RealGM

http://www.insidehoops.com/power-rankings.shtml

They are updating their power rankings throughout the offseason, with the latest update coming this last Monday, the 4th. Just a little blurb from their rankings about the Magic:

9) Orlando Magic (52-30) - We want to bump them higher, but other than Dwight Howard continuing to improve everyone else should pretty much stay the same. The team still needs to upgrade their guards. And it looks like Rashard Lewis will play out of position at power forward again. Worked well enough last season.

This is interesting because I think it is the difference between how Magic fans think about the team compared to how outsiders think about it. To them Nelson is mediocre with no room to improve, and so he must be replaced, and it sounds like the same goes for Pietrus. It also seems like having Lewis play at the 4 is considered a weakness.

I just don't see it that way. I think that it is not the rosey glasses that Magic fans wear that is skewing the picture but instead the determined effort by outsiders to not think outside the box. They can't get over the fact that Nelson is short, MP fell out of favor with GS, and Lewis is a perimeter player. Nelson has shown previous flashes of brilliance as late as last years playoff run when he single handedly kept us in several games. He is small but no smaller than TJ Ford, whom most expects sing praises for. Nelson owned both him and Calderon in the playoffs, but that doesn't seem to matter. MP is athletic and a natural 2, where he will get to play most of his minutes in SVG's system. As for Lewis, his perimeter style of play is actually perfect for the 4 and what Orlando tries to do on Offense. Very few teams can get the better end of that match-up and have to adjust to keep up. Until the outsiders get a handle on what is really going on with the Magic we can continue to hear that Howard just can't do it by himself, when in reality he doesn't have too.

i'm hoping Pietrus is as good as some of us are expecting, and he surprises everyone and becomes a solid starter. Because if so, our SG position is a nice upgrade over last season and I think our team will benefit hugely if he can produce and play good defense.

I agree that we should move Lewis back to the 3. It just doesn't make sense to Max out a player and play him out of position. We will have a hard time paying Turk next summer anyways so we should try to land a real PF for him. MP and Jameer should be fine in the guard spots but I do agree we could use a good young backup pg for insurance.

yeah, i think it's a little premature to say that our guards need improvement. let's give Pietrus, Lee and JJ some solid minutes before we consider them washups. the PG spot i could understand their argument, mostly because not even Magic fans can decide whether or not we've got a good enough starter in Nelson.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but right now I don't really feel like Pietrus is an upgrade over Evans.

Lee seems to have been a good pick, so that should be nice. Other than that, PG spot seems to be about the same, maybe a little better. I feel like both guard positions are ultimately a little better than last season, but meh.

Can't complain much, since we were a 50+ win team last season and seem to be at worst "just a little bit improved" in all aspects. My early prediction is somewhere between 50-55 wins.

the big differents for the team is Battie's return imo.

This power ranking makes a little more sense than the one on Hoopsworld. Personally, I think Nelson is a good point guard when healthy. Point guards need good coaching and direction when running a team when they are first drafted. Nelson was placed in a bad situation when he was drafted because our coaches didn't really have an offensive game plan. But with another year under SVG, Nelson should be more comfortable. With the weapons hes got on the wings, he should not be as indecisive as he used to be.

I think MP is equivalent to Mo, and could end up being better because hes a lock down defender. When we acquired Mo, he fit in quite well and became a better player under the small ball offense. Same could happen for MP.

As for Lew, I think if Orlando wants a real shot at a title, they got to move him back to SF and pick up a true PF to help Dwight defend teams like Detroit who will throw McDyess, Sheed, Maxielle, and now Kwame. In the playoffs, Orlando had trouble controlling the boards. Ideally, Id like to see Orlando acquire Haslem to get a lineup like

Nelson
Turk
Lew
Haslem
Howard

and bring MP, AJ, CLee, Battie, and Cook off the bench. What that lineup does is it forces Rip to guard Turk who is about 6 inches taller than Rip. Haslem can help Dwight keep other forwards off the boards, and Lew is back on the perimeter where he can go back to just focusing on scoring. His average would go back to what it used to be in Seattle. But our team doesn't have to get Haslem. I just thought hes a player who would help us at PF. If we get a solid PF, we might get more respect from Inside Hoops.

VGOSWAMI wrote:This power ranking makes a little more sense than the one on Hoopsworld. Personally, I think Nelson is a good point guard when healthy. Point guards need good coaching and direction when running a team when they are first drafted. Nelson was placed in a bad situation when he was drafted because our coaches didn't really have an offensive game plan. But with another year under SVG, Nelson should be more comfortable. With the weapons hes got on the wings, he should not be as indecisive as he used to be.

I think MP is equivalent to Mo, and could end up being better because hes a lock down defender. When we acquired Mo, he fit in quite well and became a better player under the small ball offense. Same could happen for MP.

As for Lew, I think if Orlando wants a real shot at a title, they got to move him back to SF and pick up a true PF to help Dwight defend teams like Detroit who will throw McDyess, Sheed, Maxielle, and now Kwame. In the playoffs, Orlando had trouble controlling the boards. Ideally, Id like to see Orlando acquire Haslem to get a lineup like

Nelson
Turk
Lew
Haslem
Howard

and bring MP, AJ, CLee, Battie, and Cook off the bench. What that lineup does is it forces Rip to guard Turk who is about 6 inches taller than Rip. Haslem can help Dwight keep other forwards off the boards, and Lew is back on the perimeter where he can go back to just focusing on scoring. His average would go back to what it used to be in Seattle. But our team doesn't have to get Haslem. I just thought hes a player who would help us at PF. If we get a solid PF, we might get more respect from Inside Hoops.

He was never a great scorer. At no point in his career has he ever been relied on to carry a team. I like him more as a shooter and don't want the offense focused around him cause I belive that would be more of a detrement to the team.

What a joke.

`To be fair, they list the Magic as #3 in the East.

drsd wrote:`To be fair, they list the Magic as #3 in the East.

True, I cant knock them for ranking the Magic 3rd in the east. I just disagree with some of the comments about our guards and the notion that Orlando wont improve as a team on Inside Hoops.

have to love the way we play as the underdogs though great motivation for us

They're right about Nelson. Everyone else seems to think that our point play is our biggest weakness. I, as much as anyone else want him to succeed, but he hasn't gotten any better in four years.

bowen wrote:They're right about Nelson. Everyone else seems to think that our point play is our biggest weakness. I, as much as anyone else want him to succeed, but he hasn't gotten any better in four years.

I disagree that he hasn't gotten ANY better in four years. Plus, he has had rotating coaches. That messes with all their development, if you ask me.

I didn't read the rankings. Did they specifically mention Nelson or are you just assuming that the "guards need an upgrade'' means Nelson because some people here think that? I actually thought that most people thought the Magic's shooting guard rotation was their biggest weakness last year. Maybe they don't think the moves the Magic made at guard in the offseason are an upgrade over the guards they had last season, which, frankly, I'm not sure I'd disagree with (though I hope I am proven wrong, especially since they paid Pietrus so much).

Nelson's only problem is that he is TO prone. That is a fixable / coachable issue.

Yes Nelson cannot guard Billups et al. But what PG in the league can guard these types? And, Pietrus can now be asked to go after these elite/tall PGs for the 10'ish games the Magic will have such an opponent this coming regular season.

The Magic's weak link continues to be the SG slot, not the PG slot. But the SG slot is now OK.