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Does anyone think battie will be back in the post season? If so how much of an impact do you think he will have? Battie hardly makes mistakes and is pretty accurate with his shots/shot selection. Will he fit into the team scheam? Let me know what you guys think.

I hope not. We're playing well right now with what we have, why shake things up right when it counts the most? Look at the Suns right now with Shaq. No thanks.

Orium wrote:I hope not. We're playing well right now with what we have, why shake things up right when it counts the most? Look at the Suns right now with Shaq. No thanks.

Even if all he did was take Foyle's minutes?

Rick Rolled wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Even if all he did was take Foyle's minutes?

I'd be ok with that, just don't want to change the lineup for his return

Battie is a major improvement over Foyle. But, they are probably just going to hold Tony out until next season.

if he returned for the post-season that would be awesome...he would be the big that we've been missing, of course he wouldn't start, but would get his time off the bench and if i am correct, he wouldn't be mad one bit for coming off the bench if we are winning...the guy is the definition of a pro

it looks like the Magic are preparing for the possibility of him coming back. I just hope he doesn't rush it.

RawLewD12 wrote:if he returned for the post-season that would be awesome...he would be the big that we've been missing, of course he wouldn't start, but would get his time off the bench and if i am correct, he wouldn't be mad one bit for coming off the bench if we are winning...the guy is the definition of a pro

Thats what im thinking, what would be wrong with starting him if hes in good condition. Move rashad and hedo to a different position like they belong because neither is a pf. Make evans come off the bench. Let the guys play their natural positions. Then again maybe it will mess up our floor spreading for Superman and the 3 point shooters.

If i recall correctly otis said that he was not coming back this season.... and i believe he said that only a couple weeks ago

"He'll miss the season," Smith said. "It would be unfair to Tony to ask him to come back this season. He'll be back for the start of next season."

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080222/SPORTS/802220332/1002/SPORTS

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/orl-mnotes0508mar05,0,2903384.story

latest

ProfX wrote:http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/orl-mnotes0508mar05,0,2903384.story

latest

oh yeah... umm... i just wanted to see if you were paying attention..

:inserts foot in mouth:

JoeDank wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Thats what im thinking, what would be wrong with starting him if hes in good condition. Move rashad and hedo to a different position like they belong because neither is a pf. Make evans come off the bench. Let the guys play their natural positions. Then again maybe it will mess up our floor spreading for Superman and the 3 point shooters.

I don't agree. I know why you feel that way. We get killed on the glass sometimes, but lookingt at our over all. I think it's hard to say that the way we are playing is'nt working. It's forces teams to match up with us. Like Boston. Look at thier line up. Are they going to play Garnet and who ever that other big guy is? No, because Garnet is not guarding Lewis. That puts them into a position to gaurd Howard with Garnet, witch is a better match up for us. Same with Washington if they get Etan Thomas back. They can only play one big against us, at a time. Those are all favorable match upse for us.
I love Tony he will be a great addition off of the bench if he comes back healthy.

I have extremely mixed feelings on this.

The team certainly could use him. If you are having a good season, you want to do all you can to ride it as far as you can.

But I also know that the type of injury he had is a bad one. He has to be 1000 percent positive that the shoulder is ready and he doesn't risk reinjuring it or he could be out for all of next season, too, and might have a difficult time coming back at all. That is a huge risk. I wouldn't want to see the team allow him to play if there is risk for him long term -- and I certainly wouldn't want to see them force him to come back early.

But at the same time, you don't know what will happen to all these guys whose contracts are expiring at the end of the season and if they decide to leave, how the team will be put back together. There is the possibility -- however slim it might be -- that this is the best team they might have for a while.

Even if he does come back, though, I would try to keep Tony as a backup in that case. Moving everybody's position in the starting lineup this late in the season would take them out of the comfort zone they have played in all season. Tony could help shore up the second unit, where rebounding and shooting from the bigs is a problem. Plus, it would limit his risk of reinjury. All in all, though, I'd probably try to err on the side of caution.

(As an aside, I was watching a Clippers game the other night, and one of of the TV announcers said that Kaman had been out with a back injury and the team had given him an epidural to try to get him back out on the court. I thought this was terrible. They are having a bad season and have no chance of making the playoffs, and they were risking his long-term healthy by giving him a pain killer to go out and play even though he was hurt. Thief, is that a very common practice in the NBA? That seems not only cruel but a very short-term way of thinking. The Clippers won't go very far if Kaman gets permanently injured because of it.)

if he does make it back..our bench will be able to compete well with detroit and boston

If Battie is healthy, then a reserve role is AOK.

I doubt he returns, and as others have stated, maybe should not.

If he were a real difference maker, then I might have a different opinion about an early return.

Let it heal!

I seriously doubt that the doctors would allow him to come back before it has fully healed, or at least accessed the risk properly. Its a rotator cuff, not a leg injury. Practically the only way that he can re-injure himself is for there to be contact, not as likely in basketball. It would take another freak incident. The main question is his strength and range of motion. If that is back to normal, then he should be alright. I hope he does make it back, we surely need him to go deep into the playoffs. I don't think he would start though, coming off the bench seems more realistic.

Magic doctors wont let him play of his shoulder isn't completely healed

No way Tony would be in the starting lineup for the playoffs. SVG will be starting the guys who got us there. And Otis has made it clear he's not going to let Tony play at less than 100%. Tony knows that re-injuring himself could be the end of his playing career.

He probably would be coming in when Cookie does now and Cookie would help him out when Dwight is resting.

It hasn't even been 6 months yet, 18 more days til and the playoffs are next month.

Unless we make it to the Conference finals. I wouldn't try to rush him back from his injury.

Bucs80 wrote:It hasn't even been 6 months yet, 18 more days til and the playoffs are next month.

Unless we make it to the Conference finals. I wouldn't try to rush him back from his injury.

How surprised are you that it looks like we'll make the playoffs?

How about that we're looking like we're going to win the division?

How about that virtually every other team you predicted to do better than us - esp Atlanta, Wash and Charl - are not?