Archive for September, 2009

Marcin Gortat AKA the Polish Hammer has been dominating as the Center for the Polish basketball team so far in EuroBasket 2009. Gortat is playing is home country of Poland. Gortat averaged 3.8 points per game, 3.0 rebounds per game and .8 blocks per game in 63 games he started six. He played 12.6 minutes per game. This came after a 2007-08 season in which Gortat played in only six games, averaging 3.0 PPG and 2.7 RPG, while playing just 6.8 MPG. Gortat managed to put up slightly better numbers in the 2009 postseason where he averaged 3.3 PPG and [...]

Josh Robbins has a great article about Stan Van Gundy’s camp this weekend. It sounds like Van Gundy’s emphasis was defense. “I think the first thing any coach needs is to be very, very clear on what your philosophy is,” Van Gundy said 10 minutes into his talk. “These are the things that will not change very often for you, unless you really have a philosophical revelation or something. These are the things you believe in and are going to be the same year-in and year-out.” So, it was no surprise that Van Gundy quickly transitioned into talking about coaching [...]

The Orlando Magic have capped their season ticket sales at 13,000. “By capping season-ticket sales, this gives us the ticket inventory to provide the opportunity for those who can’t necessarily invest in a full season ticket to still have the opportunity to experience Magic basketball,” said Alex Martins, the team’s chief operating officer. The defending Eastern Conference champs already have sold about 12,700 season tickets. Last season, the team sold about 9,800 season tickets. It’s clear that Orlando’s run to the finals had made them very popular in the city because less than 300 ticket packages remain. It’s also nice [...]

Anthony Bowie was a very solid bench player for the Orlando Magic who is probably best known for his infamous triple double. That’s unfortunate for Anthony because he gave the Magic a few good seasons coming off of the bench. Anthony played both Guard and Forward. He was listed at 6’6 and 190 lbs. Bowie was selected in the third round (66th overall) of the 1986 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets out of the University of Oklahoma where he spent two seasons. During the 1984-85 season, Bowie played in 37 games. He averaged 13.4 points per game on an [...]

Tania Ganguli of the Orlando Sentinel has a very interesting article up about Dwight Howard’s trip to Africa for the NBA’s Basketball without Boards program. He has been joined in Africa by his buddy Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer and former BWB camp member, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Read the full story here. According to Dime Magazine, Magic Guard/Forward Mickael Pietrus is a “sneaky” dirty player. 6. Mickael Pietrus — His stealth is even more impressive than his dirty play. In an Eastern Conference Finals series where LeBron James was getting sent to the line if you brushed [...]

First of all, congratulations to Magic Center Adonal Foyle. Not only did the Magic re-sign the veteran last week but the big man is also receiving a very prestigious honor. Foyle will be inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame on September 24 in Boise, Idaho (and we need some humanitarians in Boise after last night’s debacle). Foyle has helped youths who are eligible to vote by founding the group Democracy Matters. He has helped kids in both the United States and the Caribbean prepare for their futures with his Kerosene Lamp Foundation and has helped Orlando to [...]

ESPN Classic is showing Magic – Lakers game from February 8, 2004 tonight at 9 PM est. The Magic had a 14-point lead entering the 4th quarter but the Lakers closed the gap quickly. I’ll let you see for yourself how the game turned out. Shaq scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds while T-Mac lead the way for Orlando with 35 points. Juwan Howard added 18 points. If you want a spoiler, see the full recap here. If you like the new “Stars of the Magic Past” feature, stay tuned, because the next player I will take a look [...]

Brooks Thompson was selected in the 1st round (27th Overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic. Thompson was a 6’4 Guard who was a supposed sharpshooter (hmm…sounds familiar). Thompson played two years at Texas A&M before transferring to Oklahoma State. He was named 2nd Team All Southwest Conference as a Sophomore at A&M before transferring. He had to sit out his first year as an Oklahoma State Cowboy due to the NCAA’s transfer rules. He struggled early on in his redshirt junior season but seemed to get the hang of it about halfway through the season. Thompson [...]

Sun Sports and Fox Sports Florida have released their broadcast schedule for the Orlando Magic during the 2009-10 season. A total of 70 Magic games will appear on the two networks with 38 on Sun Sports and 32 on Fox Sports Florida. Click here for the full broadcast schedule. Stan Van Gundy will be hosting a Coach’s clinic Mary Prep next Saturday. Click here for more details. For you games out there, JJ Redick is rated embarassingly low on NBA 2K10. When the “NBA 2K10″ producers announced that they were lowering the player ratings in their game across the board [...]

In a new feature at Howard the Dunk, we’re going to take a look at some of the Magic’s former “stars.” Well, actually we’re going to look back at the careers of some lesser known Magic players and see where they are now. First up, former Magic great Brooks Thompson. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger.Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily. .)