NBA GMs Give Little Respect to the Magic

Few GMs expect this to happen again.

Once again, no one is giving the Magic any respect, but this time it’s not the media. It’s NBA General Managers.

Each of the 30 General Managers was surveyed and only 7.1 percent of them believe that Orlando will even return to the NBA finals.

Which team will win the Eastern Conference?
1. Boston – 50.0%
2. Cleveland – 42.9%
3. Orlando – 7.1%

No General Manager believes that the Magic will win the championship.

Which team will win NBA Finals 2010?
1. L.A. Lakers – 60.7%
2. Boston – 17.9%
Cleveland – 17.9%
4. San Antonio – 3.6%
Last year: L.A. Lakers – 46.2%

This is funny because 17.3 percent believe the Magic made the best offseason moves. If 17.3 percent of the league believes that Orlando had a better offseason than any other team, then why do only 7.1 percent of the GMs believe that Orlando will return to the NBA Finals? The math just doesn’t add up.

Which team made the best overall moves this summer?
1. San Antonio – 71.2%
2. Orlando – 17.3%
Also receiving votes: Cleveland, Toronto, Washington
Last year: Philadelphia – 51.9%

The Magic aren’t even a unanimous decision to win the Southeast Division (which they have won in each of the last two seasons), although they are the overwhelming favorite. The Magic received 92.6 percent while the Washington Wizards, who return Gilbert Arenas and brought in Randy Foye and Mike Miller received the other 7.4 percent of the vote. Washington is also expected to be the most improved team in the league, gaining 48.3 percent of those votes.

The Magic did get some love – Dwight Howard came in 3rd in the GM’s MVP voting, netting 6.9% of the vote, trailing only Kobe Bryant (17.2%) and LeBron James (69.0%).

Howard was also voted as the best defensive player in the NBA, receiving 46.4 percent of the votes. Ron Artest of the Lakers and Kevin Garnett of the Celtics tied for second, getting 17.9 percent of the voting.

Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy received at least one vote as the best Head Coach in the NBA. Lakers Coach Phil Jackson was first with 37.0 percent of the votes.

Once again, Orlando is going to have to embrace the underdog role, but that’s just fine with them. The lack of respect doesn’t both Dwight Howard.

We don’t play for respect. We want to be the best. We want to win the championship.

Anthony Johnson didn’t seem to care either when he discussed Orlando’s role as an underdog.

Yeah, of course. Any role doesn’t really matter to me because you got to go out and get it done between the lines. All that talk, you still gotta go and play in between the lines.

So underdog, favorite, it doesn’t matter?

No, not at all. Just because if you’re favored, you’re suppose to go out and win and if you’re the underdog, you get a chance to shock some people so with that being said, you still got to get it done for 48 minutes, whether you’re underdog, whether you’re favored or not favored, you got to win the games.

See all of the voting results here.

John Schuhman of NBA.com agrees with me about the Magic.

So let the league disrespect the Magic once again and everyone who does can get burned. Just like last season.

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