The Sporting News Hates The Magic

Apparently the Sporting News didn't see the playoffs last year.

The Sporting News has released their Preseason Power Poll and Sean Deveney has stuck the Magic all the way down at #8 behind the Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trail-Blazers. I’m assuming this means that they are predicting Washington to win the Southeast Division, a division that Orlando has won in each of the last two seasons. The worst part about it is that they made these rankings without any explanation as to why Orlando is ranked where they are.

8. Orlando. Adding Vince Carter was the splashy move. But adding Brandon Bass, Jason Williams and Matt Barnes might be the moves that matter most for this roster.

I just don’t get how a popular and well-respected sports magazine like The Sporting News could actually put this on their website. Maybe they didn’t watch the playoffs last year? Maybe they just forgot about the Eastern Conference Champions? Maybe they’ve never even heard of NBA Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard…

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)