ESPN Doesn’t Hate The Magic

Unlike The Sporting News, Marc Stein of ESPN gave the Magic some love. They have ranked Orlando second in their Power Rankings just behind the defending world champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Since ‘89, only one team that lost in the Finals won it all the following year: last season’s Lakers. So I respect/applaud Orlando’s overhaul/big spending, even though I always saw Hedo as the Magic’s linchpin.

Although Stein is worried about the loss of Hedo Turkoglu to the Toronto Raptors, he really seems to like Orlando’s new additions to put them all the way up at #2. He wonders aloud if Vince Carter will be have as much success as Turkoglu did in Orlando. I think Carter is the superior player and will have even more success than Turkoglu did during his last two seasons, which were the best two seasons of his career. I like the fact that he applauds Magic General Manager Otis Smith’s offseason efforts when many pundits question them.

Here’s hoping Orlando can follow in the Lakers’ footsteps and win the NBA Finals a year after losing the series. This is refreshing after all the hate the Magic have received during the off-season.

Basketball season is almost here. Orlando opens up training camp next week.

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