Fran Vazquez, the Spanish power forward whom we drafted 11th overall in 2005, only to stare in disbelief when he announced he was not ready for the NBA, has decided he's ready to make the jump. From the Orlando Sentinel:

The Magic say that former lottery pick Fran Vazquez of Spain wants to play for the team next season, but the roadblock is the $7-million buy-out in Vazquez' contract with European powerhouse FC Barcelona. His deal doesn't expire until after the 2008-09 season. "The kid wants to come over and play for us," Magic General Manager Otis Smith told the Sentinel on Wednesday after shootaround before the club faced the Detorit Pistons in Game 3. "But . . .it's the buy-out. It's pretty substantial."

Smith indicated that Vazquez could try to reach a settlement with the club. NBA teams can only contribute a maximum of $500,000 toward a buy-out.

So, given our lack of depth at power forward -- remember that Tony Battie and Brian Cook are the only fours we have with guaranteed contracts for next season -- should we consider helping Fran with his buyout and letting him join the team? I'm not convinced. By all recent accounts, he's a horrible player. From Ian Whittell of ESPN.com (January 2008):

"He is a real enigma," says one European-based NBA scout. "You never know what you are going to get with him. I saw him in one Euroleague game this season score 10 points in the first half, all on dunks. If you did not know who he was, you would have been blown away by him.

"Then, the next time you see him, he might play five minutes and not score a point. The bottom line is, I don't think he's a real smart player."

[....]

In the 11-game Euroleague season, he is averaging 5.5 points and 1.6 rebounds in 11 minutes, modest numbers given how dominant Barcelona (8-3) has been in many games.

More worryingly, in the domestic Spanish ACB League, Vazquez averages 5.2 points and 1.8 boards in 14 minutes. In Sunday's surprise 95-82 defeat at lowly Murcia, he had no points and one rebound in 5 minutes.

I went on-the-record in January as saying, "Let him sit at the end of Barcelona's bench. I don't care about him anymore. Can we move on, please?" and I haven't wavered from that opinion. Let Battie and Cook man the four-spot, or see about acquiring a four via free agency. We can probably get a proven NBA role-player, one more effective than Battie, anyway, and not have to worry about Vazquez's learning curve.

But what do you think? Is Vazquez worth taking a flyer on? Or should we look elsewhere?

The Magic's Rashard Lewis gets his shit sent back is denied at the basket by the Pistons' Amir Johnson in Detroit's 101-93 victory over the Magic on Friday night.
Photo by Duane Burleson, the Associated Press

The phrase "No Rip? No Problem" started the headline of the Associated Press' recap of the first meeting between these two teams this season. Eliminate the two negatives in the phrase and you're left with "Rip? Problem"... which is exactly what we faced tonight. Richard "Rip" Hamilton scored 32 points on 14-of-22 shooting to lead the Pistons in a curb-stomping against us tonight.

Just a bad game. The Magic, as usual, had no answer for Hamilton or for Chauncey Billups, who repeatedly broke-down our sub-standard defense and got the shots they wanted, usually uncontested. The Magic ended the third quarter on a 14-2 run after getting some much-needed stops, but obviously never capitalized against a team that is clearly in a higher class.

The frustrating thing is, as badly as we played, we could have been right there at the end with a better effort. Letting the Pistons rebound 40% of their own misses is inexcusable, and we have done better against them; they only got 27% in the first meeting and 26% in the second one, which is about average. And I don't know what it is about Detroit, but we just do not capitalize on our free-throw attempts against them: 25-of-39 tonight, 75-of-109 overall. Beating them on Monday did nothing to boost our confidence, as they appear to have a mental advantage on us.

This game leaves me asking lots of questions, but there's one answer it's given me: we have a long way to go to get to Detroit's level. We absolutely have to beat Boston on Sunday if we are to have any shot of legitimizing ourselves in the East. Right now, I'd put the Celtics, Pistons, Cavaliers, and Raptors ahead of us, with the Wizards not far behind. If we don't pick up the defensive intensity, we're looking at another first-round playoff exit.

I feel somewhat obligated to say something nice about one of our players, so I'll get to it:

• Carlos Arroyo deserves recognition for his 16-point, 6-assist effort, 1-turnover effort. He gets bonus points for throwing an elbow at Billups late in the game. Yeah, it was a cheap play, and it's not one that I usually advocate. But the Pistons dish out a lot of punishment, and it was nice to see at least one player take it to them.
• Hedo Turkoglu had a decent third-quarter and was probably our best hope at winning the game; he had his midrange jumper going, which was nice.
• Keyon Dooling didn't play great, but came back in the second half after having to be helped off the floor in the first half with a knee contusion. Way to play through pain, Keyon.
• Jameer Nelson, although inactive, enhanced my viewing experience by wearing a sharp tan suit, a blue shirt, and a blue-and-silver tie. It was glorious in HD.

No donuts tomorrow. I'm disappointed, and I'm sure Brian Cook is too.

Two weeks ago, With Malice hosted Unsung Player Day. Although they invited me to participate, I never got around to writing what I wanted to. Well, better late than never.

The next time you're at a party, you can mention this fact and watch as the people to whom you're taking react with amazement^*: Of Maurice Evans' 253 field goals for the Magic this season, 73 were dunks and 80 were three-pointers. All told, dunks and treys account for 60.5% of his made field goals.

Continue reading this post »

	vs.
51-30		43-38
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Antonio Daniels
Maurice Evans	SG	D. Stevenson
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Darius Songaila
Rashard Lewis	PF	Antawn Jamison
Dwight Howard	C	Brendan Haywood
Season series:
3 Nov 2007: Magic 94, Wizards 82
5 Mar 2008: Magic 112, Wizards 92
19 Mar 2008: Wizards 87, Magic 86

Neither team has anything to play for except pride. I don't expect to see too much of Dwight, Hedo, or Rashard tonight. Granted, Stan Van Gundy said after the game last night that he always prefers to be on the winning side of the scoreboard, but I don't think he'll mind losing tonight, if that is indeed the result.

Hopefully, the inconsequentiality of this game will result in PLENTY of minutes for J.J. Redick, James Augustine, and Marcin Gortat. Yes, the fans pay to see the Big Guys, but the end-of-the-bench players are easy to root for, too. Especially J.J. Let me go ahead and start the chant:

J!-J!-RED!-ICK! clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.

J!-J!-RED!-ICK! clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.

Check out SB Nation's Wizards blog, Bullets Forever, for their P.O.V. and to get another look at the SBN 2.0 platform. We make the switch this Friday.

Tip's at 7 on Sun Sports. If you're going to the game, give the guys a huge ovation. And say hi to the guy in the lower bowl who always wears a Brian Cook jersey.

Go Magic.

COOKIE MONSTER is ready for the Magic's playoff series with the Raptors to begin. Are you?
NYCMagicFan

Today's news post features playoff prediction posts and reactions to the forthcoming Magic/Raptors postseason matchup...

• If you want to show you believe in Magic, you might consider using one of these signature images from NYCMagicFan. Brian Cook and Maurice Evans aren't available, sadly. However, COOKIE MONSTER is!
• Here's the Playoffs page on the Magic's official website. The theme is BLUE & WHITE IGNITE.
• A FanHouse post by Tom Ziller that details why 10 NBA teams are legitimate contenders this season. For what it's worth, the Magic are one of those teams; the Raptors are not. I'm just saying.
• Ziller Stuff the Magic Dragon writes about why the Magic will win the championship
• Basketbawful, writing at Deadspin, discusses how the controversial ending to last night's Cavaliers/76ers game impacted the Eastern playoff picture.
• Vincent Thomas of SLAM previews the Eastern playoffs. He picks the Magic to win in 6 games, citing the Raptors' over-reliance on European players ("This is not FIBA") as his reason. Note that in the first draft of this post, published before the bracket was set, Thomas picked the 76ers to upset the Magic.
• T. Jose Caldeford thinks the Dwight Howard-versus-Chris Bosh matchup makes for the most compelling Eastern Conference playoff story:

  There will be no other series in the East where two great players will be going at each other on both ends of the floor (Arenas and James don't match up against each other), and furthermore, this is a match up about different styles of play, about quickness and well-roundedness against overwhelming size and strength.

  Hard to disagree with that assessment.

• JasonLynx posted this interesting thread at the MagicMadness forums. The Raptors lost their season series against the other Eastern contenders; the Magic won or tied all theirs.

Stay tuned to 3QC for more Orlando Magic playoffs coverage. I imagine we'll kick-off the site's relaunch on Friday with some playoff discussion in an open thread. I've already started going over some numbers. Sound good?

Good. See you tonight versus Atlanta. Go Magic.

Quick notes on this stiflingly humid Friday.:

• Monday,  a panel of FanHouse writers named Hedo Turkoglu the NBA's Most Improved Player. Now, Ball Don't Lie has a poll which lets its readers decide who should win. Hedo leads the field by a wide margin, with 44% of the vote. Andrew Bynum, who would probably be the front-runner if he hadn't busted his knee, holds second place in the poll with 25%. Anyway, uh, vote Hedo!
• The Blowtorch looks at the Magic's weakest link: their back-up big men:

  Here is a list of bench players 6'9" and over that have played in games for the Magic this year:

  Brian Cook
  

  Pat Garrity
  
  Adonal Foyle
  
  James Augustine
  
  Marcin Gortat
  
  Bo Outlaw

  I'm serious. Bo Outlaw played in a real NBA game for a real NBA team this season. I don't think he's actually on the roster right now, but that's ridiculous.

• Speaking of backups, the Orlando Sentinel confirms that Brian Cook will probably miss at least the first round of the playoffs due to his broken hand.
• Dwight Howard and Chris Paul share the spotlight in this split-screen NBA Playoffs commercial. For the love of Seikaly, please let the Hornets and the Magic play each other in the Finals sometime soon. (Thanks, HP).
• Last week, SLAM gave a sneak peek of the cover to its latest issue, which features Dwight Howard. It's on sale now, and the magazine's website has a behind-the-scenes look at how the photographers made Dwight fly. And if you need any more incentive to get this issue (cop this ish? I have no idea), it also profiles D-League star Rod Benson. BOOM THO.

• 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.

The Magic's Hedo Turkoglu drives past the Hornets' Peja Stojakovic in New Orleans' 98-97 victory over Orlando on Tuesday night. Turkoglu scored a game-high 26 points, but Stojakovic had the last laugh on April Fool's Day, hitting the go-ahead three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Photo by Kevin Kolczynski, Reuters

Damn. What a way to lose. The Magic dropped a tough one to the Hornets tonight, 98-97, despite having a lead as large as 14 points. Here's the boxscore.

The Hornets wanted this game more, and we only have to look at rebounding to see why. Their 21 offensive rebounds (in 49 opportunities) compensated for their poor field goal shooting. And make no mistake: the rebounds they got weren't balls that took lucky bounces. Jannero Pargo and Chris Paul both took boards away from Dwight Howard. That's a terrible showing on the defensive glass, and we didn't compensate by dominating on our end. Our final offensive rebound total -- 2 -- sets a new franchise low. Inexcusable.

Anytime Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis combine for 50 points on 31 shots, and we hit 13 three-pointers, we should win running away. Instead, the Hornets' extra effort put them over-the-top. They earned this win.

However, the officiating seemed suspect at times. As a rule, I never directly blame a loss on the referees' whistles; it's our fault for letting the game get close enough for a single call to swing momentum in either direction, and the officials weren't the guys beating the Magic to every loose ball. However, I should note the Magic were called for 25 fouls compared to the Hornets' 18. As a result, the Hornets enjoyed a solid 27-15 edge in free throw attempts. The game-changing play came when Maurice Evans was whistled for an away-from-the-ball foul when he got tangled-up with Morris Peterson. Replays showed Peterson clearly pushed Evans first, and fell because he merely lost his balance, but it didn't matter. Peja Stojakovic hit the penalty free throw, then drilled a three-pointer on the resulting possession -- just his second field goal of the night -- to give the Hornets a 96-95 lead they would not relinquish.

Final notes:

• The Magic got the final shot with a chance to win. Coming out of a timeout, Turkoglu inbounded the ball to Lewis, who drove to his right and... dished the ball to Keyon Dooling, who came up well short on the final shot. That's the best we could do? Yes, Tyson Chandler gave Lewis some trouble when he switched to cover him, but Lewis needed to be more aggressive and assertive.
• Sun Sports displayed a graphic at the beginning of the fourth quarter that showed the Magic have the fifth-best record of any NBA team when entering the fourth quarter with the lead. I called it a jinx as soon as it happened. Hate to say I told you so, ALRIGHT.
• Dwight Howard played 42 minutes, yet got just 9 shots from the field and 5 shots from the  line. He needs more touches if we expect to win.
• Jameer Nelson was a late scratch. Carlos Arroyo got the start at point guard, and had a game to forget: no points on 5 shots. Jameer might have been able to make the difference tonight.
• Think we miss Brian Cook? Pat Garrity took Cook's spot in the rotation, going 1-of-4 and registering a plus-minus rating of minus-14. Ouch.

We have a tough matchup Cleveland in a nationally televised affair on Saturday. BIG GAME for us. Sure, we're essentially locked into the East's third seed, but we need to come out and stomp the Cavaliers to show the league and its observers that we can't be written-off.

	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.

------------------------------------------------------

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.

Dwight Howard must not like power forwards.

Less than a year after Tony Battie's season ended when his rotator cuff tore while trying to defend Howard, Brian Cook is also sidelined no thanks to Dwight. Both Brian Schmitz and John Denton report that a bone in Cook's right hand broke when Dwight Howard hit it during this morning's practice.

We need Cook and his three-point shooting to space the floor for the second unit -- the Magic are 10-1 when Cook hits two or more triples -- so losing him for the season weakens our already sub-par bench. This injury means more minutes for Pat Garrity and his 2.1 PER, which does not bode well for us. It also means we have extra incentive to bring Battie back before the season ends, as the team can't depend on youngsters James Augustine and Marcin Gortat in the playoffs.

It's not time to panic just yet, but it can't be good when a team worries it might not succeed without Brian Cook and his 5 points per game.

On the bright side, Jameer Nelson is expected to start tomorrow against New Orleans. Nice to know he's doing better.