Are the Orlando Magic hopeless?

[JR Giddens]

What exactly do they have to prove to show their a championship team? They have the 2nd best record but thats not enough. Everyone just says their a team with one dominant big man with above average jump shooters surrounding him. Jameer Nelson is probably the most underrated player in the laegue. Dwight Howard outplayed both Gasol and Bynum yesterday and thats the 2nd time I've seen them both dominated like that. If lebron injures himself I'm taking Dwight as MVP. So is their anything the Magic can achieve or are they just a 2nd-tier team like the Spurs or Hornets. The Magic dominated the Celtics last year but after the blowout the Celtics gave them in November it doesn't matter anymore. Anyways it was nice to see the Kobe choke in crunch time last night hopefully the Cavs hand them their 3rd straight loss.

[RebusRankin]

So J.R. has switched from the Lakers to the Magic?

[orrzor]

Dwight is a beast and it is 0 surprise Pau or Bynum cannot stop him. As for the Magic, it all comes down to how they match up against us or the Cavs. How will they stop players like Lebron or Pierce?

[Donoghus]

They can't be too hopeless if they're beating the Lakers in LA and have one of the top records in the entire NBA.

If Perkins continue to have injury issues and we don't address a big man need, this team will give us real fits.

[TradeProposalDude]

I don't understand your question.

Do you mean ARE WE HOPELESS AGAINST THE ORLANDO MAGIC?

If so, the answer is no.

Why?

Because we're better. I am not dissing the Magic for what they are. But as long as we play to our gameplan, and not their's (which is the case for every other team in the league), we SHOULD win.

[BballTim]

What exactly do they have to prove to show their a championship team? They have the 2nd best record but thats not enough. Everyone just says their a team with one dominant big man with above average jump shooters surrounding him. Jameer Nelson is probably the most underrated player in the laegue. Dwight Howard outplayed both Gasol and Bynum yesterday and thats the 2nd time I've seen them both dominated like that. If lebron injures himself I'm taking Dwight as MVP. So is their anything the Magic can achieve or are they just a 2nd-tier team like the Spurs or Hornets. The Magic dominated the Celtics last year but after the blowout the Celtics gave them in November it doesn't matter anymore. Anyways it was nice to see the Kobe choke in crunch time last night hopefully the Cavs hand them their 3rd straight loss.

  By "The Magic dominated the Celtics last year" you mean they beat us twice, by 2 points and 3 points, when KG was out for the 3 game loss?

  Maybe they could do something like get to the conference final to show they're a championship team. Philly gave Detroit more trouble last year than the Magic did.

[TatteredOnMySleeve]

I for one take the Orlando Magic very seriously, they are turning out to be a true contender and one of the biggest matchup nightmares in the league, they're obviously better than the Hawks, and probably more well-rounded than the Cavs, and those "above average jumpshooters" are all slashers as well, it just happens to be that they all shoot over 40% and have an absolute beast in the middle...very very good team, must underrated in the league, best road team in the league, etc etc...If it wasnt for the 2 fluke losses to start the season they would have the best record in the league

[Rondo_is_better]

A few names:

Jameer Nelson

Rashard Lewis

Hedo Turkoglu

Dwight Howard


Second best group of 4 starters in the league. They are a threat, and hardly hopeless. Still, there style is better suited to the regular season. I can't seem them shooting themselves into the finals in a much improved eastern conference.

Threat? Yes.

Favorite? 3rd best team in the East, so no.

[Vermont Green]

The emergence of J-Nel has made them a team to be reckoned with.  We have no answer for Howard (Perk or no Perk) but Lewis can’t stop KG and Turkoglu sure can’t stop Pierce.  I also don’t see any of their SG’s being a real threat to slow down Ray.  Of course they like everyone, have a little more fire power on the bench than us though.  Orlando is right there I think ahead of Detroit or Atlanta but not quite a favorite over the Celtics or Cavs.  Howard will get his 20 and 20 plus they will hit their 3’s but the Celtics should be able to grind it out against them.  Traditionally, teams that “live and die by the 3” tend to die in the playoffs.

[RebusRankin]

Is Nelson an abberation?

[Brickowski]

What exactly do they have to prove to show their a championship team? .

Win a championship.

[Scribbles]

So J.R. has switched from the Lakers to the Magic?

  TP for you!

[mahonedog88]

I will say that I still think, even with Dwight Howard, the Magic still live and die by the 3.  And in my opinion, that doesn't bode well for a championship

[cordobes]

The "live by the jumper (or the 3), die by the jumper (3)" axiom is not exactly true to this Orlando team.

First, they have truly excellent outside shooters. They won't have shooting droughts because their shooters aren't streaky or inconsistent. They have 10 players shooting above 35.5% from behind the line - this must be some kind of record. For good measurement, the C's have 4, the Cavs have 6 and the Lakers have 5. More importantly, most of their shooters aren't exactly one-dimensional.

They can score inside when needed.

They are an excellent defensive team - just very slightly bellow the Celtics; and can force their opponents to take lots of jumpers as well, leveling things in term of shot selections. And as they generally have the better jump-shooters...

[QuinielaBox]

Case for-

16-5 on the road!!!!!
7-3 against top teams in the West.
Strong road wins against SA and LAL.

Case Against-

They do not commit to playing defense 1st like Cleveland and Boston do.

So if I were to do a power ranking the top three teams are:

1. Cleveland
2. Boston
3. Orlando