greatest orlando magic player ever

[lovehoops01]

I bellieve Nick opened the door to his own departure from Orlando, though he might not have intended to do so.

The Magic knew they were going to have to trade Penny because he had made it clear that he wasn't going to stay in Orlando, and the franchise was tired of trying to cater to him all the time -- especially because he never seemed happy despite that.

That was going to leave them without a superstar, but the talent they had left wasn't going to be enough to make them a good playoff team. So that is the summer they decided to start the great dismantling to bring in two superstars (at the time, they were hoping for Grant and Duncan).

After the Magic were ousted in the first round of the playoffs that year by the Sixers (after winning the Atlantic Division), there seemed to be just a general exhaustion with the team. There was no guarantee Daly wanted to coach anymore, and without any superstars, there was no need for him to coach anymore either.

Nick said during a news conference at the end of the playoffs that he did not want to be part of a Magic team that was going to go through a rebuilding. He might not even remember saying it because of the disappointment, but I have it on tape. So I guess they decided, since they were going to trade Penny anyway, that that group had had its run and they just were going to finish breaking up the Finals team and start over. Nick saying he didn't want to be part of a rebuilding just made it easier for them to trade him.

It looked like they tried to give Nick a soft landing, sending him to a playoff team out West to play with Jason Williams (who he was good friends with) on the Kings. I thought he never played the same after that, and maybe it broke his heart a little, but really, I think he did it to himself by saying he didn't want to be part of a rebuilding. He had a pretty good-sized contract for back then anyway, and the Magic moved Horace's contract to Seattle for the draft rights to Corey Maggette.

They put the team in the hands of Darrell and Bo and just started trading for expiring contracts and guys who could get them through that one season. Some stayed a little longer. They cleared cap space. And after the Heart and Hustle year, they started over with Tracy and Grant.

But as to the best team, it makes it difficult. Penny always said he wasn't a point guard, though he played there for much of his career, and I thought passing was what he did best. People forget, and maybe you didn't really get to see his years with Shaq, but Penny had amazing hops and could thread the passes to his teammates. It brings tears to my eyes to see old videos of him jumping over big guys to dunk. It's a shame his knees gave out. Penny was smart, too, and he really studied film hard. He was a student of the game.

Nick and Penny fought about who was the shooting guard and who was the small forward, and this is what led to their dispute. I think Shaq, Penny, T-Mac, Nick and Dwight are the correct guys, but T-Mac never actually played small forward for the Magic; in Orlando, he played shooting guard at 6-9 (and many think he really is 6-10). I don't know who you would put in the shooting guard and small forward spots if you had to be specific.

Tracy and Penny were very similar. Penny was T-Mac's idol. He patterned a lot of his game on him, looked kind of similar to him on the court when he first got in the league. He used to do this little cat-sneaking-up-on-the-defender dribble that Penny used to do, too, that I used to love. Tracy was stronger mentally than Penny, though (and it's what makes him the superior NBA player to Vince, too). He was willing to try to carry a team on his back -- until he saw that it was impossible for one guy to do it. Plus, T-Mac has played through more injuries. Penny was more like a thoroughbred. If he didn't feel perfect, he couldn't play.

Shaq put Orlando on the map. Without him, the Magic wouldn't have made the Finals. For that reason, Magic fans always owe something to Shaq no matter how angry they stay with him. But he was unnecessarily cruel in the way that he left, and that hurt the franchise, too. That Finals team was put together perfectly, but they all were so young that they forgot the main point was winning basketball games. Oh, they won -- a lot. But to them, I think being big stars was more important. They got caught up in the fame and the money and their posses. It's too bad. They could have won a few titles if Shaq had stayed (and they got a new coach).

Sorry to go on and on. The thread raises a lot of old memories (good and bad).

[TheGlyde]

Yeah, for me too, thanks hoops, a lot of that I remember, but alot I was out of the loop a bit back then.

[dixava]

I

[J-Mezzy]

All-Magic (using quality of players while they were playing for us) Team:

PG: Anfernee Hardaway
SG: Nick Anderson
SF: Tracy McGrady
PF: Dwight Howard
C: Shaquille O'Neal

That team is scary, but would suck from the free throw line. Howard and Shaq are bad, McGrady is average and flirts with 70% often and Nick Anderson, well, we know about Nick

[craig01]

Hoops has it pretty much right.

Hardaway was being compared to Magic Johnson coming out of Memphis St. Even though he was an electric player here for his second through fourth seasons, he never lived up to unrealistic expectations.

He wouldn't have even if injuries not taken their toll.

The difference betwen the two IMO, is that McGrady actually carried the Magic teams he played on. He also racked up significant scoring averages when scoring league wide was at a decades low cycle.

Hardaway's numbrers get skewed a bit because scoring league wide had not begun it's full descent. During the Shaq years , I believe the Magic were scoring around 108-110 ppg.

Compare that to McGrady's years here , where it was a rarity to see two teams score over 100 pts in the same game.

So.......McGrady>Hardaway........JMO

[sChOlaRlY_Magi]

Lovehoops!
That was an awesome assessment of what happened! I think the players themselves involved should actually read that. It might sober at least one of them up.

[TheGlyde]

-= original quote snipped =-



That team is scary, but would suck from the free throw line. Howard and Shaq are bad, McGrady is average and flirts with 70% often and Nick Anderson, well, we know about Nick

TMac shot a better FT percentage than Penny in his time here... but, it's okay, we would have Scott Skiles and DA coming off the bench.

[Max Power]

Tracy Mcgrady had more talent in his cut fingernails than Penny did, I will always maintain that from a physical standpoint T-Mac had the best NBA body in NBA history, the guy is a freak, too bad injuries have lowered his profile a bit. Tmac did what Penny was supposed to do after O'Neal left.