By DavidKaye
This season under head coach Brian Hill the Orlando Magic have shown signs of returning to a successful NBA team. The Magic are currently 10-4 and have the best record in the Eastern Conference . They lead last seasons NBA champions the Miami Heat by 4.5 games in the division and seem to finally be bonding together as a strong cohesive unit.
Orlando is lead by forward Dwight Howard who is turning into the most feared big man in the game today and point guard Jameer Nelson who does a magnificent job in leading the Magic offense. Last season, the Magic showed signs of improvement after they won eight straight games and twelve in a row at home. Still, their success was too late as they missed out on the playoffs, but they have transferred what they learned last year to a winning product this year.
Finally, Jameer Nelson has the opportunity to be the starting point guard and he has flourished playing next to Dwight Howard. He is enjoying a career year in shooting at 55% from the field, 43.5% from beyond the ark and has contributed 14.7 PPG. When you take his numbers and combine it with Howard, who at the age of twenty is averaging 16.4PPG, 13.5 RPB, 1.9 BPG and is shooting a spectacular 56.8% from the field, the Orlando Magic have become a team to reckon with.
It's fascinating what these two young men have been able to accomplish in such a short time and it's even more startling to fathom what their capable of doing as they progress. The Magic have quality players surrounding Nelson and Howard in Hedo Turkoglu, Grant Hill, sharp shooter J.J. Redick and Darko Milicic. Now, many people might laugh at the prospect of having Milicic, but the prime reason why he struggled in Detroit was because of his lack of playing time, not lack of talent. Many people around basketball have noted that if Milicic can transform into the player he's capable of being, the Magic could have another example of the twin towers. This reference is related to what the Spurs had with David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
Only time will tell, but if Orlando continues to draft and trade well they will see themselves in the playoffs for many years to come. It seems as if the days of going 21-61 and 36-46 are over and now they will be consistently be over .500. Granted, the Magic play in a weak division and the perennial power house of the division the Miami Heat have gotten off to a sluggish start, but there's no reason to believe that the Magic will relinquish that top spot any time soon. They are currently 7-1 at home and are on a three game winning streak. Their upcoming five game trip to the west coast which starts tonight against another surprising team the Utah Jazz, will be the true test of where the Magic stand. If they can survive that, then I will consider the Magic as the class of the Eastern Conference.
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