Orlando Magic Media Day Notes

HowardtheDunk.com

Before I get more in depth about what went on at media day, I thought I’d offer up a few quick notes.

• The Orlando Magic players and coaching staff arrived and had a three and-a-half hour meeting which even included a break for lunch.
• “We met for about three-and-a-half hours and just talked about a lot of things,” Van Gundy explained. “The players talked a lot. I had a very small part in that meeting so it was a lot different than in different years.”
• J.J. Redick said the Magic stressed becoming a tougher team both mentally and physically during the meeting.
• “The point of the meeting was getting everyone on the same page as we start the season,” Redick explained.
• There were, of course, a lot of questions concerning the Miami Heat, a subject you can tell the Magic players are very sick of talking about yet they still answered every question they were asked.
• The players refused to call the Heat the favorites, despite being prodded by several different reporters to do so. Redick called the Celtics the favorites in the East because they are the defending conference champions while Vince Carter replied to the question with just one word, “Magic.”
• Another frequent topic was the new arena, which was absolutely incredible. Mickael Pietrus even took offense that anyone would compare another arena to the Amway Center but explained that he still loved the old Amway Arena.
• The Magic think chemistry is going to improve their team. Pietrus agreed, saying “Our chemistry is higher than the Eiffel Tower.”
• I was told by one source that Daniel Orton’s knee is a more serious injury than we originally thought. Ben Q. Rock has more information on that situation here.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, a contributor on the Fansided Front Page, and co-host of CB Sports Radio from 5-7 pm week days (1420sports.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

Tags: Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic, quentin richardson, Stan Van Gundy