Orlando Magic retool for finals
October 23, 2009 by James Edwards
Filed under Dwight Howard, NBA Basketball, Orlando Magic
NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.
It often seems like a mistake to me that teams will go so far in the playoffs, lose and then use that loss as a map for how the team should be defined the following year. For example, if your team loses to a team with a big center that posts up, like a Shaq, then in the off season you trade a starter to get a defensive low post player. That rarely makes sense to me.
Orlando failed to consult with NBAObsessed and went ahead and retooled without me.
Gone is Hedo Turkoglu and missing for a while is Rashard Lewis (failed drug test). In their place is Vince Carter for points and Jameer Nelson for direction. Now eventually Rashard Lewis will return to the lineup and Jameer Nelson was with the team last year, just injured. It is Vince Carter that adds the new dimension to the team.
Dwight Howard will get help from Vince Carter
Orlando is thinking Vince Carter will give them more explosive scoring so that Dwight Howard does not have to always carry the team. It is different than having Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu bomb long range threes to open up Howard underneath. Carter has always been able to score.
“All those moves? Sure it’s risky,” ESPN analyst Jon Barry said. “I know they would’ve preferred to re-sign Turkoglu, but once they realized that wasn’t happening they felt they needed to add another piece.
“I just don’t see Carter over Turkoglu as an improvement. That’s not an indictment of Carter. I just thought Turkoglu was Orlando’s best playmaker in the postseason. I think it’s going to be a problem for them.”
But losing the Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games set Smith off on a new course.
“Vince gives us somebody who can create his own shot or create a shot for somebody else,” Smith said of filling last season’s void.
It remains to be seen if breaking the NBAObsessed rule for retooling will cost the Orlando Magic or benefit them. Even if Vince Carter only gives them scoring, the return of Jameer Nelson and the continued development of Dwight Howard point to a successful campaign for the Orlando Magic.
Photo source Newscom
As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.
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