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• Selected Courtney Lee 22nd overall.

Coming into the draft, Lee was pegged by many as a virtual lock to go 22 to Orlando, and Otis Smith got his wish. Lee is an NBA-ready guy that can come in and give the Magic a lift on both ends right away, and at pick #22, what more can you ask for?

Grade: B

Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel reports that Magic center Adonal Foyle is expected to opt out of his contract this month, making him an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

The urgency this summer to secure more help in the frontcourt will intensify this week when Orlando Magic backup center Adonal Foyle opts out of his contract to become an unrestricted free agent.

Foyle, 33, is expected to exercise his option, leaving behind the $1.26 million that the Magic would have paid him next season under the original two-year contract he signed on Aug. 24, 2007.

His opt-out and probable departure — which is a surprise — would add to the Magic’s summertime list of things to accomplish and further emphasize the need to strengthen their defense and rebounding around star center Dwight Howard.

Foyle, who did not return phone messages left for him at his home in California, must notify the Magic by June 15.

“I can only speculate at this point, but I would anticipate him opting out now,” Magic General Manager Otis Smith said. “He’s playing behind the best [Howard], and he may want to see what other opportunities are out there.”

Povtak also mentions the rest of Orlando’s expired contracts:

Guard Keith Bogans, who also has an opt-out clause in his contract, is not expected to exercise his option. Bogans, who served as the backup shooting guard, will be paid $2.9 million next season.

Guards Maurice Evans, Keyon Dooling and Carlos Arroyo will become unrestricted free agents on July 1, along with forward Pat Garrity. Little-used power forward James Augustine will become a restricted free agent.

Back to Foyle: You’d think that a player of his caliber (see: aging, knocking on the door of towel boy) would play it safe and collect all of the guaranteed dollars he can before teams decide that he’s nothing more or less than excess size at the end of the bench for insurance purposes. Which, by the way, Stan Van Gundy realized in the second half of this past season.

Should Foyle go elsewhere (or back home, depending on how skilled his agent may be), Magic fans should not worry about Orlando’s frontcourt depth next season. Tony Battie, who missed the entire 2007-2008 season with a torn left rotator cuff, is set to hit the hardwood once again. In addition, the Magic own the rights to the 22nd overall pick in this month’s draft, in which they’ll be able to add extra help up front.

Should Orlando’s bigs manage to keep healthy in 2008-2009, the Magic should be much better served at the four and five spots than they have been over the past couple of years.

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Posted By: Dustin Chapman

Magic sharpshooting guard J.J. Redick has openly discussed his displeasure with his role this past season, but according to Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel, he may have finally had the last straw. The ACC legend has recently voiced his virtual ultimatum, asking for either more playing time next season or a trade.

“I want to play. There were a lot of things that were said last summer and in the preseason, you know, and I thought I was going to play. It didn’t happen,” Redick said.

“I’m certainly not going to sit there and hear the same stuff and think I’m going to get the same results. I’m going to put some of this on myself to get better, but there’s got to be an opportunity for me to get on the court.”

Should Orlando refuse to part ways and/or fail to find a viable suitor via trade, playing time may very well open up in 2008-2009. The contracts of guards Carlos Arroyo, Keyon Dooling, and Mo Evans have all expired, leaving uncertainty as to who will be back next season.

As for Redick, he’ll talk with Smith this week and the meeting might determine if he stays or not. “The thing I want to discuss is my future here and kind of what their plan is. As I said all along, I want to play here . . . but I want to play,” Redick said. “I can’t predict the future. I honestly think when training camp starts, I’ll be here — that’s my gut feeling — but I don’t know.”

Smith that Redick “could easily go from the third guy to the first guy because other guys opt out as free agents. I do think he’s a pretty good guard. He’s a backup 2 [shooting guard].”

Posted By: Dustin Chapman

Now however, we have a mountain to climb, in the shape of the Detroit Pistons. This was the same team to have swept us in last year’s playoffs. They play well together, play good defense, and have alot of talented players. I expect this to be a hard series for us. Let’s break down some of the matchups we will be seeing.

First at the point we are going to be having mostly a duo of Nelson/Dooling against Billups and Stuckey. This is going to be a rough matchup for us, as we have the hardest time’s guarding point guards with Nelson in. He is the worst defensive starting point guard in the league, and probably worse off defensively than 3/4’s of the backup point guards in the league. Dooling is good defensively, but he is just outmatched by the size and strength of Billups who can bully his way around the court against smaller guards. Then having the quick and agile Stuckey coming in off the bench is really a switch up, and it throws our guys off completely. The point guard position is an area I expect us to get dominated in for the entire series, I’m not expecting to much out of us there.

At the 2, the matchup is Evans/Bogans vs Hamilton/Afflalo. Another area we are outclassed in. Pretty much the whole backcourt of our’s is outclassed by the Pistons backcourt. Bogans and Evans are helpful, don’t get me wrong, but they are collectively or seperatly not as good as Hamilton by himself. When you add in rookie Afflalo they really have us there.

At the swingman position, it comes to Prince and Hermann against Turkoglu/Lewis/Bogans and it’s an area I think we win. Prince is good defensively, but even when their playing is down, I think both Turkoglu and Lewis provide better scoring than Prince. I don’t think they are able to continuely stop one or the other. The big thing I want to see here though, is more of Turk getting into the lane and to the basket, so he can get his playmaking going. When he is hitting it heavy on the playmaking we do good, so we need him there. I think we win at the 3.

I think the 4 spot is a wash, with Rasheed Wallace and Lewis. Rasheed can post up, Lewis can move around and make it difficult for Rasheed to guard him. Having Wallace move around is key, and I like the matchup offensively. Unfortunately, defensively Lewis can get dominated by Rasheed in the post. We can’t move Howard onto him, because then Howard gets caught up in guarding the pick and roll or pick and pop, and Rasheed gets loose. His ability to hit from outside as well as inside really is special.

Finally we have the big’s, Dwight and Gortat vs Maxiell and Mcdyess. Sure both Maxiell and Mcdyess are better than the untested and unproven Gortat, who didn’t even start getting playing time until the playoffs. Dwight Howard is more powerful, more impactful, a better rebounder, and enough to cancel out both Maxiell and Mcdyess and let me pronounce this to be Orlando’s matchup to win.

Overall, I’m really excited for the rest of this series. Game 1, to me, was not a giant example of how this game is going to go. I think Van Gundy will make the right adjustments and we will be ready to go tonight. A few things we need to be ready to go though:

1. More touch’s inside for Dwight. He has got to throw his weight and size around, and get inside. For us to get him the ball, he has to be posted up alot when they are ready to pass. At the same time, we have to get the ball to Dwight when he is posted up. There was a couple time’s where he had the mismatch with Prince or Hamilton somehow on him, and yet we still failed to get the ball to him in that situation. Those are easy points, and we need to be more aware of when Howard is posted up and who he has on him when posted up.

2. Turk to step up and start driving more, so that he can start setting up his playmaking. His ablity to get to the rim off the dribble will really open things up, and he needs to start getting there. Dwight and him need to hit that high screen and roll more with each other, because that is what opens our three point shooting. Our three point shooting is vital, and it is often set up off of Turkoglu’s playmaking ability.

3. Speaking of three point shooting, we have to get open and hit those shots. When we are open, we can’t afford to miss shot’s we have been hitting all season long. We need to get open more, which like above, can be helped by Turkoglu getting more going towards the basket. It can also be helped by Dwight being a beast downlow and forcing double teams. Getting him going is the central part of our three point shooting, which leads our team.

One thing I would really love to see tonight though, is a lineup on the floor for the last 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter of Turkoglu,Evans,Bogans,Lewis and Dwight Howard. The four wing players can all shoot, it forces Turkoglu to use his playmaking, and it also gives us a bigger body to try to use on Billups while keeping a bigger body on Hamilton. They both are above average defensively, so it keeps up the strong defense on the perimeter and gives us two smart defensive players along with Dwight downlow. It’s just something I think would be worth trying for a bit, and if it doesn’t work, you have a whole second half to erase what happened.

Overall, I think this is a series we can win if we can get the three important things going. Unfortunately I don’t see us doing it consistently enough to win this series, and we go down in 6 this round, 5 if we are really unlucky.

we were at verizon center november 3. we were maybe just 2 people who is a fan of Hedoat verizon center . We are from Turkey,too. me and my friends were really want to see him at that day,but unfortunately we couldnt. But it is ok, we watched him and were proud of him. it was nice ti be there…we love you Hido…..

This past season, the Magic was effectively a three big man rotation, with Dwight Howard, Tony Battie, and Darko Milicic being that rotation. As of now however, Milicic is in the free agent market, the Magic have not even tried to contact Darko Milicic according to an article in the Orlando-Sentinel newspaper. That is good in the fact that we can not really afford Milicic without damaging us in the cap for the future. However, Milicic was a promising talent, that looked like he could be a good player in the future. His fundamentals were coming into play alot better, he was understanding playbooks better, his defense was there for him he looked like a solid future big man.

With him leaving, what are we going to do for our big man rotation? Bo Outlaw is old, and just really not that talented at all. He plays on pure energy, but that only gets him so far, as well as Bo Outlaw is a free agent also. That leaves a couple of ways for us to act. We could sign back Bo Outlaw for the veteran’s minimum, bring Augustine in, and have them two racing for playing time. A move that could work, but not overly likely to do much. The Magic could let Bo Outlaw go, and try to sign Marc Jackson or someone like him in the free agent market. A solid big man, who has a nice mid range jump shot, and will play solid defense. Not great defense or anything, but he will cause the other big men problems. He is a little older, and can work with Augustine, while being able to handle playing time much better than Bo Outlaw. He is signable for the Veterans’ minimun, and able to be brought in. Past him, there are not many other big men out there, that would provide us much help.

So those are the two solutions I am looking at, but who knows what will happen in the future. I hope we make the right decision though, as this could be a huge area of need for us this next year if we don’t.

 This was a move that the Magic needed desperately. A scoring presence from the wings, that could consistently lead us in scoring, while being able to hit the three point shot with regularity. With Dwight Howard being the main option down low, and a beastly option at that, it was important that we brought him in a compliment. A scoring option that could help open up room for him to work, or provide a shooter to kick out to. Rashard Lewis is this man that can be that compliment to Howard’s scoring ability. Lewis doesn’t have to have the ball in his hands to be effective, he can move without and get the ball and the catch and shoot. That is part of what makes him valuable, the fact he can contribute to our motion offense that the Magic likes to work. Past that, when the Magic go through scoring lows, he has the ability to score off the dribble and create his own offense. He is a multi-dimensional offensive threat, able to shoot the three off of the spot up jumper, or score off the dribble. Both making him dangerous, and making him the perfect match for our team. This was the best possible signing the Magic could have made, and they definately pulled the trigger at the right time.

Getting him, not only will contribute to Dwight Howard, but the entire Magic team. Last year a major problem was that other teams often switched to zone defenses, due to the Magic having no consistent outside shooting threat. No one was there to pull the opposing team out of their zone defense, so it made it hard for the Magic to attack the rim. Something the Magic players are good at, attacking off the dribble. With Rashard Lewis there, driving lanes will be open for Ariza, Turkoglu, Nelson, Bogans, Dooling, and Arroyo, our best attackers off the dribble.

To add to that, it also will contribute to the Magic bench. Last year the Magic had a deep and good bench, with many people coming off of it. This year, even with Ariza probably coming into the starting lineup at the 2-guard spot, the bench likely will get added pop to it. Rashard Lewis will fill up the small forward spot, sending Turkoglu to the bench. Turkoglu while to inconsistent in a starters role, is perfect for a bench roll. He can bring instant energy and scoring into the game when the Magic need it. A bench of Carlos Arroyo, Travis Diener Keith Bogans, JJ Redick, Keyon Dooling, and Hedo Turkoglu is a nice group of players to determine your rotation from, as well as provides a dangerous bench for anyone in the league to match up to. This will keep the pressure on the other team at all times, not just with the starters on the court.

Overall, there is nothing but positives to this signing of Rashard Lewis. The best free agent out there for our situation, he will take alot of pressure off of Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson and the rest of the team. I can’t wait to see how it works out, and watch the Magic have a much better season this next year. I think a 5th seed is not out of the equation for us, and is attainable for us.

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.

#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.

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.