FanHouse Orlando Magic

At least according to ESPN The Magazine, I was spot on with my assessment last month that Brian Hill's act may be wearing thin in Orlando, though Magic GM Otis Smith would have you believe it's not true. From Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel:

Magic General Manager Otis Smith on Wednesday discredited an item in the recent issue of ESPN The Magazine that said players unanimously wanted Coach Brian Hill replaced and that Hill has a poor relationship with star Dwight Howard. "It's not true," Smith said. An item in a notes column next to writer Chris Broussard's "NBA Insider" read, "Despite Magic GM Otis Smith's vow to keep coach Brian Hill, the players are unanimous in wanting him gone. Hill's relationship with star Dwight Howard turned irrevocably sour, a source says, when the coach told his center not to be late for the Monday practice after All-Star Weekend."

It's Smith's job to paint a pretty picture of his team, so I'm going to take his assessment of the situation with a grain of salt. And when you look at what's going on with Orlando lately -- even the usually mild-mannered Grant Hill and steely (that works, right?) Darko Milicic have lashed out -- it's not exactly surprising that there might be dissension in the ranks.

The irony, of course, is that Brian Hill was brought back to Orlando as a way to fix past wrongs, when Penny Hardaway inspired a player mutiny back in 1997. Right about now, I'm thinking maybe it's not the players' fault.

Darko was bodying up Chris Bosh for position in the post, when he was called for a push. Whatever it was that he did next earned him a couple of technicals and required the best efforts of Grant Hill and Hedo Turoglu to stop.

I'm not sure about this, but I think it might be Darko's first career ejection. If so, congratulations on the milestone, Darko. I still think Darko's game (or lack of game, depending on which night you catch him) is all about confidence. Yes, between the technical free throws, the lack of his presence the rest of the evening, and the narrow three-point margin of victory for the Raps, one could argue that Darko cost the Magic the game last night. But if Darko's feeling entitled enough to start bitching out referees, maybe in the long run, this is a sign of progress.

I hate to do the NBA's promotional work for them, but I couldn't help but smile watching this. A young fan on her 12th birthday wants to meet Dwight Howard (note: do not let your 12-year-old daughter meet Marcus Vick), and Young Thunder takes a second to make her feel special.

You know, of all the young stars in the NBA, Dwight Howard might be the most important. He's just got that friendly, lovable, universal appeal that none of the other young guys have. Carmelo's a little too gully to have that kind of appeal, LeBron's waaaaay too corporate to have that kind of appeal, and I'm not sure Dwyane Wade has it, either. That commercial where he gave the kids basketballs, and gave the coach an SUV? It just didn't seem like his heart was in it. I bet he egged that SUV later.

Howard, though, has a quick smile and seems to like dealing with people. At some point soon, I could see him having a very broad, Shaq-like appeal.

Is it that hard for people? Seems to me like it's spelled just like it sounds. Moving on ... Hedo Turkoglu recently gave an interesting intrerview with HoopsWorld in which he talked about several things, including the apparent leadership void on the Magic:

When you first made it into the NBA I remember your first dinner with Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac...Vlade was there in Sacramento to help teach and lead the young players. With all the young players you have now, who is Orlando's Vlade Divac?

"We don't have him. They made a team behind Dwight Howard, and he is a kid. This team was built for him. We of course have Grant Hill, and he sometimes has great games, but we are not consistent. If we can teach that to our kids, we would be ok. Its hard to play without Divac on your team, but its not easy to find something like that. They made a team for Howard and Nelson, and since i have been in this league for a while, I sometimes really want to take that roll (sic) of a leader."

Is Orlando OK with that idea? Are they going in that direction to let you be more of a leader?

"I have been in the league for a while. They are telling me they want me to show up everyday and they want the kids on the team to look up to me and my work ethic. That's what they are saying."

Reading between the lines (which is always completely safe and responsible!), it sounds like Turkoglu is taking a mild shot at Orlando's management. But then again, why does he need permission to take on a leadership role? Either the team respects a guy or they don't, and I imagine that's largely determined by how he carries himself in the locker room and whether he chooses to speak up when needed.

It's probably a little premature to be talking free agency, but there's some interesting news on the Darko front. A starter for much of March, the punchline of the 2003 Draft has shown some serious flashes. Orlando wants to keep him, and yet you can count on several other teams vying for his services.

So what do the Magic do with their enigmatic big man? They send him to the bench. From Florida Today:

Darko Milicic lost his job in the starting lineup because of injury, but the Orlando Magic power forward said he doesn't fear the demotion will hurt him this summer when he becomes a free agent...

"It just happens that I couldn't play the same night that Tony was coming back because of my back injury," Milicic said. "I'm starting to get my minutes back now coming off the bench. I'm not worried about (the demotion). I just want to help this team get into the playoffs. That's all I'm thinking about now."

Darko is supposedly okay with it, but also "hopes losing his starting job won't affect his free-agent appeal." Which brings up the obvious question: do you keep a young player around by benching him? This move by the Orlando staff isn't going to tell other teams anything they didn't already know; it's not like they're concealing him from would-be suitors. They just don't seem to get the (restricted) free in "free agency."

There's still another month left in the season, but it's probably safe to say that we'll find out this week whether or not the Magic can sneak into the playoffs.

They're currently holding onto the eighth seed by a thread, and they'll either fortify their position or slip out of the picture when they face the seventh-seeded Nets tonight, the 10th-seeded Knicks on Monday and the ninth-seeded Pacers next Friday. All four of those teams are separated by just one game in the standings.

It's going to be an uphill battle with little margin of history, and if the Magic can't pull it off their futility will go down in history. From the Orlando Sentinel:

Although the other three teams have had their struggles throughout, the Magic easily have fallen the farthest from an early season high. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no team in NBA history that started with a record as good as theirs (13-4) has failed to reach the playoffs.

"In some ways, you're saying to yourself, 'do we deserve to be in that [playoff] spot?' " said Magic General Manager Otis Smith. "But do any of those teams deserve to be in a playoff spot? If we get one of the eight seeds, we're playoff worthy."

So can the Magic pull it out? Chances are they'll need a lot of help -- they haven't won consecutive games in seven weeks. That's not exactly reassuring for a team hanging onto postseason dreams by a thread.

How are we supposed to refer to Orlando's season? They opened the season 13-4 but have since posted an 18-33 season. I mean, after sucking for three they've sucked for two-thirds of the season, it's really too long to say they've "faded," right? Aren't they just a bad team that got lucky in the beginning?

In any case, one theory behind Orlando's "fade" (or "slide" or "regression to the mean" or whatever you want to call it) is that the team got burned out by coach Brian Hill intensity. Whether that's fair or not (the Magic have also dealt with more than their fair share of injuries), now that Orlando has officially slipped out of the playoff picture, there's no denying that Hill's temper is close to a boiling point. After losing to the Kings Saturday night, he had a short fuse Sunday morning. From the Orlando Sentinel:

[W]hen all-star center Dwight Howard was late for the team plane, bound for Miami and Sunday's game against the Heat, Hill had had enough.

He was so upset he basically advised the pilot to put the wheels up and leave Howard behind.

Of course, most of Hill's anger was in frustration and to send a message to Howard.

No way he was going to leave Howard in Orlando and have the Magic face Shaq without him.

According to witnesses, Hill told the pilot, "Let's go!" as Howard pulled up close to the tarmac and was scrambling to make the flight.

Apparently, at least one player quickly got off the plane and said he had left something in his car, a tactic to stall for Howard.

I'm curious who tried to bail out Howard -- I'm guessing it had to be a veteran whom Hill respects too much to scapegoat. Grant Hill? Bo Outlaw? In any case, Howard seems like the most unlikely candidate to finally make Hill explode. I'm sure he's young and makes his share of mistakes, but by all accounts he's an earnest hard worker and one of the best personalities in the entire league. Is going out of the way to make an example out of Howard really the best way to get the team on your side? GM Otis Smith has already given Hill his vote of confidence, but I'm not so sure he'll make it to next season, let alone the remaining three years on his contract.

Unlike his former teammates at Duke, J.J. Redick is still playing. Or finally playing, really. He's been glued to the bench and out of the rotation for much of the season, but it looks like he's finally moved past Keith Bogans to be Grant Hill's primary backup. From Brian Schmitz in the Orlando Sentinel:

There was the DUI charge, the back injury, the foot injury. . . and he found himself far behind. He had resigned himself to trying to make the best of it and learning all he could at practice, circling next season.

But one of college basketball's most decorated players finally broke through. Armed with one of the sweetest jumpers in the game -- pro or college --- Redick has given the points-challenged Magic an outside scoring threat.

That's not the only big change in Orlando's rotation, as backup point guard Carlos Arroyo has also been passed over by Keyon Dooling, leading to speculation that Arroyo will be traded in the offseason. In fact, don't be surprised if the Magic make a play for a big-name point guard, as Jameer Nelson hasn't exactly impressed in the starting lineup, either, and may not get the contract extension everyone figured was already in the bag.

As a Pistons fan, a big part of me still thinks it's weird to see Grant Hill in an Orlando Magic jersey. That's weird, right? I mean, the guy left Detroit seven years ago. Even so, I don't think it's just me being overly nostalgic, considering how few games he's actually played for the Magic.

We all know Hill's injury history so this shouldn't be too surprising, but this still boggles my mind: did you realize that Hill hasn't been able to finish a season healthy since 1999-2000? Ironically, that was the year he led the Pistons into the playoffs, only to lose in the first round to the Heat.

I bring up because it seems the time is nigh for Hill's annual early vacation, wouldn't you say? He's missed the last three games with an injured left foot, suffering from arthritis as well as a small cyst. However, he's hoping to buck his history with the Magic by actually returning this time, perhaps as soon as tonight. He's most likely not returning to the starting lineup, though, as coach Brian Hill is leaning toward starting Keith Bogans and bringing Grant off the bench.

It's a role I hope Hill embraces, not just this year but in the future. Hill hasn't said whether he intends to play or retire next year, but he's a guy I'd like to see latch on to a contender and offer 15-20 minutes off the bench. Otherwise, it'd be a shame for a guy who started his career with such promise to limp out of the game, most likely (pending this year's results) without ever having made it past the first-round of the playoffs.

Based on how they finished last season and the hot start they enjoyed this year, the Orlando Magic at one point looked like legitimate playoff contenders. Lately ... not so much. They lost for the fifth time in six games since the All-Star break on Wednesday to fall into ninth place in the Eastern Conference, on the outside looking in to the playoff race for the first time in a long while.

Complicating matters even more so, Grant Hill left Wednesday's game with yet another foot injury. From the Orlando Sentinel:

Adding to the problem was yet another injury to Grant Hill, who left late in the second quarter and never returned because of a sore left foot, a problem that has lingered through much of the season. ...

"It's sore on the top of my midfoot. A couple of days rest and it should be all right,'' Hill said as he limped out of the locker room. "It was bothering me before the game, and I tried to get it loose. It's actually been bothering me, and I've been getting treatment for it most of the season. Hopefully, I can get it ready for the weekend.''

The Magic will play Friday in San Antonio and Saturday in Dallas. Although the team said he is questionable, it's likely that he won't play again until next week when they return home Monday against Milwaukee.

Not to sell the team short, but do you really think they stand a chance on the road against the Spurs and the Mavs without Hill? The Knicks trail the Magic by only a couple of games, and considering the Magic have won just six of their last 23 games, there's no reason to think they won't catch them.

Adding insult to injury, even if the Magic do sneak into the playoffs, they'll probably be no better than the No. 8 seed, which means they'd probably have a first-round matchup against Detroit. Not only would the series be brief, but there really wouldn't be anything to look forward to since the Pistons also own the rights to Orlando's first-round pick, assuming it's not in the top five.