Certainly, we can attribute that low total to the Raptors' anemic shooting, but certainly we should give some credit to Carlos Arroyo and Jameer Nelson for pestering Calderon.
• Marcin Gortat played and J.J. Redick didn't. Marcin played in his second straight game, recording a rebound in 37 seconds. Earlier today, it appeared as though J.J. would finally get his chance to shine, but Keith Bogans recovered from the abdominal strain that might have kept him out and played 25 solid minutes, making two three-pointers in that span. The starter, Maurice Evans, played 26 minutes and did nothing with them: 2 points (1-of-7 shooting). That poor showing, coupled with Marcin's stint, begs the question: What does J.J. have to do to get into the rotation?!
• The Raptors shot poorly, especially from three-point range. Toronto boasts the league's sixth-best effective field goal percentage (.514), but posted an effective field goal percentage of just .420 this evening. Without Chris Bosh drawing double-teams, the Raptors weren't getting the wide-open looks to which they are accustomed.
• Rashard Lewis is coming around: Quietly, Rashard Lewis is shredding opposing defenses. He's scored 104 points on just 68 shots (!) in our past 5 games. During that span, we're 4-1.

No rest for the weary for us, though. We're off to Washington to see the Wizards tomorrow night. They'll be without the services of their two best players: Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. A loss tomorrow night will be inexcusable. For what it's worth, Denver's Carmelo Anthony dropped 49 points (on 25 shots!) on the Wizards last month. Might Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu have a similarly impressive outing tomorrow night? One can only hope, but coming away with a win is clearly a higher priority.

NBA.com has your Magic/Raptors boxscore hookup. For more coverage of this game, visit Bold 'n' Blue,  Orlando Magic Blog, and the Orlando Sentinel. And Dinosty

Neither team looks like it wants to play. The Magic and Raptors have combined to shoot 36-of-92 from the field, or 39%. Dwight Howard has scored just one point for us in 12 minutes, hampered by foul trouble. He does have 10 rebounds, though, so there's that. If he can keep his hands to himself, he should get plenty of touches in the second half, and shouldn't have too much trouble with Rasho Nesterovic and Primoz Brezec.

Rashard Lewis came to play tonight, that's for sure. He leads all scorers with 13 points; additionally, he recorded a beautiful steal on a crosscourt pass, which he took the other way for an easy dunk. Actually, that may have been the only dunk in the game so far...

No sign of J.J. Redick, as Keith Bogans indeed felt well enough to play. He saw just 3 minutes of playing time, but so far he's impressed more than Maurice Evans has; Mo is 1-of-6 from the field and 0-for-4 from downtown... in 17 minutes. Not very good.

This game has been pretty hard to watch, yes. Hopefully, the teams will pick up the intensity in the second half. I suspect that may happen, as this game parallels the 96-93 victory over Boston in late January: the Magic are matched-up, at home, in a nationally televised game, against an Eastern conference foe missing its best player. If that holds true, the Magic will pull away in the third period thanks to a three-point barrage from Brian Cook, only to watch the lead slip away in the fourth period.

Final note: We absolutely need to get a hand in Jose Calderon's face. By my unofficial count, he's hit his last four field-goal attempts.

	vs.
38-23		32-26
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
FSN Florida, NBA TV
Probable starters:
Carlos Arroyo	PG	Jose Calderon
Maurice Evans	SG	Anthony Parker
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Jamario Moon
Rashard Lewis	PF	Andrea Bargnani
Dwight Howard	C	Rasho Nesterovic

UPDATE: See the newest post for the scoop (courtesy of Tim Povtak) that J.J. Redick may play "significant" minutes tonight, as Keith Bogans is doubtful with a strained stomach muscle.

The Raptors won't have Chris Bosh. We won't have Jameer Nelson Keith Bogans or Keyon Dooling. Oddly enough, I think that favors Toronto. As the Raptors proved in a December 2006 visit to Amway Arena, they don't need Bosh in the lineup to hand our hats to us. "Sure," you may say, "But we didn't have Hedo Turkoglu for that game, and we'll have him tonight." Well, we had him for the Raptors' second visit to Amway last season and he scored a career-high 37 points... in a losing effort.

What worries me the most about tonight's game is Carlos Arroyo and Jameer Nelson having to guard T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon. If Dwight Howard doesn't assert himself in the paint, it's going to be a long night. There are only a few players in this league who can prevent Ford and Calderon from getting into the paint. Carlos Arroyo is not one of those players. Neither is Jameer.

Brian Schmitz notes that this game could have huge playoff implications. We've split the season-series with Toronto so far, so if it wins tonight, it will own the head-to-head tiebreaker should we finish with the same record.

For some Raptors perspective, check out Dinosty, T. Jose Caldeford, and Hoops Addict. Tipoff's at 7. Go Magic.

The tubes have a case of the Mondays, and so do I. Ew.

• Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer warns NBA observers not to overlook the Magic in the playoffs.

  After appraising the value of Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, and Dwight Howard, Dwyer asserts:

  So the stage is set. The run is possible. Van Gundy has inherited his predecessor's insistence on moaning about his point-guard tandem at every given opportunity, but things could be worse. J.J. Redick could use a few more minutes per game, but it's hard to argue with the league's fourth-best offense. The cohesion on both ends of the floor will likely improve as the season drones on and Van Gundy's pleas become more and more familiar.

  All it takes is an inspired run to end the season, and the Magic -- great in the one position (low-post center) Boston and Detroit are not -- could find themselves a worthy conference finalist come June.

  A reasonable post that rebuts, though certainly not intentionally (like Dwyer reads this site), this post I made on Friday.

• Brian Schmitz wants to see more of Hedo Turkoglu running the point in the playoffs. He also wants Turk to try defending Chauncey Billups Jose Calderon, which is something I'd rather not see. (thanks to 3QC reader Shadow for the reading-comprehension assist)
  • UPDATE: John Denton says Keyon Dooling and Jameer Nelson are doubtful for tomorrow's game against the Raptors. Once again, Carlos Arroyo and Hedo Turkoglu will have to take turns manning the point for us.
• I made a few cosmetic changes to the site this morning, which is why I'm a bit burned-out. There's now a Special Pages section on the right-hand side of the main page, which contains links to highlights, midseason grades, and the infuriating list of Players Who Have Thoroughly Embarrassed Us. More changes may be coming as I try to spruce things up a bit. Stay tuned.