If you're like me, you care about what NBA teams wear on the court. And, if you're like me, you want a distraction from all this draft madness taking place. We know the Magic are changing their logo and uniforms for this season, their 20th in the league. What we don't know is when we might see said new uniforms and logo. Let's look at some recent history so we have a better idea when we can line-up to buy our Courtney Lee jerseys.

• 2007: Atlanta Hawks
  • What they changed: their uniforms, their alternate logo, and the color scheme of their main logo.
  • When we saw it (or not...)
    • June 25th: the Hawks release a press kit which includes pictures of the new logos and new uniforms. Forward Josh Smith modeled the uniforms in the photos. The jersey number on both uniforms was 07 instead of Smith's usual 5.
    • June 28th: after NBA Commissioner David Stern called their names on draft night, the Hawks' selections were handed a ballcap bearing the team's new alternate logo. The new uniforms were nowhere to be found.
    • July 2nd: the Monday after the draft, Atlanta holds a press conference to introduce Al Horford and Acie Law IV, whom they selected in the draft:

      File photo by Todd Bennett, the Associated Press

• 2006: Charlotte Bobcats
  • What they changed: What they wear during certain road games; they introduced a "Bobcats Blue" alternate jersey.
  • When we saw it (or not...)
    • August 16th: the Bobcats call a press conference to unveil their new uniforms, with draftees/sexpots Sean May and Adam Morrison serving as models.
• 2006: Milwaukee Bucks
  • What they changed: their uniforms. They also updated their main logo with a new typeface to reflect the new jerseys' wordmark.
  • When we saw it (or not...)
    • June 28th: the team releases its new logo and color scheme.
    • September 28th: the Bucks unveil their new uniforms.
• 2003: Orlando Magic
  • What they changed: their uniforms.
  • When we saw it (or not...)
    • June 26th: none of the Magic's picks are on-hand during draft night, but it's a moot point, as teams drafting in the teens never have a custom jersey ready for their picks.
    • June 27th: Keith Bogans, Reece Gaines, and Zaza Pachulia arrive in Orlando for an introductory press conference. Still no sign of the new uniforms.
    • July 16th: the Magic's big free-agent signee, Juwan Howard, arrives in Orlando for his introductory press conference. Magic coach Doc Rivers presents him with a home version of the team's obsolete jersey, numbered 03:

      

      File photo by Phelan M. Ebanhack, the Associated Press

    • October 2nd: players wear the new uniforms for team photographs during media day. Zaza Pachulia was one of them:

      

      File photo by Peter Cosgrove, the Associated Press

What does this extremely limited sample-size tell us? That we could see the new goods as early as next week or as late as -- gulp -- October. At least we'll have free agency and potential trades to keep us occupied until then, should it take that long.

You're the coach of a playoff-contending team. Your starting five is solid, with three players hovering around the 20-points-per-game mark. But you need a go-to guy off the bench, someone who can come into the game and provide instant offense. There are two options for you.

Option 1 averages 15.3 points per game on .376 shooting. Option 2 isn't much better, if at all, posting an average of 19 points per game... on 19 shot attempts per game, shooting just .382 from the field and .310 from three-point range. Summarily, your options are Diddly and Squat.  

Well, which would you choose? Think about it, then join me after the jump.

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Let's get to it, shall we?

• J.A. Adande writes in this countdown of this season's NBA storylines that if the Magic improve this season it will be due to Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson, not Rashard Lewis. Adande thinks that the death of Jameer's father has made him more aggressive, and he'll be a better player for it. We'll see.
• John Hollinger, known mostly for his basketball metrics, was with the Magic and Cavaliers in China. He has some observations here and speculates that the Magic may make an offer to Wang Zhizhi, who looked impressive in Team China's exhibition loss to the Magic last week. Wang, a 7'0" center, has career  NBA averages of 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per game. His last stint in the NBA was with Miami in 2004/2005, where he finished behind only Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade in PER. Hmmmm...
• Raptors coach Sam Mitchell (from the Toronto Star via TrueHoop) thinks the NBA should count the "hockey assist" -- the pass that leads to a pass that leads to a made basket -- as an official NBA statistic. It's hard to disagree with him. Tom Ziller believes that counting these passes would greatly improve Jameer Nelson's assist totals.
• J.J. Redick's poor shooting and defense in last week's exhibition games, combined with Keith Bogans' resurgence, has made Bogans the favorite to start at shooting guard on opening night, writes John Denton. Thanks to Black and Blue for pointing it out first.
• Over at Believing in Magic, Damien Nielsen writes that Dwight Howard is "on the verge of something great." To illustrate his point, he includes a picture of Dwight dunking on Yao Ming, which has since been added to my rotation of Magic screen-saver images. Thanks, Damien!
• One of our division rivals, the Charlotte Bobcats, will be without the services of Adam Morrison this season after he tore his ACL in a preseason game. The Bobcats were already missing Sean May, another regular rotation player, who is out for the year following knee surgery.
• FreeDarko is writing one-sentence previews for every player in the league this season, with bold statements like "Dooling, Keyon: injures himself at Epcot Center." Here is A-F.

UPDATE - Here are two more links for you:

• The Orlando Sentinel reports that Rashard Lewis practiced last Friday and is expected to play in Thursday's exhibition game against the San Antonio Spurs.
• I've finally found photographic evidence of J.J. Redick's fauxhawk, which I alluded to at halftime of Saturday morning's game against the Cavaliers. The light behind J.J. highlights the fact that it goes from front to back, which is an absolutely awful look. Let's hope he switches back to what works when the season starts.

After the jump, your unofficial 2007/2008 season-opening Orlando Magic depth chart.

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