Archive for February, 2011

After enjoying a week off (well except for Dwight Howard), the Magic will be back in action Wednesday night when they play host to the Sacramento Kings. The Kings have a bit of a new look to them after trading forward Carl Landry to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for guard Marcus Thornton. This is the first of two meetings between the two teams. They’ll meet again in Sacramento on March 9th. The Kings come into the game having lost eight of their last nine games. They have a record of just 13-41, good for the second worst record [...]

Last week Zach Randolph’s name came up in connection with the Orlando Magic. It looked like their was potential for a move to be made but most waved it off as nothing more than rumor. It was Sam Smith who brought his name up a week ago and now Chad Ford of ESPN.com is doing the same. One interesting tidbit from a source in Memphis: Last week Sam Smith of Bulls.com floated a potential Randolph-to-Magic deal. While it’s unclear if it was actually proposed, I was told that, internally, the Grizzlies have discussed sending Randolph to Orlando for Brandon Bass [...]

Bodog is often kind enough to send me their latest odds and props when it comes to the Orlando Magic and the NBA. Here are the updated odds to win the NBA title, the Eastern Conference title and the MVP. Odds to win 2011 NBA Championship Miami Heat 11/5 Boston Celtics 7/2 Los Angeles Lakers 4/1 San Antonio Spurs 9/2 Chicago Bulls 14/1 Dallas Mavericks 14/1 Orlando Magic 14/1 Oklahoma City Thunder 22/1 New York Knicks 30/1 New Orleans Hornets 50/1 Atlanta Hawks 80/1 Utah Jazz 80/1 Denver Nuggets 100/1 Portland Trailblazers 100/1 Memphis Grizzlies 125/1 Philadelphia 76ers 175/1 Houston [...]

Devon Jeffreys, formally of the Sanford Herald and currently of Athlete Interactive joined Charlie Bernstein and I to discuss the NBA. We hit on the general NBA and the Carmelo Anthony trade before getting into the Orlando Magic. To listen, click here. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and ESPN 1080′s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

It appears as though the Magic are going to stay fairly quiet this week as far as the trade deadline is concerned. However, the market or signing a free agent who is bought out by his current team is a different story. Sam Smith says the Magic are expected to sign Troy Murphy once he is bought out by the New Jersey Nets following the trade deadline, citing league executives as his source. It is widely expected that power forward Troy Murphy, who is said to be waiting to be part of a potential Carmelo Anthony deal if the Nets [...]

Dwight Howard finished the 2011 All-Star game with five points and seven rebounds. It’s what he and any others would call a very pedestrian game. Lately the game has been dominated by perimeter play so it’s not surprise that Miami’s LeBron James, who finished with a triple double (29 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) and Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant, who was named MVP (37 points, 14 rebounds) were the stars of the game. However, it is unusual that Howard, who did not have a good game because he was excellent in the first four All-Star games he took part in. [...]

With big men like JaVale McGee, Serge Ibaka and Blake Griffin making last night’s dunk contest one of the best of all time, Dwight Howard should be given credit. He really opened up the contest for big men and still is the standard-bearer for big men dunkers. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and ESPN 1080′s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

With the trade deadline looming (Thursday, February 24), it should be no surprise rumors around the Magic are heating up. After dealing backup center Marcin Gortat to the Phoenix Suns, it was widely thought the Magic needed a big man to back up Dwight Howard. Despite Earl Clark making a nice attempt of getting into the rotation and giving the Magic some effective minutes when he’s had time, the Magic still don’t have a legitimate backup center and have been forced to use the undersized Brandon Bass in two roles (he’s the starting power forward). They’ve also had to use [...]

The title says it all. Rashard Lewis made big shot after big shot for the Orlando Magic including two of the biggest three-pointers in the history of the Orlando Magic. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and ESPN 1080′s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

The Magic overcame a slow start on Wednesday night at the Amway Center and crushed the sans Rashard Lewis, Washington Wizards by a score of 101-76.  The game was actually tied after the first quarter and the Magic led by only 9 at halftime, but Orlando pushed the lead from 9 to 25 in under 5 minutes in the second half. As well as the Magic played in the second half, this game was more about the ineptitude of the Wizards.  Outside of John Wall, who had a Wizards high 27, the Wizards players shot 19-66 from the field. More [...]