Last night while watching the Magic play, I grew very disturbed at what I had witnessed. The Magic were up by one at half time, and had been looking good most of the first half. That all turned come the second half, where the Magic let up 60 points. They allowed the Lakers to come onto their home court and pimp slap the Magic. The Magic was plagued with second half turnovers, poor defense, poor shot selection, and just poor shooting all around. All of this was troubling, but what baffled me the most, is why Diener didn’t even step on the court tonight. He was on the sidelines. Diener is a good point guard, and proved he deserved to be a big contributor to this team.

When Nelson was out Diener showed a few things. For starters, he rarely ever turned the ball over. Just look at how through five games with 18 or more minutes, Diener had only two turnovers. In the Phoenix, Toronto, and Charlotte games he had no turnovers at all. In the New Orleans and Cleveland games where he played for 28 and 30 minutes, he had only one turnover in both games. Diener protects the ball better than anyone else on the team, makes good passes, and doesn’t try to do to much fancy. Arroyo will turn the ball over trying to be fancy, and just making poor decisions with the ball. Arroyo has a problem carrying the ball when he has to go to his left, that is called alot of times. Nelson ties to force passes inside to Howard that are not there, and turns the ball over. Diener doesn’t do any of this.

Because of Howard’s limited offensive moves, he can be quite predictable and turns the ball over alot. Him being unable to score from anywhere off the low block, makes the team try to force alot of passes inside to Howard that are not there. Teams also love to go to zone on the Magic because of our lack of three point shooting. Diener has a three point shot, and when he is in the game teams can not just go to zone on the Magic. This allows players to not be crunched infront of Howard, we can get the ball inside to him much easier and allows our offense to be ran to the max. We need some three point shooting desperately, and Diener helps out alot with that.

Finally, Diener in my view has the best on ball, man to man defense of any of our point guards. He was rarely ever beaten off the dribble without a screen coming at him, he knows how to fight through screens well, and is very good and fundamental. He slides his feet well, gets his but down, arms out into passing lanes, and is just a very sound defensive player. His defense at the one, would help out the team defense alot.

In summary, I feel that Diener deserves more playing time. If I was the coach, Diener would be cutting into Arroyo and Nelson’s minutes big time. If that means trading Arroyo in the future, to clear room for Diener at backup Point I am happy with that.

In continuing the player for the Orlando Magic, here is the next up on the list:

#1 TREVOR ARIZA

Ariza is a very good young player for the Orlando Magic. In his third year out of UCLA, Ariza came to the Magic as part of that Steve Francis trade. Trevor Ariza is becoming a very nice young addition to this team, and one I feel will be a huge part of our future success.

Strengths:

Athleticism: Trevor Ariza is an outstanding young athlete. He has plenty of speed, quickness, and can jump out of the gym. As far as athleticism goes, he is the teams finest athlete, and uses that athletic ability to max. Especially on the defensive side of things.

Defense: Ariza is a top notch perimeter defender, and definately the best we have on the team. He has nice fundamentals always sliding his feet right, keeps good posture, and really bothers the other teams perimeter scorers. His instincts and smarts on defense are top notch to, he is never caught in the wrong place, causes lots of deflections, and always rotates to the right area. His athleticism really helps him on defense, as he can recover if beaten, and jump high enough to bother his man when they shoot.

Penetration: Trevor is good at getting to the rim off the dribble. Most everyone on the team is good at getting to the rim off the dribble, and Ariza is no different.

Offensive Rebounding: This was a surprising area to say the least this year, but Ariza is surprsing good at grabbing offensive boards from the small forward position. Ariza sneaks in while the team is trying to put a body on Howard, and uses his athleticism to jump high enough to get the rebounds. Through 17 games played Ariza has 28 offensive boards, which is third most on the team, and only two behind Darko Milicic’s 30 which is second most on the team.
Weakness’s

Shooting: Ariza does not have a very good shot on him at all. When he is in the game, his man usually backs off of him because of how unreliable his shot is.

Free Throw Shooting: To go along with him being unable to shoot, his free throw shooting is rather terrible also, which is a common theme on this team. So far he is shooting 50 percent on the season, which is a huge alarm. That is not good for someone who’s offensive game is centered around attacking the basket. 

Offensive Decision Making: As smart as Ariza is on defense, he somehow looses it alot on offense. He will shoot with people in his face, early in the shot clock, and out of his range alot. A few times he will get the ball after a turnover, or cause a turnover and run into a 1 on 3, him being the only person for the Magic there and three players from the other team there. This is an area that he desperately needs to work on, and may be a reason for him not getting as much playing time as I feel he deserves.

The Bottom Line:
 Ariza’s defense, and athleticism are great for this team, and he is a huge spark off the bench when he comes in the game. Ariza hustles all day, every game, and is contagious among the other players. With both Bogans and Turkoglu out for a few games, I am expecting him to step into the starting role and play alot more minutes. This is the time where he proves that he deserves more playing time, as even when those two are there I think he deserves a good 22-24 minutes a game, not the 17 he has been averaging. He has been a very pleasant addition, and I hope he continues on this path in the future.

#4 Tony Battie

Up first for the Magic I have chosen Tony Battie, a very valuable part to our team, and a player I feel does not get enough credit on the Magic.

Strengths

Defense:Tony Battie’s good defense is what keeps him in the league, and on the court for the Orlando Magic. Tony Battie’s almost always draws the other teams power forward for a defensive assignment, it doesn’t matter who the power forward is. When he is in the game, it is him guarding people like Chris Webber, and Rasheed Wallace instead of Dwight Howard. For one reason, he is just as good man to man as Dwight Howard is. The other, he helps keep Dwight Howard out of foul trouble, which is huge for this team.

Mid-range shot:Tony Battie has a very nice mid range shot that is fairly consistent. If he gets the ball in the mid range, he has to be stepped on, or else he will hurt a team with that shot. His favorite shot on the court is from just above the free throw line, which helps out alot in the offense.

Shot Selection: He shows great shot selection when in the game. Rarely do you see Tony Battie shoot a shot with someone right in his face, unless it is late in the shot clock and he has to shoot. Tony Battie also rarely ever shoots a shot early in the shot clock, he keeps the ball moving and avoids ruining the flow of the offense.

Passing: A part of his game not noticed, Tony Battie is actually a pretty good passer for a big man. He doesn’t rack up assists, but he rarely ever turns the ball over on a bad pass, and usually gets his pass where he wants it well. On this season he has 18 turnovers in 22 games. In 82 games last year, Battie had 88 turnovers. A pass the Magic love to use during the game, is him getting the ball just above the free throw line, and throwing it into the low post to Dwight Howard. They usually run this pass and play two or three times a game.

Veteran Presence: With the rest of the Orlando Magic’s bigs being rather young, Battie’s veteran presence is huge for the rest of our bigs. Howard, Milicic, and Augustine when he starts playing are all very young, and rather knew to this league, and really look up to thim down low. I think in specific his impact on Milicic is the biggest. The coach’s love to use him as an example to Milicic, and he can be seen talking to Milicic through out the game when both are on the bench.

Weakness’s:

Low-post scoring: On offense, Battie has to rely on his mid range jumper, because his post up game and scoring from close to the basket is not to good. He is not good at posting people up, and usually does not score from close to the basket. I am dead positive that he has scored more points from mid range shots, than close to the basket.

Free throw shooting: It’s the strangest thing, he loves mid range shooting, and his favorite shot is just above the free throw line within the offense. Once it comes to free throw shooting though, he is a horrid shooter. Shooting only 58% this year, and 66% last year.

Rebounding: I know he is playing with a great rebounder in Dwight Howard the gobbles up rebounds, but Battie has never been a good rebounder through out his career, which is also a bit stragne for a power forward. He tries hard, and gives max effort to rebound every night, but he is still not that good at rebounding.
BOTTOM LINE:
Tony Battie has some negatives, but overall he has way more positives on this team. Battie hardly ever ruins the flow of this offense, by taking bad shots. His veteran leadership is easily apparent on this team, especially on the big men down low. His defense, and keeping Howard out of foul trouble is a very good, unsung impact on this team. I love what he brings to the table, and the impact he has on this team.