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Overall
Win/Loss Record (as of November 30th): 5-9 , fourth
place Southeast Division
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23
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This
Month:
24
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Team
Statistics and League Rank (as of November 30th)
Points
Scored: 91.7 (27th)
Points
Allowed: 95.2 (10th)
Team
FG%: .438 (20th)
Opponent’s
FG%: .437 (9th)
Rebounds
per game: 43.5 (9th)
Opponents
rebounds per game: 43.7 (25th)
Turnovers
per game: 16.0 (22nd)
Opponents
turnovers per game: 13.5 (28th)
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Individual
Statistical Leaders
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Worst
Player of the Month: Glen Davis
After
carrying the Magic offensively at the end of last season, there were high
expectations for the one fans affectionately called “the Big Baby;”
unfortunately, however, they have yet to materialize. Sure Davis has posted somewhat decent
numbers of 14.9 points and around 9 boards per game, but he has not looked
nearly as dominant as he did in the playoff where he filled in the void of
Dwight Howard so handily. His .418
shooting from the field does not give Magic fans much comfort either as it
looks as if he is not putting as much effort getting his points in the paint
rather choosing instead to score from the perimeter. It would be such a shame to see Davis fall
back into bad habits of not fully utilizing his physical gifts and abilities
choosing instead to simply take the easy way out to not endure the
physicality of playing in the post. He
showed not only Magic fans, but the entire NBA that given the opportunity, he
can take over a team and become a potential franchise player; right now,
however, all he has shown is he is only willing to do the bare minimum which
is rather unfortunate.
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First
Player of the Month: Nikola Vucevic
No one expected a throw in of the Dwight Howard mega-trade to have
such an impact as Nikola Vucevic who went to a mere rotation player in his
rookie year in Philly to becoming a starting center for the Orlando
Magic. He in by now way has replaced
Dwight Howard’s immense All Star presence, but his current production has
given Orlando fans a pleasant surprise and a glimmer of hope for what will
most likely be a very long season.
Vucevic has proven to be quite the capable starter averaging close to
ten points and nine rebounds per game while leading the team in blocked shots
which 1.1 per game. It has only been a
month into the NBA season, but Vucevic has already tallied five
double-doubles in points and rebounds in just 13 games played. Hopefully that will be the start of
something great for the Magic as this unheralded hero continues to battle for
his team on center stage.
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Analysis:
For a team that came into the season will very low
expectations, the Orlando Magic have been playing quite well, to say the
least. Despite having a less than
stellar record, they have managed to keep their games competitive only losing
by a rather small margin and keeping at par statistically with their
opponents. The Magic started the
season by winning their two first games by rather impressive margins—the Denver Nuggets by 13 points (11/2/2012) and the Phoenix Suns by 21 (11/4/2012) two
days later. Unfortunately that quick
start would abruptly come to an end as the Magic would stumble losing their
next five games. The Magic bounced
back, however, by winning three of their next five games beating the Detroit Pistons twice—the first on the road (11/16/2012) and the second rather convincingly
at home (11/21/2012)—and a rather close one against the Cleveland Cavaliers (11/23/2012).
Nonetheless, Orlando was unable to maintain the
momentum as they lost their last three games at home to finish the month of
November including and overtime thriller against the Boston Celtics
(11/25/2012) before being manhandled by the San Antonio Spurs (11/28/2012)
and the Brooklyn Nets (11/30/2012).
For a team that had just lost its franchise player for the past seven
years, Dwight Howard, and are currently on the long road to rebuilding, that
is not too shabby, especially considering how much of a mess the team was
left in after the fiasco. The Magic
finished last season with both their coach and general manager fired after a
two year long tumultuous storm cloud of trade demand, threats and uncertainty. Now the storm is finally over and the
Orlando Magic can finally move on as the source of all their troubles is now
residing in Tinseltown and they have a roster of new faces, a new coach in
rookie Jacques Vaughn, and a new rookie GM in Rob Hennigan to right a ship that has
been sent off course. Although the
journey to respectability may be long and difficult, Magic fans can hold
solace and relish the fact that their former star player, Dwight Howard, has
not been doing that great either.
After being given an automatic bid for the NBA
Finals by pundits and analysts during the preseason, the Los Angeles Lakers’
start of the regular season has been underwhelming to say the least. After a rather embarrassing preseason performance,
the Lakers entered the regular season losing four of their first five games—three
of those games to teams that they should have beaten. They shamefully lost their first two games
against an underhanded Dallas Mavericks team that neither had Dirk Nowitzki
or Chris Kaman (10/30/2012) and a weak Portland Trailblazers team that they
had no business losing to (10/31/2012).
That poor start led to team officials to panic and unceremoniously fired
head coach Mike Brown, a highly respected coach in the NBA, making him the “Fall
Guy” for the Lakers’ poor performance.
As of now the Lakers have bounced back somewhat slightly winning six
of the next ten games, but LA still remains at a distant third place in their
Pacific Division with a sub .500 record.
Magic fans must be tickled pink by the delicious
irony of the situation—their team’s star player gripes about being stuck on a
declining team to only get sent to the same situation on another team. And while the Lakers try to trudge their
way out of the huge hole they made for themselves, the Magic are essentially
on easy street not having to worry about any spectacular expectations being
put on it. One can go as far to say
that the Magic are actually exceeding expectations playing as well as they
have in the past month while the players they acquired in that monumental
trade have performed quite impressively thus far. Both Aron Afflalo (acquired from the Denver
Nuggets) and Nicola Vucevic (via the Philadelphia 76ers) have performed
rather admirably as they have been posting career highs for their new team
while Moe Harkless, the first round pick that was sent in that deal, has
played well enough to earn a place in the starting lineup. And that is not even the best part—the Magic
still have a first round picks coming from each of the three teams in that
deal along with a HUGE trade exemption and the likely chance that they will receive
next year’s number one overall pick in next year’s NBA draft courtesy of
Uncle David Stern.
To add even more a refreshing twist to this ironic
situation is that the Magic started their month of December by handily
beating the Los Angeles Lakers on their home court Staples Center to the tune
of a 10 point margin (12/2/2012). Here
the Magic, a team that was expected to be a perennial loser, had beaten a
much touted and much more talented Los Angeles Lakers with three superstars at
their disposal as if they were some lowly bottom ranked team. Some can claim that karma is to blame for
the current struggles of Dwight Howard and his Los Angeles Laker team, but
credit should be given to rookie coach Jacques Vaughn for keeping Orlando
mentally prepared and focused during this early part of the season. Win or lose, the Magic under Vaughn’s guidance
have shown themselves to be just as tough and confident as they were when
Dwight Howard was still on the team.
And despite their less than stellar start, Orlando might raise some
eyebrows once the season starts coming to a close with teams battling for the
final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
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Thursday, December 6, 2012
SDH Presents the NBA's Worst to First for November: 24. Orlando Magic
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