ORLANDO -- When the Orlando Magic signed out-of-work Jason Williams this summer to a one-year, minimum wage contract, they made it sound like he was coming merely to be an insurance policy, giving them a past-his-prime, third point guard in case the bottom fell out on the other two.
He's obviously going to be more, a lot more for a real good team.
Williams, 33, is no longer the flashy, wrap-around-passing entertainer he was earlier in his career in Sacramento, but he looks refreshed and ready to play at a high level once again, adding another strong weapon to the defending Eastern Conference champs.
FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.
Two of the most frequent questions through this Player to Watch series have been "Is he real?" and "Is he back?" That stands to reason: so many teams rely on internal improvement, especially with the league's financial situation restarting a leaguewide thaw on superstar trades (Shaquille O'Neal aside). Fans need to know whether they can count on improving players to keep on going, and whether injured stars can be expected to return to form.
You'd think Magic point guard Jameer Nelson would be facing the latter query -- has Jam's separated shoulder healed well enough to recreate Orlando's awesome starting five? But to me the real question is whether the pre-injury Nelson was even real, or just a short-lived mirage of elite play ready to fall back to Earth.
Value is in the eye of the beholder. Memphis owner Michael Heisley saw value in signing Allen Iverson to a one-year, $3 million contract much like some people see a 99-cent hamburger as great value. "I remember having a good hamburger at one point; it cost me five dollars at the time. This one is only 99 cents -- value!"
It goes both ways, though. In one hand you have a fist full of diamonds. In the other, a hand full of mud.
Using the data collected by the hard-working guys over at Mock Draft Central, I'm going to identify 10 guys in the top 100 who are being overvalued in mock drafts. It's for your own good.
For the past four years, Nelson has hosted a week of team-bonding activities in his hometown of Philadelphia, where he and his mates engage in various activities which attempt to build chemistry among the players away from the basketball court.
The fun this summer ranged from paintball to baseball, and before the Phillies game that the guys attended, Nelson got in a little batting practice -- where he hit at least one of the pitches hard enough to send it sailing over the wall in left-center.
It's not easy to reach the NBA Finals as the Eastern Conference champs, bolster the roster with another All-Star, and still open training camp next month talking about being overlooked.
Van Gundy intended to talk Thursday about the recent addition of veteran point guard Jason Williams, but he couldn't help veering into the perceived slights his team has received this summer as it got overshadowed by the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Williams, the veteran point guard who sat out last season after announcing his retirement and then changing his mind, has been trying to work his way back into the league this summer.
He worked out for teams earlier this month in Memphis and New York, and Tuesday he worked out for the Magic in Orlando, which is where he has been making his offseason home.
The 2004 NBA Draft marked the biggest influx of high school entries in league history, which resulted in a series of busts, unexpected gems and troublesome stories. Five years ago, the Orlando Magic agonized over the No. 1 pick with high school product Dwight Howard competing with UConn's Emeka Okafor over Orlando's affections. Howard was a rather unknown entity with an amazing body while Okafor just led the Huskies to the NCAA title and had established himself as the most dominant force in college basketball.
Whomever the Magic passed up would land in the lap of a new NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats. Those two players appeared to be the only sure things in this draft. It was littered with early entries, unproven players and talented youngsters who might have bolted college a year too early. And making decisions more difficult was a slew of high school players who were years away from making an impact.
ORLANDO -- Jameer Nelson was headed into the locker room after the crushing, Game 5 defeat in the NBA Finals, not interested in watching the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate on his home court, not after he felt so helpless to stop them.
Yet teammate Dwight Howard pulled him back out, asked him to watch alongside him, so they could share the pain of defeat, so that maybe they could turn it into incentive this summer.
It's something he'll remember.
"It hurts. It's tough, but Dwight wanted me to be there with him to see it,'' he said. "I don't want this feeling again. Dwight wanted it to soak in. I wish I could have done more.''
ORLANDO -- They're as different as Yoda and Danny DeVito, the Grateful Dead and Weird Al Yankovic, a complete mismatch in wisdom and savvy and diamonds on their fingers. Just because Phil Jackson evokes the appearance of a half-asleep grandfather waiting for his Metamucil doesn't mean he isn't in complete control of his scene. And just because Stan Van Gundy is running around and howling like a crazed banshee doesn't mean he has a clue.
If the Lakers win another championship Sunday night, Game 5 of the NBA Finals might signify the end of Jackson's spiritual, never-boring adventure through coaching. Yet even as he stares down his 10th crown -- which would push him past one of his biggest critics, the late Red Auerbach, as the most decorated of all pro basketball coaches -- he keeps absorbing potshots from snipers who think he's cruising through a career as an opportunistic fraud.
ORLANDO -- Magic journeyman Anthony Johnson has been in the NBA 12 years, a former second-round pick from the obscure College of Charleston. He has scratched and clawed every step of the way, bouncing through 10 different teams with stops in the Development League and free agent summer camps in between.
He has had 10-day contracts and minimum wage contracts, never far from being outside looking in. He has been traded more than once for a cup of coffee and future consideration. Nothing has come easy.
It's why he thought this NBA Finals was going to be the highlight, the crowning moment of his career, coming on the heels of his most consistent, most satisfying season.
Instead, it was turned into the biggest disappointment of his life.
ORLANDO -- When the Orlando Magic signed out-of-work Jason Williams this summer to a one-year, minimum wage contract, they made it sound like he was coming merely to be an insurance policy, giving them a past-his-prime, third point guard in case the bottom fell out on the other two.
FanHouse previews a 
Value is in the eye of the beholder. Memphis owner Michael Heisley saw value in signing 
The headline of this story might not be 
It's not easy to reach the NBA Finals as the Eastern Conference champs, bolster the roster with another All-Star, and still open training camp next month talking about being overlooked.
FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in 
ORLANDO -- 
ORLANDO -- They're as different as Yoda and Danny DeVito, the Grateful Dead and Weird Al Yankovic, a complete mismatch in wisdom and savvy and diamonds on their fingers. Just because 
ORLANDO -- Magic journeyman 
