MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Magic’s season might be over, but they now know what it takes to be great

It’s been several days since Orlando’s season ended for the consecutive year to the Detroit Pistons. A 53 win season, a Southeast Division Championship and a trip to the conference semi-finals; it was indeed a fantastic season. While Magic fans might still be bummed out from the 4-1 playoff exit, this was indeed an ideal year for the franchise. This was pretty much what I expected from the team in the 2007-2008 season and in the wake of their playoff exit, we can look at the season and playoffs to see just how far Orlando has came and where they are prompted to go.

Before the year, I was wrong on about three things and all of those certainly factored into Orlando’s season. I was a little high on Trevor Ariza who ended up getting traded and injured. I also thought J.J Redick (as most did) would be a solid contributor for the team, but he barely saw the floor. I also admittedly underestimated Hedo Turkoglu, who had an incredible season due to Rashard Lewis’ presence.

Aside from those misses, Believing in Magic made some good calls, predicting accurately predicting Orlando’s playoff success, placing in the division and a 50 win season. We also said that Lewis’ presence would improve everyone’s play (it did) and that Dwight Howard would elevate his game and become the best center in the NBA, which he did.

Orlando started the season off with a bang, going 16-4. We basically saw a highly motivated team, with new coach Stan Van Gandy pushing his players to make a statement. After their hot start, SVG took his foot off the pedal and instead of trying to just win games, he started preaching his own methods in hopes that he could shake the bad habits and losing mentality the team developed under Brian Hill. It is my own theory that SVG did this intentionally, knowing that with the roster Orlando had that getting too far in the playoffs would have been quite an achievement, and that’s what happened. He built up steam, then went on cruise control while trying to re-establish a team identity. Orlando then went on a run into the playoffs and peaked at the right time before their playoff inexperience caused them the second-round series.

Summed up, the team certainly improved this season. They developed an identity, gained some valuable experience and most importantly, showed to the league that they are an upper-echelon team.  Looking back, it was a hell of a season for the Magic and they certainly set a foundation that they can build on for the next half-decade or so. Now, let’s look at what Orlando needs to do to go from good team, to great.

1.) Add a big man and some more experience- Dwight can’t do it on his own, that was shown against the Pistons. Detroit threw four legit big men at Howard and there was no one there who would help him out down low on offense, defense or on the boards. This is something I have (and most Magic fans have) been pushing for a while and I can’t understand why Otis Smith didn’t pull the trigger on bringing in a solid power forward during the mid-way point this season when expiring contracts such as Carlos Arroyo’s or Pat Garrity’s would have been valuable trade bait. Now Orlando needs to add a good big man this off-season. There are many ways they can do this…trade, free agency and the draft. Orlando has a mid0levele exception and there aren’t many good big men that will hit the market, so the draft or trade is where Orlando will need to add a tough forward.

2.) Adjust the starting rotation- Lewis cannot keep playing out of position, especially in the playoffs and Turkoglu might be more valuable coming off the bench. Orlando could move Turk down to shooting guard, but can he handle that? Orlando might even look at trading Turk, but regardless of what happens, look for Lewis to move to the three-spot and for Orlando to do something to upgrade the two-spot, whether it be signing a MLE free agent, trading or moving Turk to the two-spot.

3.) Get Dwight to grow up- I’d hate to say it, but his attitude and fragile psyche possibly lost Orlando the Detroit series. Did the Pistons tough defense play a factor in his frustration? Sure, but he needs to learn to not get guys like Rasheed Wallace or bad officiating get in his head. Dwight disappeared at the wrong time and next year he must show more maturity in order to help propel Orlando deep into the playoffs.

4.) Build on playoff improvement- Lewis and Jameer Nelson both had very good post-seasons and they showed different aspects of their games that they didn’t during the regular season. Lewis really stepped up his game, and Nelson played ball freely. They need to do this more consistently to go from good team to great.

5.) Fix the little things- Turnovers and free-throws; that haunted Orlando last season, through this year at times and certainly against Detroit. Is it because Orlando isn’t spending enough time on these or is it just the personnel? This is something Coach Van Gundy needs to determine this off-season and make adjustments accordingly, but the bottom line is that they must improve on the little things.

Overall, it was a great season for Orlando but the Magic have things they need to improve on to get to the next level. This season was exactly what the team needed in order to take the next step for 2009 and the holes they have are clear. If Orlando fixes these weaknesses, they now have the talent and experience to become great, something Orlando fans haven’t seen in a long time.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Orlando Magic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.