Tampa Bay Sports Blog

Would someone please call the ASPCA and send them to pick up the carcass resembling the remains of the once proud Orlando Magic that lay still on the Verizon Center court in Washington DC.

Last night’s performance by the Magic against the turmoil filled Washington Wizards was absolutely deplorable. Despite the Magics horrific shooting woes which continue to plague them, they managed to build a ten point lead in the fourth quarter, only to fall victim to a frenetic Wizard rally.

The Magic have now lost four straight games against sub .500 teams, three of which came on the road where Orlando has struggled mightily this season.

Before I begin to dissect the plight of the Orlando Magic following last nights debacle, I would like to clarify that I’m in excellent spirits. I would hate for my rant to be attributed to me possibly waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Which would have been impossible anyway since I slept on the good old couch last night (ah yes, one of the many fringe benefits of living with your girlfriend…lol).

It would be easy to point out once again, the Magics dependence on the 3 point shot (they were 7-27 or .259% for the game against the Wizards), lack of effort, poor execution and defensive intensity. However, I feel the problems go much deeper than that.

Yesterday, I questioned whether the team may be quitting on Coach Stan Van Gundy prematurely. However, after listening to Van Gundy’s post game presser last night, I too may be leaning towards severing ties. Van Gundy had the audacity to state that it was his responsibility to get the most out of his star players(which I can agree with), and that he simply does not know how to at this point. That is simply not the answer you give when your being paid to do a job at the NBA level.

Maybe Pat Riley knew something we are starting to find out about Stan “No Longer The Man” Van Gundy? Even Shaq questioned his mental fortitude and I am starting to agree. When things aren’t going well, Van Gundy always looks out of sorts, unable to maintain composure. How can you expect to lead a group of professional athletes, when you start whining and pouting like a fat kid who had his cake snatched out of his hands.

At least in Miami, Van Gundy had a proven leader and warrior in D Wade, not to mention a strong veteran presence in Shaq, to keep players in line and demand better effort on the court, which they exemplified through their own play.

Unfortunately, the Magic lack a veteran who can command that type of respect. Which leaves the coach to shoulder that burden. This is where I feel Van Gundy has failed, since the majority of his core players are all underachieving this season.

Vince Carter, who up until this point in his career, in best known for dunking over Frederick Weiss in the Olympics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PPhbHMaf7k) and for admitting he quit on the Toronto Raptors by not always competing hard. So I’m not surprised that Vince hasn’t warmed up to the coaching methods used by Van Gundy. This is no excuse for Carter’s recent struggles, however, it may be a part of the reason he is not excelling. If anything, it appears as if he has regressed since joining the Magic.

The Magics other floor general Jameer Nelson has continued to struggle since his return from knee surgery and I would actually prefer seeing him come off the bench for the time being. Let him regain his confidence playing against the oppositions second unit, rather than allow him to be abused further like he was by Derrick Rose earlier in the week in Chicago.

Now for my favorite target, Rashard ” Please Don’t Touch Me” Lewis, who is either the luckiest man on earth or has a world class publicist. How else can you explain a player making that much escarole flying under the radar and not being trashed for his severe lack of production. Lets be honest, aside from his three point shooting ability, there’s not much else to be enamored about with Rashard’s game.

With all that being said, the Magic are still one of the top 5 teams in the league and can definitely salvage this season. In order for that to happen, there will have to be some major changes made. Ever heard the phrase ” drastic times call for drastic measures”? Memo to Otis Smith: We are in Crisis Mode.

If anything can be learned from last nights collapse, it’s how to respond to adverse situations. Here are the Wizard’s faced with all kinds of on and off court distractions, yet, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler showed how consummate professionals are suppose to carry themselves. Hopefully, some of the Magic players took notice.

Technorati Tags: Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Frederick Weiss, Jameer Nelson, Orlando Magic, Otis Smith, Pat Riley, Rashard Lewis, Shaq, Stan Van Gundy, Vince Carter, Washington Wizards

The NBA recently gave me some feedback about my blog postings stating that there weren’t many positive stories. This was delivered to me on the heels of the Magics dreadful loss to the Chicago Bulls this past Saturday night, leaving me in a rather precarious position.

Instead of ripping the Magic for losing to the Bulls, who were in the midst of self destructing themselves, I decided to bite my tongue or in this case my fingers and give them a chance to redeem themselves against the Pacers on Tuesday. With the Pacers dealing with injuries to Danny Granger and Troy Murphy, you would think this was an ideal scenario for a team looking to regain their composure on the road.

Much to my dismay, the Magic mailed it in against the Pacers, being severely outplayed by a second rate team and even more surprisingly a second rate big man in Roy Hibbert, who simply embarrassed Dwight Howard.

Hibbert turned in 26 points and 8 rebounds against Dwight “The Coward” Howard, who manages a mere 11 points on 2-7 shooting and 15 boards. I was unaware Roy Hibbert was even on the Pacers until this game, and then to see him play like an All-Star against the Magic front-line was appalling.

After two tough road losses, the Magic returned home on Wednesday night to face the Toronto Raptors who are lead by Chris Bosh.

Once again, the Magic simply didn’t show up to play and were dismantled by Bosh and company.

What troubles me more than anything about the losses, is the lack of effort and intensity by the players. Are they quitting on Stan Van Gundy this early in the season?

Perhaps the criticism Dwight Howard levied against Coach Van Gundy earlier in the year about his negative attitude was a sign of what was to come.

No matter what the reasoning, Dwight Howard is simply not playing near the level he was at last season. His shot attempts are down drastically in recent games, which can be attributed to foul trouble to some degree, or a possible change in the Magics offensive strategy.

I’ve said it repeatedly that Howard is not a number one option on offense and that the Magic need another low post scorer to help balance out their attack. The continued reliance on outside shooting is the exact reason why they are playing inconsistent and not winning games against weaker opponents.

Shots aren’t always going to drop, so you have to have another scoring option. Otherwise, teams will pack it in and make you beat them from the outside.

All teams go through peaks and valleys during a long regular season. However, you rarely see a championship caliber team drop three games in a row. Especially, against teams with losing records who are dealing with injuries and internal strife in the case of the Chicago Bulls who were rumored to be on the verge of firing their Head Coach.

Since the NBA wants a glass half full story, I will try and put a positive spin on things. Yes, the season is long, so there is plenty of time for the Magic to right the ship. Secondly, Orlando is still loaded with talent and in my opinion lead by an excellent head coach.

So if in fact Orlando chooses to stand pat and move forward with the current roster, there are changes they can make such as; moving Rashard Lewis to the small forward position and inserting Brandon Bass in at the power forward. Or, go retro and bring back the “Twin Towers” with Gortat and Howard featured up front.

On the other hand, if Otis Smith does decide to tinker with the roster, their is a wealth of talent for him to deal, giving him plenty of leverage.

It’s too soon to give up on what could still turn out to be a great season, so let’s stay positive for the time being.

There is a silver lining here, as the Magic head up north tonight to face the Washington Wizards who are in complete disarray.

The Wizards have given new meaning to the phrase “Strap em up” and get ready to play. Sorry I couldn’t resist the temptation

Technorati Tags: Chicago Bulls, Dwight Howard, Indiana Pacers, Marcin Gortat, Orlando Magic, Rashard Lewis, Roy Hibbert, Stan Van Gundy, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards

The NBA took a hard line approach to the Gilbert Arenas saga, which continues to get uglier each day as it continues to unfold, by suspending the former All-Star indefinitely.

In my humble opinion, this action is clearly the right call, and is actually overdue. If the NBA would have reacted more swiftly they could have avoided further damage to it’s already tarnished image. Instead, they allowed Aren-ASS to continue playing even after he admitted to bringing guns into the Wizard’s locker room. And what does Aren-ASS do? He continues to make light of a very serious situation via his Twitter account(which much like facebook and all other social networking sites is proving to be the demise of many) and had the audacity to point his index fingers as if they were guns while surrounded by his teammates in pre-game introductions in his last game against Philadelphia.

These antics most certainly drew the ire of NBA Commissioner David Stern, who ultimately handed down the suspension.

It’s poetic justice that the NBA  was seemingly punished as well for allowing Aren-ASS  to play and giving him the public forum to continue to act like the “Class Clown”. Can’t help but think of the old cliche “some people just never learn” after witnessing Aren-ASS’s cavalier attitude toward his indiscretion even after having talked to local and federal law enforcement.

The way this incident is handled by all parties involved has far reaching implications well beyond the NBA. As we witnessed with the Plaxico Burress fiasco, which lead to a two year prison stretch, athletes and everyone in society as a whole need to be held accountable for their actions. Otherwise, what kind of message are we sending to kids out there who watch these highly paid athletes and celebrities who continuously skirt the law and are allowed to walk away unscathed?

Throughout his entire career Aren-ASS has always been his own worse enemy and now he is paying a hefty price for his tomfoolery. It is going to cost Aren-ASS around $150,000 for each game he is suspended. Wouldn’t he have been better off just paying his original gambling debt in the first place? I can see it now; a league wide ban on card games during team flights.

I have a message for any other professional athletes out there who may own a firearm. GET RID OF IT NOW!

Athletes are paid quite handsomely for their talents and if needed can certainly afford to hire licensed security if they feel threatened.

In the last few years, there have been several tragedies in the sports world related to gun violence such as Steve McNair, Plaxico Burress, Richard Collier and Shawn Taylor just to name a few. In the NBA alone there were several mishaps involving illegal possession of a firearm. The list of culprits included Sebastian Telfair, Stephen Jackson, Delonte West and now Gilbert Aren-ASS for the second time has a gun related issue.

Let’s not forget former NBA standout Jayson Williams, recently in the news for a DUI, who shot and killed his limo driver while supposedly joking around showing off his shotgun, then attempted to cover up the whole incident.

What’s alarming is that most professional athletes come from disenfranchised neighborhoods where the evidence of gun violence is so prevalent. You would think they would be grateful to no  longer be subjected to that type of environment instead of trying to perpetuate the lifestyle so many can’t seem to leave behind. There is no excuse for bringing a gun to any workplace, much less an NBA locker room, where safety concerns are clearly not an issue.

If Aren-ASS lived in the real world he would be out of a job already and most likely charged with some sort of criminal conduct. Instead, his punishment was meted out by the NBA first, and he is still awaiting further possible action by law enforcement.

I’m shocked that the Washington Wizards didn’t take a stand initially, especially, since their recently deceased owner Abe Pollin was a staunch supporter of anti-gun legislation.

The simple fact is that most of these athletes that we watch and admire, are simply brazen enough to feel they are above the law and oblivious to public scrutiny. I hate to beat a dead horse by saying that this may somehow provide an impetus for people to change their behavior and learn from mistakes made by others.

Unfortunately, this will probably prove to be just another story to fuel the gossip columns until the next scandal breaks.So until then…… Stay Tuned!

Technorati Tags: Abe Pollin, David Stern, Delonte West, Gilbert Arenas, Gun Violence, Illegal Firearm, Law Enforcement, NBA, Sebastian Telfair, Shawn Taylor, Stephen Jackson, Steve McNair, Washington Wizards

The Magic invited the Wizards into Orlando last night for what has become common occurrence, a loss. Granted these are the Gilbert Arenas-less Wizards, but they are an NBA team none the less. Caron Butler went off for 29 points but got little help as the Magic’s balanced scoring and good defense carried them throughout. Hedo looks to be shaking off the hideous slump he’s been in the last couple games as he scored 22 on 6 of 12 shooting to lead the Magic to the 89-80 win.

Dwight Howard chipped in his usual double double with 15/16 and the good offensive numbers pretty much end there. Lewis and Nelson had 26 combined on 9 of 29 combined shooting, though they hit 4 of 10 from down town. It looks like they may be headed toward a little slump themselves but I actually would like to see that. I personally would like to see the slumps go up and down until the end of the season and have everyone get hot for the playoff run, but maybe I’m being too optimistic. My favorite thing about tonight’s game was that Courtney Lee got the start. I’m developing an Evan Longoria like man-crush on this guy and really want to see him getting more action. He’s lightning quick and very aggressive on both ends of the floor. He really plays the type of ball that need more of here and he could definitely be the guy to compliment Turk in driving the lane and drawing some fouls while Nelson and Lewis drop bombs from the outside.

This was a nice warmup game for the Magic as they head to Atlanta to take on the Hawks, who are only 4 games behind the Magic and hold the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta seems to be the team everyone forgets about when they’re talking about the Eastern Conference, but these guys are tough and they always give us a tough game, so the Magic better be ready.

Technorati Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Caron Butler, Courtney Lee, Dwight Howard, Evan Longoria, Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Orlando Magic, Rashard Lewis, Washington Wizards

   The Magic have played four games since my last post and had put on a good showing in all but last night’s big one against the Celtics. Now I’m not going to pick on them for losing an away game, in Boston, while down three major contributors in Mickael Pietrus, Keith Bogans and Jameer Nelson. Pietrus hurt himself in the Philly game and is going to miss at least three weeks with a torn ligament in his right thumb. The Magic have been getting hit hard with injuries and Pietrus is just the latest victim to be sidelined. Orlando had two very good showings on national TV last week against Philly and Washington on the road. The Philly game was the tough one as Rashard Lewis stepped up and hit a big three in the final 5 seconds to give the Magic the win. Lewis has definitely stepped up big lately and may finally be developing into the offensive force the Magic hoped they were getting when they first acquired him. I get on Lewis a lot and it’s playing like he has been that’s going to shut all of us up that pick on him. We all know he’s talented enough to play this way and have been waiting for him to show it consistently. In the other national game the Magic beat up on the hapless Wizards 105-90 who still look awful without Gilbert Arenas. Pietrus scored 17 points in the Washington game while trying to play through his injury, but in the end it was too much. Howard has been consistent and is doing a better job of staying out of foul trouble. Turk is still driving the lane and doing a good job of drawing fouls, though his shots aren’t falling the way we expect. The Indiana game was an awesome display of what this team is capable of. Howard dominated inside with 32/21 and Lewis and Turk dropped bombs from the three point line going 8 of 15 combined. It was a beautiful thing to watch but the Boston game showed once again that the Magic need more to compete with the elite in the Eastern Conference. If the Magic are going to get by Boston they are going to need a complete lineup that includes Pietrus, Nelson and Bogans. This holds true for Detroit as well and we may get to see most of tat lineup by the time the Magic get to Detroit at the end of the month. The Magic big three of Howard, Turk and Lewis should be enough to carry them to that point, but they are going to need more to break the Piston’s hold over them. The Detroit team they will face is not as good without Billups and Iverson seems to be doing more harm than good since his arrival, but it’s more a mental thing with that match up and the Magic need to break through that before they head into the playoffs. I’m calling the Celtics game a wash and looking forward to getting a healthy Magic team on the floor before I pass judgement on them. They should be able to handle the T-Wolves tomorrow night and I’d personally llike to see a lot of Courtney Lee and JJ Reddick in that one. It would be nice to see them take advantage of the injuries and get these guys more time on the floor as it would improve the bench dramatically when the team is healthy.

Technorati Tags: Allen Iverson, Boston Celtics, Chauncey Billups, Courtney Lee, Detroit Pistons, Dwight Howard, Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu, Indiana Pacers, Jameer Nelson, JJ Reddick, Keith Bogans, Mickael Pietrus, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Rashard Lewis, Washington Wizards

Technorati Tags: Courtney Lee, Dwight Howard, Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu, JJ Reddick, Keith Bogans, Mickael Pietrus, Orlando Magic, Rashard Lewis, Washington Wizards