Showing posts with label Orlando Magic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orlando Magic. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Your favorite inconsistent NBA post is back from last year!  I never really had a full grasp on how to do this blog, but I think I have figured it out. There will be similar elements from Bucks Buzz, but in reality, it will be its own post on Wednesday (Or Thursday). I do not really have a time for when it will be up but there will be all sorts of random shit I happen to come across on the Internet plus some thoughts about the week that was.

Players of the Week 
Kevin Durant - Without question, the Most Valuable Player so far this season. Durant is averaging 29 points
a game with eight rebounds and six assists to boot. Durant deserves this one so far without question. KD won this honor not like a Susan Lucci's career award rather he is currently in an amazing five game stretch. Durant had 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against Indiana which to me said 'Alright we are giving Paul George too much love' and he just tore up the court. Actually, he said that in a way telling media row 'Write about that.'  In his last five games, three of them have been double-doubles for Durant which was a past knock on KD that all he could do was get buckets. Durant is also doing more in the paint as he is not shooting much from three. I would pay thousands to watch a playoff series with KD and George going at it.

Andre Drummond - This is more like a Susan Lucci as it seems we have it with SnoTap's second POY. Drummond did have a monster effort against Milwaukee last Wednesday with 23 points and 19 rebounds, but Dre is doing big things in his second year with Detroit. Drummond is averaging nearly 13 rebounds a game with 13 points per game. When big men are doing these sorts of things in their second year of professional basketball, it is pretty telling. Drummond can definitely be one of the best in the next coming years. I realize that might sound like hyperbole, but Dre is truly a great player.

'I am not mad, I am disappointed' Player of the Week
Kobe Bryant - This might be a troll move by me here, but I will go with it because people expected so much from Kobe in his first couple games back with the team. People drew up unrealistic expectations for a 37-year old coming off an ACHILLES injury. I saw folks saying he would score over 30 points in his first game back with the team on Sunday against Toronto. He struggled mightily, and played a little bit better against Phoenix yesterday when he had 20 points on 6/11 shooting. The microscope on Kobe will be large for awhile especially if he keeps struggling to Kobe's standards. I think he will be fine, but I am glad to see people tempered their expectations.

Team of the Week
Oklahoma City Thunder - Not only does KD get the POY, Oklahoma City wins Team of the week with winning eleven of their last twelve games. The Thunder are now at 16-4 with one game back of Portland for the best record in the Western Conference. They had impressive wins against Indiana, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver, San Antonio, Golden State as well as beating Atlanta. They head to Memphis tonight in what is always a spirited rivalry especially with Kendrick Perkins and Zach Randolph if he plays. Oklahoma City is rounding into form nicely, and showing it really does not matter about the supporting cast in the regular season as long as Durant and Russell Westbrook are two of the starting five.

Team of the Weak
Orlando Magic - It appears Orlando has fallen back to earth in the recent games. No one expected much from Orlando, but they were hanging around with sub-500 group of teams who could have turned it around ending up in the playoffs. Now Magic look like they are heading for Tanksville USA. Orlando dropped six straight games and they are not doing it in close fashion either minus a defeat to a fellow tanker, Philadelphia. In their five losses during this streak, they have fallen by 75 points combined including a 38 point defeat to New York Knicks.

SnoTap Medical Injury Report  
Tyreke Evans - Not many serious injury issues, but Tyreke Evans will miss two weeks with an ankle injury. This does not help New Orleans one bit whose already lost Anthony Davis. They have a brutal stretch of games until the New Year with two games against Denver and Portland including other hard battles with Golden State, Memphis and Los Angeles Clippers. New Orleans needs to find a way to remain .500 by the end of the month if this team wants to at least still have a voice in the playoff hunt. If Evans is back then Davis should be back by mid-January.

Trading Places
I know I shit on Rudy Gay's deal earlier in the week, but honestly, it is not a bad trade for Sacramento honestly with the players they gave up in the deal. They did not give up a draft pick which is important. Kings gave up John Salmons, Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. Maybe Vasquez turns out to be something, but he might be the only one where Kings fans are saying 'We should not have dealt him.' Sacramento getting Quincy Acy is a sneaky good piece as well whom could turn into something.

This Week in GIFs, Vines, Tweets, Instagrams, Videos, Links, Pictures and anything else 
This Knicks fan is not happy about the lost to the Celtics. (H/T Barstool New York) 



Steve Nash having a good time at the Jay Z concert where they chanted 'Kobe' yet he needs to drink quicker.




Channing Frye announces Miles Plumlee has a new nickname. No word whether he still gels his hair.




Charlie. 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013



Victor Oladipo welcome to the DOY group. It has been a slow start to the DOY season, but Oladipo submits his nomination for the DOY club. Last year, I said it takes three DOY's to be a regular at the DOY bar. Sometimes a guy slides into the club just for one night like Carlos Delfino. Oladipo makes this one impressive by crossing over Jeff Teague to start with it and then he dunks right over Paul Milsap and Al Hortford. I feel like Milsap challenges a lot of dunks and it ends up pretty bad for him. Orlando blew out Atlanta on the road last night by 17 points with 18 points from Oladipo.

Charlie.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

This one is probably the most painful of previews to do, personally. There's the obvious pain from the epic fail of a trade that was the Tobias Harris for JJ Redick move, and then there is the pain from the overall rebuilding philosophy that the Magic are displaying so well. It helps when a dysfunctional franchise, like the Bucks, gifts a team a talented young player (that they some how failed to evaluate) in Harris.

Anyway, the Magic are young and should get good pretty quickly. It will take a couple more seasons before they can compete for a playoff spot but they are certainly pointing themselves in the right direction.

The X-Factor: C Nikola Vucevic - Arguably the most important piece of their good, young core, Vucevic was given a chance to start after coming over in the Dwight Howard trade before last year and didn't disappoint. He averaged 13 ppg and 12 rebounds per game for the Magic last year. If he can take another step forward, the Magic have a pretty special player on their hands. He just turned 23 on October 24.

The Big Question: Who will play small forward? - Basketball fans have wondered this since this Magic acquired an unknown commodity (at the time, outside of Milwaukee -- excluding Bucks team facilities) Harris and already had a young prospect in Maurice "Mo" Harkless. We know one thing for sure, it won't be Hedo Turkoglu. Harris burst on the scene when given his opportunity with the Magic but some view him as more of a power forward and thus, the two might share a lot of time on the floor.

Key Additions: PF Jason Maxiell - Maxiell signed with the Magic out of nowhere. I guess he doesn't mind playing out the duration of his deal on a team that's so obviously building a young core.

Key Departures: None, unless you want to count them getting rid of the middling vets (Redick, Josh McRoberts, Al Harrington's corpse) at the trade deadline last season. Expect more to follow this season. Guys like Jameer Nelson, Aaron Afflalo and Big Baby Davis will be on the block.

Magic Draft: SG Victor Oladipo, PF Romero Osby - Oladipo was the most dynamic player in Division 1 basketball last year at Indiana. I think he'll be a good pro for a while. Being compared to Dwyane Wade is a lot to live up to but it's plausible. Osby didn't make the team out of camp. He was beat out by 29 year old drifter, Solomon Jones.

Prediction: The Magic likely have a long year ahead of them but with all the young talent that has great potential and a likely shot at another top 5 pick, the Magic will be highly competitive in no time...I would imagine.





Wednesday, October 16, 2013

For the month of October, Mitch Pratt, Andrew Kasmarek and Charlie Tritschler will be previewing the NBA teams for the exciting 2013-2014 season.  

What I know…
  •  Arguably had the best off-season of any team.
  •  Kevin McHale is a very good coach and it should be noted he has a toolbox of post moves that he will be coaching Dwight every day.
  •  The Drew League is LA’s coolest summer league. James Harden is the leagues coolest cat. Therefore, James Harden plays in the Drew League in the summer and things happen like rapper, The Game, throwing him dirty alley-oops. Enjoy. 

Additions/Subtractions…
They added Dwight Howard. Howard was so soft last year. I am talking marshmallow soft. I am talking chinchilla soft[1]. He folded on the Los Angeles Lakers. Historically speaking, players do not just fold on the Lakers. He lacked efficiency on defense as in the past where he dominated on the defensive end. Howard had a hilariously bad free throw percentage (49%) and looked like he was really not feelin’ playing under Kobe’s intense scrutiny[2]. Despite all that, Dwight is still the best center in the league, Houston will not be nearly as intense as LA’s bright lights, and I would expect an older version of Dwight to arrive in Houston.

They lost Carlos Delfino. The verdict is out on this move. Delfino is a good player, and last year would aide the Rockets during crunch time at either wing position. However, I am not sure losing Carlos is going to derail what the Rockets are doing this season, but he has proven that he is reliable.

What I have been pondering….
I am mad at this team. They were about to be my Western Conference team, but then they had to add Dwight. And I do not have love for Dwight. Dwight has A LOT riding on this season. He needs to prove that he is reliable, worth the money, and worth all the headaches that he has caused owners, coaches and GM’s in Los Angeles and Orlando.

Houston should be the best situation he has been in thus far in his career. From a personnel standpoint, they are loaded. Far and away the best group of teammates Dwight has landed as well as probably having the best chemistry. Harden, Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Patrick Beverley[3]in the backcourt. Omer Asik, and Donatas Montiejunas aiding him in the back, Dwight is protected. He can foul if he wants to and not worry about putting his team in defensive jeopardy. He can decide to disappear on offense for a while and Houston will still be able to score. And this is all before you remember that Kevin McHale is the coach of the Rockets. McHale, as written about in Bill Simmons’ Book of Basketball, has a laundry list of post moves. If Dwight can pick up one more move from McHale (I’M TALKING ONE MORE MOVE!!!) to pair with his spin-move-right that he does every time[4], he could become the unstoppable force everyone feared he would become when he took the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals.

Speaking of that Magic team, if Howard reverts to form, this team is eerily similar to the formula the Magic used back in 2009. The formula? Healthy/Motivated/Defensive Dwight + Go-To Offensive Playmaker/Actual Best Player (Hedo Turkoglu for Orlando, Harden for Houston) + Floor Stretcher (Rashard Lewis for Orlando, Parsons for Houston) + Sketchy over confident but making it work PG (Jameer Nelson for Orlando,  Lin for Houston) +Awesome Athletic Foreign Back-up Center (Marcin Gortat for Orlando, Omer Asik for Houston). This is something to keep an eye on.

Unrelated to the comparison of Orlando and Houston, Montiejunas is the man. He is 7 feet tall, he is athletic as hell, he is a lefty, and I think he is going to rule. I am excited to see what this guy can bring to the table. Especially if Dwight decides to be a sally and sit out a bunch of games for hurt shoulders or bad cramps. He is a good passer and I think is going to be worth a couple of “WTF who is this guy?” SportsCenter moments.

Prediction…
I see a lot of good Dwight this year. I think these guys are a four seed in the least, and will absolutely challenge the San Antonio Spurs for the Southwest Division this year. I think the Coach of the Year comes to Houston, not that McHale wants to hear that given the recent history of Coach of the Year award winners. Additionally, I am seeing a little playoff run in these boys too.

Fear the Beard, but still boo Dwight.

~Andrew



[1] In case you are wondering chinchillas are the softest things in the world. I found this out when Google searching “softest thing in the world” hoping that Dwight Howard would show up within the first four pages…he did not in case you were wondering about that too.
[2]And then I think if he could not play with Kobe, what would Michael Jordan have thought about playing with Dwight? Jordan punched Steve Kerr in the face, and I cannot imagine Kerr really deserved it, whereas Dwight constantly deserves to be punched in the face.
[3]Neither PG is spectacular but both bring good things to the table. With Harden, this position is not as important as with other teams.
[4]Quick rant, the reason I can’t stand Dwight is that he is so gifted yet he never adds to his game. He has only used one post move his whole career! This guy could have been Shaq 2.0. I think this bothers me so much because people used to chirp me about how LeBron never got better and just used his freaky athletic skill to be good. If you look at the numbers, LeBron did use his freaky athletic skill but he improved on the fundamental aspects of the game too, his shooting, his footwork, and positioning, Dwight Howard cares about none of that.  
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