11 Reasons Why The Magic Won’t Win the NBA Championship

Orlando is and should be one of the favorites to win the NBA finals, but if they have made some improvements in certain areas, they will not capture their first title this year. I’m not saying that I believe any of this will come true, but these are potential problems this very talented squad could run into that could prevent them from winning a championship in 2009-10.

11. The addition of Shaq in Cleveland.
With the addition of Shaq, LeBron James’ Cavaliers should be even more of a force.

10. They can’t match up with the Lakers
The Lakers big men dominated the Magic inside the paint and on the glass and made much bigger plays down the stretch in route to a 4-1 series win.

9. Kevin Garnett returns to full strength
Garnett has always been a thorn in Orlando’s side and his health will go a long way in deciding whether Orlando or Cleveland raise their first championship banner or Boston raises their 18th

8. The Magic won’t have the same team unity and chemistry that they had last season.
Orlando has added several new players and have to replace last season’s late-game playmaker, Hedo Turkoglu. With so many different lineups and combinations of players, the team may not be able to mesh with each other.

7. There aren’t enough shots to go around.
7 and 8 kind of go together. The Magic could potentially got 12-deep and have 7-8 players with the talent to start. Four of these players (Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson & Matt Barnes) will have to come off of the bench.

6. The Magic do not have a serviceable backup Point Guard.
Anthony Johnson just turned 35 and Jason Williams has not played in the NBA in well over a year.

5. Vince Carter doesn’t have it anymore.
Carter has not had a good first two preseason games. He has shot poorly from downtown and has driven to the basket enough.

4. The Magic will not be able to replace Hedo Turkoglu’s late-game playmaking ability.
So many times Hedo drove to the hoop and hit a layup, a short fade away or kicked it out for three. He was often ice-cold at the last second (Game 5, 2009 Eastern Conference 1st round)

3. Jameer Nelson has not completely healed from his shoulder injury.
If Jameer is not 100% healthy and attempts to play hurt, the results could be ugly (see 2009 NBA Finals).

2. Dwight Howard’s offensive game has not improved enough.
Last season, Dwight lacked a true go-to move, was a poor free throw shooter and sometimes struggled passing out of double teams.

1. The Magic will have a hangover from their NBA Finals loss.
The Lakers lost the NBA Finals in 2008 but were able to bounce back win the championship in 2009, but that was a rare feat. This is a feat that hasn’t been done since 1985, coincidently also by the Lakers. They were defeated by the Celtics in 1984 but came back in 1985 to win the series against the Celtics. The last time it was done before that was in 1959 when Boston defeated the Lakers (then known as the Minneapolis Lakers) after losing to the St. Louis Hawks in 1958.

Coming Soon: 11 reasons why the Magic will win the NBA Championship

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