Courtney Lee is the newest member of the Orlando Magic. Some thoughts/links:

• The Orlando Sentinel has a solid recap of the Magic's draft, including video of Otis Smith and Stan Van Gundy discussing the team's pick, here. For me, the highlight was Smith telling reporters he did not make a promise to Lee; he wanted him to "sweat it out." That's funny.
• The Magic have called a 3 PM press conference to introduce Lee to the media.
• Brian Schmitz wonders what Lee's presence does to affect J.J. Redick's status with the team. Smith told Schmitz that "it doesn't do anything to [Redick]." Uh, how doesn't it? Redick's a two-guard who hoped to move from third (fourth if you count Keyon Dooling as a two) on the depth chart to first. Keith Bogans plans to stay, the Magic drafted Courtney Lee, and their biggest free-agent priority is re-signing Dooling for the portion of the mid-level. And if Dooling bolts, the Magic will turn their attention to retaining Maurice Evans, their starting two from last season. So, yeah, I'd say Lee's selection impacts Redick in a big way in that it keeps him at the end of the bench.
• The Magic weren't able to acquire a second-round pick, although I got antsy when Portland selected power forward Joey Dorsey 33rd overall. The live feed from the Magic's draft room showed Assistant GM Dave Twardzik, who had spent the last several minutes sitting idly, like everyone else in the room, buzzing about and appearing to take a fax. But, obviously, nothing materialized. If you want me to post some screen grabs, I can.
• And, for what it's worth, Otis didn't move from his chair during the several minutes I spent watching the feed during the second round.

All in all -- and this subject is one Believing in Magic touched on immediately after the draft -- the Magic went with the safe pick. But was it the right one?

The Magic could not have screwed this pick up, it seemed. Their biggest needs are, in order: shooting guard, power forward, point guard, and center. They had four great players left on the board, and each one would have fit a need: Lee, the shooting guard; Darrell Arthur, the power forward and likely a better overall player than Lee; Mario Chalmers, the point guard; and Kosta Koufos, the center. Nobody in the Ridiculous Upside liveblog could believe Arthur slipped as far as he did, although ESPN later reported that his stock fell due to a kidney condition. Had the Magic taken him anyway, it would have been the steal of the night. Yet they didn't.

But snubbing Chalmers might bite them in the behind more than snubbing Arthur will. Chalmers fell all the way to Minnesota and the 34th overall pick; the Timberwolves shipped his rights to the Miami Heat, who need a point guard in a bad way. The addition of Chalmers, a first-round talent and possible opening-day starter, to a lineup that already features Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley might put the Heat in contention for one of the bottom-tier playoff spots in the East, if not better. And considering that Miami's the closest thing the Magic have to a rival -- sorry, the Pistons don't count -- the thought of them succeeding with a point guard the Magic could have had hurts. Then again, I've overrated the Heat before. When they acquired Mark Blount and Ricky Davis last fall, I wrote, "if this deal goes down, the Southeast Division will be much tougher to win, and there's no guarantee we'll even make the playoffs."

The Heat went on to win less than one-third of the games the Magic did, finishing with the worst record in the league. Good call I made there, huh?

It's been a blast covering the draft. Next up: summer league and free agency. Trades? Those, too.

Fun's just beginning.

UPDATE: Here are a few evening/weekend links from the team's website. Enjoy.

• The team's official website has this small bio of Lee. It also has a transcript from his introductory news conference.

	vs.
11-52		42-24
AmericanAirlines Arena
7:30 PM
FSN Florida
Probable starters:
Jason Williams	PG	Jameer Nelson
Daequan Cook	SG	Maurice Evans
Ricky Davis	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Shawn Marion	PF	Rashard Lewis
Mark Blount	C	Dwight Howard
Season series:
24 Nov 2007: Magic 120, Heat 99
28 Dec 2007: Magic 121, Heat 114
30 Jan 2008: Magic 107, Heat 91

The Magic take to the road for the first time in over a week to take on their rivals to the south, the Miami Heat. They'll return to Orlando to play the Indiana Pacers on the second night of a back-to-back, and won't have to play another road game for a week. I'm really digging this late-season schedule, and I'm sure the players are too.

The Heat are miserably bad. As Basketbawful noted yesterday, in Miami's loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, Ricky Davis and Mark Blount took a combine 35 shots. Yeah, it's gotten real bad in South Beach. So bad, in fact, that coach Pat Riley has left the team to scout some college players. Not that Riley is any stranger to quitting taking time off or anything.

Oh, by the way: the Heat have lost Alonzo Mourning (knee), Shaquille O'Neal (trade), and Dwyane Wade (knee) for the season. Udonis Haslem, their glue-guy, has also missed some games with a bum ankle. At least they managed to snag Shawn Marion in the O'Neal trade.

Tipoff's at 7:30 because the Heat are about five years behind us in terms of scheduling. The game's on FSN, so most of us won't be able to see it, but that may be a good thing. Do we really want to subject ourselves to the Mark Blount? What about Heat's insufferable P.A. announcer? Seth from Posting and Toasting, SB Nation's Knicks blog, explains:

• Someone needs to make a video of every time Mark Blount touched the ball in the second half. It was surreal. I'd guess he had 15 touches in the final 24 minutes, and that he hastily bricked an off-balance jump shot on about 10 of those touches. It was so egregious that Mike Breen's call at one point was "Mark Blount with...a pass!". My fantasy team thanks you, asshole.
• As Barnesgasm pointed out, the Miami PA announcer must have accidentally ingested some speed in his pre-game snack. The guy was practically screaming such unimpressive names as "DAEQUAN COOOOOOK!!!" and "CHRIS QUIIIIINN!!1", which was made even more depressing by the noticeable echo in the completely empty arena.

So, yeah, enjoy. Go Magic.

	vs.
32-21		32-19
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
FSN Florida
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Anthony Carter
Maurice Evans	SG	Allen Iverson
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Carmelo Anthony
Rashard Lewis	PF	Kenyon Martin
Dwight Howard	C	Marcus Camby

The Nuggets are coming off a 114-113 overtime victory over the Miami Heat last night. J.R. Smith lead Denver with 28 points... in 27 minutes... on 8-of-14 three-point shooting. He has no conscience. And the Magic damn well better close out on him if they hope to win.

And ohbytheway, the Nuggets also have the league's highest-scoring duo: Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. The theme for the Magic tonight has to be DEFENSE.

Of course, the biggest story in this game is the (overblown) "feud" between Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy. How will Dwight respond in his first game since his coach called him out for not playing good defense? Brian Schmitz guarantees Howard will go for 20 points and 20 rebounds, even though he'll be matched-up with Marcus Camby, the league's leading rebounder and shot-blocker. However, a big night for Dwight isn't out of the question: Mark Blount (!) managed to post 18 points and 13 boards against Camby last night, and he's Mark Blount.

Anyway, look for the Nuggets to cream us. Sure, they're on the second night of a back-to-back, but that certainly didn't bother the Cavaliers on Monday. Unless the Nuggets flat-out miss their shots, they have this one in the bag. Accuscore disagrees, as the Magic won 62% of the game simulations it ran. Don't count on it. We are not a good team right now.

For some really super-cool Nuggets p.o.v., check out Pickaxe & Roll. Jeremy, who runs the site, does a great job analyzing Nuggets games with video. Check out this video breakdown of the Nuggets' first game against the Magic, which resulted in a Denver win thanks to Anthony Carter's 14th fourth-quarter points.

Tipoff's at 7. Go Magic.

	vs.
28-18		9-33
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports HD
Probable starters:
Carlos Arroyo	PG	Jason Williams
Maurice Evans	SG	Ricky Davis
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Dorell Wright
Rashard Lewis	PF	Mark Blount
Dwight Howard	C	Earl Barron

The Miami Heat are one of the league's worse teams, and were jubilant after ending a 15-game losing streak against the slump-busting Indiana Pacers. The happiness was short-lived, though, as they suffered a 117-87 defeat against the Boston Celtics last night. The margin of defeat is made even more disconcerting for the Heat considering the Celtics were without Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Worse still, the Heat lost starting power forward Udonis Haslem to a sprained ankle. Dwyane Wade scored just 7 points last night on 1-of-9 shooting, clearly bothered by the flu. He'll probably definitely sit out tonight. Clearly, Miami has no shot at the playoffs this season, even in the inferior Eastern Conference. Their probable starting lineup tonight -- no Shaq, no Wade, no Haslem -- resembles something they'd use in a preseason game. It's that bad.

The storyline for this game could have been Dwight Howard vs. Shaquille O'Neal, but Shaq is dealing with a sore hip and will be out for a few more games. He's vowed to keep playing until his contract expires in 2010, citing his upbringing as the son of an army drill sergeant as the reason. David Friedman thinks the more honorable thing for Shaq to do is retire to free up the $40 million of salary-cap space his contract will take up over the next two seasons. Thing is, Shaq isn't going to walk away from $40 million in guaranteed money, and Heat coach/GM Pat Riley isn't going to insult the future Hall-of-Famer by offering a buyout. So yeah, the Heat are a terrible team with no salary cap space. At least they have the lottery to look forward to.

The Magic will get a nice, long look at Heat point guard Jason Williams tonight. Williams has a contract that expires at season's end, and as Tim Povtak suggested yesterday, he could be a free-agent target for us. I'm not super anxious to use even part of the mid-level exception on a backup point guard, especially one who shoots miserably (.378) from the field. From a running-the-offense-capably standpoint, he's probably on-par with Carlos Arroyo. Unfortunately, Williams is 3-and-a-half years older and not as quick. In short: no thanks, Tim. I'll pass on Williams. For what it's worth, G.L. Rawx of the Howeva Files likes the idea of White Chocolate in a Magic uniform, mostly because he doesn't like Jameer "the Meerkat" Nelson.

And speaking of Nelson, he'll will be back in action tonight, albeit off the bench, says Brian Schmitz. Nelson practiced with the team yesterday and feels well enough to play.

Be sure to check out Ira Winderman's blog for more Heat coverage. Winderman has been the Sun-Sentinel's Heat reporter since the team's inception, and is one of the best reporters in the NBA at balancing his print work with his online pieces. He understands the difference between a news article and a blog entry, which is important.

The game is in HD tonight, so you'll be able to get a great sense of just how large Mark Blount's ears are. Go Magic.

Oh crap.

According to ESPN.com, the Miami Heat are in discussions with the Minnesota Timberwolves to acquire Ricky Davis and Mark Blount in exchange for Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, and Wayne Simien.

This is bad news for us.

I was about ready to write the Heat off. Their two superstars are injury-prone and were slated to miss a bunch of time, and their supporting cast sucked, to put it mildly. Ricky Davis and Mark Blount aren't great players by any means, but they're certainly improvements over the guys they'd be replacing.

If this deal goes down, this Southeast Division will be much tougher to win, and there's no guarantee we'll make the playoffs.