The Fan Voice: "No Uncertainty Here!"

By Live or Die Magic | October 22nd, 2009

To me, it seems uncommon for a team coming off of so successful a campaign to enter the following season with so much uncertainty. But there it is. Whether this is simply a perception shared by the media and the fans, or whether it is something the coaches and players feel as well, it is apparent that the 2009-2010 Orlando Magic have many questions to ponder and answer as they move toward the start of the new season.

After winning 59 games and losing in the Finals in June, the Magic still bring back their franchise player, their highest paid player, their starting point guard, and their top-flight coach. For most successful teams, that would seem like enough – enough at least, for most observers to feel that the team should be ready to duplicate the success of the previous season. But the Magic didn’t stop there – no, they added a 20 point scorer and finisher in Vince Carter, and they reinforced an already good bench with starting quality players such as Brandon Bass, Jason Williams, Matt Barnes, and Ryan Anderson.

You would think that this influx of new talent would only serve to strengthen the argument that the Magic should continue on the path to a championship. But instead, we hear that the loss of Hedo Turkoglu eliminates any mismatch edge we had against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Magic’s ability to surround Dwight Howard with several different combinations of slashers, shooters, and scorers makes the current roster an opposing coach’s headache. But instead, we hear how Rashard Lewis missing the first 10 games is going to cause us to lose ground against Boston in the race for home court advantage.

The Magic chose to make a surprising move when they matched the large contract of their back-up center. Marcin Gortat could easily start for a significant number of NBA teams. Instead, he will continue to back up the best center in the league. Instead of marveling at what a luxury it is, what a great potential advantage it is, to be able to call on such a good player, if needed, we hear how the Magic’s chemistry issues will be a disadvantage all season long against the other elite teams in the league.

I sometimes wonder if the people making these observations are watching the same NBA that I am. Was chemistry an issue for the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics? How ‘bout for the 2007-2008 LA Lakers when they brought Pau Gasol in? How about any other NBA Finalist over the last decade who has made tweaks and changes each year? The fact is, chemistry is always going to be something that NBA teams deal with, even when rosters don’t change this dramatically. But we are talking about professionals here. Otis Smith and Stan Van Gundy are on the same page with this team. They know what to expect from everyone on the roster. The locker room is under control thanks to players like Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard, and especially Jameer Nelson. The players we have brought in as additions to this team are either veterans eager for the chance to be on a successful team and playing with a dominating center (Vince Carter, Matt Barnes, Jason Williams), or are young, promising players itching for the chance to establish themselves even further (Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson). We have not added head cases or potential malcontents such as Ron Artest or Rasheed Wallace onto this roster. Everyone wearing Magic blue and white this season will be more than willing to sacrifice themselves for the other players on this team. So, I would argue that chemistry will be a major strength this season, not a weakness.

For me, I have appreciated watching my team have such an amazingly eventful off season, coming off such an amazingly eventful 2008-2009 campaign. I never expected to be more excited to watch the 2009-2010 Magic roster than I was to watch last season’s version. And maybe this is the very simple place to stop all the uncertainty and just focus on this one certain fact: this Magic season is going to be fantastic!

This message was not subject of approval by the NBA or the Orlando Magic. The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of the Orlando Magic or the NBA, but solely the writer.

Another great read man. And good point about Artest and Wallace, I never even looked at it that way.

I love them talking about Shard missing time. Do they really think Boston's band of 30 somethings are going to all play 82 games this year??

Cleveland is STILL relying on two very old and slow centers (Shaq and Z) to slow down Dwight??

IMO the Lakers are the Champs and deserve to be the favorites, but I can't see any reason why we should not also be the favorites in the East. If anything this team is MUCH improved with a another years experience, added lineup flexibility and depth.

But I guess that is why we actually play the games instead of letting the media crown the champs in the pre-season.

Solid work.

Yep, great read.

I no longer torture myself reading preseason predictions. They mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, its why they play the games.

Orlando has probably the deepest roster of any team in the NBA and IMO should be a clear favorite over both Boston and Cleveland.

But even my opinion doesn't mean anything really. We will see in the coming months and that is the way I want it anyway.

Reading the forum this summer, seems like a great portion of the members of the O-Zone are really happy with the new team, something uncommon in the "internet world"... while everyone outside Orlando is full of doubts about our possibilities.

We'll check it again in the summer of next year.

Great read as always BTW.

The Lakers and Celtics were looked upon as teams that made key trades to move them forward. The Orlando Magic made trades that obviously moved them forward but yet a large number of media outlets think opposite.

I'm certain of one thing. If people don't think this team is the real deal that it is a far gone conclusion that Cleveland or Boston are the only real beasts of the east (yeah I'm talking about you Charlie Rosen) then they will be surely disappointed.

Great piece LOD! I often wonder what others are watching as well!! It appears that all the respect the Magic fail to receive begin with the local media.. I think it began with the disrespect that we have retain began with there poor commentary. I think that is why Otis takes the position with them that he does!! Suggestion, cc BS at the OS!

great read LOD I'm feeling the same thing.

Couldn't agree more. The stat I keep hearing and I thought was very interesting is the one where only 1 team in the last 15(?) yrs has come back and won the finals after losing the previous year. The same people that are saying we will take a big hit without Turk are the ones throwing that out there so my question is, why would we stand pat with the same exact lineup if we have a small chance of success? What would be the point of that?

We were missing a couple of things a banger, a guy who can create offense, a guy who tries to go at basket and complete 3 pt plays/attack rim rather than flailing arms wildly and screaming for a call, we got all of those things while becoming deeper so what is the problem?

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Acres 3:16:
Couldn't agree more. The stat I keep hearing and I thought was very interesting is the one where only 1 team in the last 15(?) yrs has come back and won the finals after losing the previous year. The same people that are saying we will take a big hit without Turk are the ones throwing that out there so my question is, why would we stand pat with the same exact lineup if we have a small chance of success? What would be the point of that?

We were missing a couple of things a banger, a guy who can create offense, a guy who tries to go at basket and complete 3 pt plays/attack rim rather than flailing arms wildly and screaming for a call, we got all of those things while becoming deeper so what is the problem?

Well, don't forget that we aren't exactly the same team that went to the finals last year. Our lineup is stacked now. We filled the holes on our roster last year.

Another great read, LOD.

Great job LOD. I think a lot of the anal ists get caught up in the hype and if last night's games have anything to say about their predictions I can see a replay of last seasons finals with the Magic getting the ring. We are solid, with or without Shard. The Lakers are still IMHO the team to beat. Shaq looks slow, Bron is till trying to play all the positions. Boston plays like a team but they won't last the season I don't think. We have a great blend of youthful experience and mature experience from people who can score and play as always like a TEAM. I agree totally with your chemistry viewpoint, that's what did it for us last year only this year we have consistency and I'm looking forward to reasonably low blood pressure this season instead of wondering if Turk is going to make the buzzer or not.