Small Market. New coach. New GM.

The Orlando Magic, after what has felt half a year for Magic fans, have finally hired a new coach in Jacque Vaughn. I'm going to have to learn how to spell that correctly very soon. Quick question, who is Jacque Vaughn? Well....he used to be an NBA player. He even played for the Magic at one point during the Heart and Hustle days of the early 2000's when contracts were coming in and out and it always felt like a new face was on the roster. But the reason I think he was hired and the reason I like this hire is because he was an assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs.

The Magic are a small market. Orlando is not Miami, it's not New York, and it's not L.A. Despite that the Magic have had a history of being able to lure free agents to Orlando. Horace Grant, Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill, almost Tim Duncan, and Rashard Lewis. All guys who had offers from multiple teams (Horace Grant from a team that had just won a championship in the Bulls) and they chose Orlando. The Magic however are currently losing Dwight Howard because they are a small market. So when you're a small market who has a history of signing free agents but can't hold onto your superstars because you're a small market what do you do? You copy the other small markets in the Association.

I love the hires of Rob Hennigan, from Oklahoma City, as GM and Jacque Vaughn, as head coach, from San Antonio. Alex Martins, who I strongly criticized for firing Stan Van Gundy, wisely hired a GM from the current best team in the Western Conference in OKC, and then that GM turned right around and hired a guy from the 2nd most successful team that same conference who is the model of consistency in the NBA. Both teams happen to be small markets. If there are two small markets in the NBA you want to be like it's OKC and SA.

With these hires it looks like Orlando wants to copy OKC and SA but I don't think that's what they're going to do. FA's don't usually go to SA and are unlikely to want to go to OKC. This separates Orlando from these two franchises because of it's history of being able to nab FA's. With Orlando following the OKC/SA formula and having the ability to sign FA's I'm very interested to see if they create their own style that other small markets are going to want to copy in the future. Time will tell and I can easily say I'm excited to see what that future beholds.

Stats on Stats on Stats

(David Becker/Getty Images)

By Demarcus 'Doc' Robinson

Everyone is excited about Anthony Davis for reason or another. Long arms, a trademark unibrow, blocked shots, mysterious offensive potential, etc. But I'm interested in something different, but familiar since it will involve all of his skill sets.

5x5 stat lines y'all!

For the more casual readers a 5x5 is when a player racks up five in five categories - points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocks. Technically turnovers would count, but that's the bad kind. This is the funnest of all the stat occurrences. It's not only the one that puts the biggest smile on my face, it's also amongst the rarest. Many casual fans are familiar with double-doubles and triple-doubles, and are awed by the display of either. Triple-doubles, in particular, hold a sort of lore with more seasoned fans at times even. Oscar Robertson, Jason Kidd, LeBron James and Rajon Rondo have all progressed the fondness of the episode through repeated displays. Conversely, the 5x5 has lived mostly in the shadow while only displaying its greatness ever so often.

There are only 14 5x5 games to date in NBA history, and of those one man is responsible for nearly half of them. Hakeem 'The Dream' Olajuwon. Dream is responsible for six of the mystifying anomalies. His 5x5s weren't just that, they were other worldly. This is saying something when the accomplishment itself is very rare. One of Olajuwon's 5x5s looked like this: 38 points, 17 rebounds, 12 blocks, seven steals and six assists. Another registered as such: 29 points, 18 rebounds, 11 blocks, five steals and nine assists. Take a second and let that marinate.

The other eight entries belong to the following players: Andrei Kirilenko (3x), David Robinson, Derrick Coleman, Vlade Divac, Jamal Tinsley and Marcus Camby. Look at that list, there's no Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, LeBron James or etc on that list. Tons of great players who, at first thought, you would assume had at least one such game. You would especially assume a guy like KG would have racked up one during his long and amazing career. Nope. There have been a number of close calls with players falling one short in one or two categories, but close doesn't cut it with the 5x5.

There are currently veteran players who could add the accomplishment to their long list of accolades, but we're not here for them. I just want 5x5s from Davis, he of the unibrow. He stands 6'10.5" (in shoes), has a 7'5.5" wingspan, and a 9' reach. Combine those physical measurements with his obvious athletic skill. He's not running around tripping over his own two feet, but instead he's very coordinated and knows what to do with his abilities. He's a great shot blocker because of his body, but more so because he knows how to anticipate. He just has a feel for that and defense. He grabs rebounds as well. With those long limbs he should be able to pester passing lanes as well to snatch away lazy passes. He'll also anticipate good passes and take those away as well.

On the flip side there's offense, and he's not really hurting in that department. Davis can score, and doesn't feel uncomfortable with the ball like some big men. This can be attributed to him being a guard before his defining growth spurt. I'm not sure how adept he is at passing, but a player of his level can certainly stumble into five assists. It's not like he's Nick Young or anything.

I won't say Davis gets a 5x5 his rookie season, but I'll go ahead and say there's a good chance he notches one this upcoming season. Going forward as he hones his skills and picks up on little nuances within the game he may be able to challenge the six put up by Dream. Ambitious on my part? Absolutely, but it's a fun stat and I want to see it. There's the saddening possibility that Davis comes up short in his my quest for the near mythical stat. Look at the elephant graveyard littered with failed attempts by those who were fully capable of the deed.

I just hope Davis doesn't donate his humiliated bones to the graveyard as well. If he did it would be a true Sadderday.
 

When is it okay to change teams?

So this Jeremy Lin thing sure has gotten out of hand huh? Every time I think Dwight Howard has created more news and headlines than anybody possibly can James Dolan manages to out do him. Maybe Dolan loves the spotlight? I don't know but the Knicks have done a good job this season creating headlines but this one has sent Knicks fans into a fury. Their fans are just straight up done with James Dolan. They're sick of him and some are even considering going over to the dark side and becoming Brooklyn Nets fans. Some Knicks fans are calling these people traitors but I say, why not? If you hate the owner enough then go ahead and switch teams but no flip flopping. Nobody likes flip flopping. Just ask Magic fans. That said though. This notion that somebody isn't allowed to change allegiances to a team is kind of silly. You should be able to be a fan of whoever you want to be a fan of. It's dumb to say somebody isn't allowed to change the team they like. If you want to stop cheering for your current team and cheer for somebody else just because you think the uniforms are cooler then you go right ahead. Nobody should tell you otherwise. However if the team you're cheering for is losing and the team you left for is winning the fans of the team you left are allowed to poke fun at you. Sorry it comes with the switch.

When you change teams you can come off looking bad in the eyes of other sports fans. You can't be a "die hard" OKC fan or Miami fan next season without looking like a bandwagoner. You won't be able to avoid it. But this is easily negated. If you were a fan of Washington or Sacramento and you're fed up with constant losing and bad management/ownership then it's okay to start cheering for one of the winning teams but to avoid being seen as the bandwagoner you have to stick with that team. No switching over when that team starts losing and another team starts to win. Stick with the team you pick and ride it out.

Fan switches happen all the time it's not really that rare and I'm sure some fans feel like someone is a "traitor" if they would ever leave the team and become a fan somewhere else but what if ownership is terrible? These Knicks fans who want to become Brooklyn fans aren't doing it because of Jay-Z, the Russian owner who's name I have a really hard time spelling, and the black and white logo. No they're switching over cause they are sick of James Dolan running their favorite team into the ground all the time. If these fans want to switch that's fine by me. If you ever want to switch teams it's fine by me. You are allowed to cheer for whoever you want for whatever reason you want. Just have a better reason than the colors.

The "I'm not happy" Demand

GM's expect it. Fans of the team fear it. Fans of potential destinations such as New York or Los Angeles want it. The dreaded "I'm not happy" or "We need to get better soon", or even worse "I want to be traded", demand from the superstar of your favorite team. As a Magic fan I know this all too well dealing with Dwight Howard and T-Mac in my short lifespan. I guess you can say this is a part of the NBA and all you need to do is win to prevent it. But I'm not so sure that's the case.

Kevin Love has informed the Minnesota Timberwolves and the world that he is tired of losing in Minnesota and that they need to fix that problem now. An understandable complaint that anybody should be able to understand. Kevin Love is a fantastic player and he's never got to experience much winning in his career. I have to ask this though. Is announcing this really going to make your team better Kevin? Especially when most people already knew you felt this way. Your General Manager David Kahn has not shown in his past to be a very good or competent GM. Did you take into consideration that hearing this news and the shortness of your contract that Kahn, who surprisingly has made some very good strides this offseason to make the team better, will instead panic and make moves to win as soon as possible that will end up backfiring and leading to your eventual departure? This is almost something to be expected now. Keep paying attention to the headlines because it's very likely that Kahn will make a panic move.

I make this case because there are two GM's in particular that I can think of that when they realized their superstar might be on the outs they panicked and made questionable moves. Danny Ferry of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Otis Smith of the Orlando Magic. I obviously know more about the Magic so I'll start there.

Otis Smith in my eyes was not the awful GM everybody made him out to be. Orlando was coming off its first taste of the playoffs in a long time after getting the 8 seed and being swept in the first round. Otis Smith then made the move to fire coach Brian Hill, hire Stan Van Gundy, and offered Rashard Lewis so much money there was no way he wouldn't come to Orlando. He also decided to keep the inconsistent Hedo Turkoglu around. The 2008 season was the most successful season for the team since the Shaq and Penny days. They got out of the first round and were again beat by the Detroit Pistons. He then drafted Courtney Lee and signed Mickael Pietrus. Turk had a breakout season in 2009 and with a huge playoff performance by Pietrus and the defense of Courtney Lee the Magic reached the NBA Finals. They lost to the Lakers. Otis Smith then traded Courtney Lee and other Magic players for Vince Carter and Otis matched the offer for Marcin Gortat. The 2010 Orlando Magic were born and boy were they dominant. The Magic lost in the ECF that year and Otis Smith never made another right move ever again. He over paid players and made an awful trade in the middle of the 2011 season. Dwight asked for a trade at the beginning of the 2012 season which only made Otis panic more. He resigned Jason Richardson to a big unnecessary contract and he signed for Glen "Big Baby" Davis to another big contract. Otis resigned at the end of the 2012 season (many believed he was going to be fired) and this left the team in shambles. Even if Dwight did want to come back he would be coming back to an awful team of players who are being paid way too much.

This now leads me to Danny Ferry and the Cleveland Cavaliers. I had to ask FeartheSword writer Conrad Kaczmarek for help on this one and he directed me to this article.

http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2012/6/25/3116259/danny-ferry-hawks-gm-reaction

I really suggest you go read that. It explains the whole Cleveland Cavaliers situation with Lebron and Danny Ferry and some of the mistakes they made when Ferry panicked.

Now obviously GM's should be able to handle this pressure. Danny Ferry should have been able to handle the fact that Lebron wants to leave and still made smart moves. Otis Smith also panicked at the thought of losing Dwight and this lead to his eventual resignation from the team. I'm not saying it's Lebron or Dwight's fault that their GM's panicked and made the wrong moves. It is the job of the GM to make the right moves under any circumstances. This is just evidence to Kevin Love and any future superstars that telling your GM's so early into your contract that you "want to win now" can lead to unnecessary panic earlier than it should be. Of course the best GM's don't panic but those are a rarity in the NBA. Let the GM do their job and you do yours.

Trolled by a Canadian

There's no time like Showtime someone that's not famous once said. Last season there was Show(ish)time in the Staples Center, but all of the hoopla belonged to CP3 and his merry band of dunkers. While the Clippers had obvious holes, they were at least fun to watch at times. The Lakers on the other hand had holes galore and weren't really fun to watch. One of the main reasons for the lack of fun was the lack of a noteworthy point-guard.

Independence Day certainly brought fireworks to the lives of  Kobe Lakers' fans. The purple & gold swathed front office was able to turn four future draft picks into an elite passer & shooter with the skills to pull the Lakers' offense out of the doldrums. The monetary cost of Nash will be a three year, $25 million or more contract. This puts the team miles over the salary cap, but that's the price of winning when you have Kobe Bryant on the books. As a fan of the Bulls I really don't care about their salary situation or that they can outspend most teams. I care about seeing Nash try to accomplish a few things.

Firstly, I want to see how well Kobe & Nash will mesh together. I actually think they'll play together better than a lot of people are predicting. Yes Kobe loves to have the ball in his hands, yes he loves to chuck contested 22 footers and yes he loves to operate in a way that makes Pau Gasol's talents negligible. But Kobe has shown he can be quite deadly when scoring after finding space without the ball. Nash pulling the strings should give the man of a thousand glares plenty of opportunities to free himself on screens for uncontested shots. Kobe, in my opinion, will relish the opportunity to score in easier ways and in more creative ways.

Just imagine Nash bringing the ball up while playing conductor at the top of the key. He uses an initial screen to weave his way into the lane, and meanwhile Kobe has just found himself open for a 18 foot jumper. Nash gets all the way to the basket only to shoot a laser beam to an open Mamba. Swish (I hope). So that's one area where the offense could vastly improve in comparison to this past season.

Another area would be consistent involvement of the Lakers' duo of Bynum and Gasol. Everyone wanted more offense to be funneled through these guys, but many nights those cries fell on deaf ears. Sometimes it was the fault of the seven footers, and other times the blame laid on the uncreative shoulders of Mike Brown. Then there were plenty of times when Kobe just forgot about them in the second half. Even if they were rolling in the first half he'd start gunning as the game wore on.

I want to see an obscene amount of Pau/Nash pick & rolls. Gasol moves well enough to make this a fantastic situation. He can also be affective from outside of the paint. The thing that could present a problem for Nash's effectiveness is spacing. The Lakers can crowd open lanes which is a detriment to the dazzling Canadian.

Outside of superb distribution Nash will provide reliable shooting from all zones on the floor. The most obvious plus will be the three point shooting of the sharpshooting Nash. I fully expect him to shoot 40 percent or a little above from three during the upcoming season. Defenses will have a lot to worry about with Kobe, Pau and Gasol on the floor. There will be times Nash will be the forgotten man or plenty of other times his man will be late rotating back to him after some ball movement. As trigger happy as Kobe is, he's an adept passer who will find Nash on the parameter after drawing defenders. Gasol is a very capable passer in his own right as well. Unlike Bynum, Gasol knows how to recognize and pass out of a double-team. More chances for Nash. If the defense becomes befuddled enough it could lead to Gasol finishing around the rim with less opposition.

Now let's assume for a second that L.A. has just traded Bynum for Dwight. The offense can be sped up a bit more to suit Nash's tastes. It won't resemble a seven seconds or less offense, but it would probably look more spry than one including the plodding behemoth Bynum. The defense would would also improve in this scenario. I won't go into what that means for Nash/Westbrook match-ups or any of that stuff, because there was no one on the Lakers stopping Russ last year anyways. There are going to be guards that beat Nash, it's the way nature works in the NBA. Nash lessens that by opening up the offensive attack of the Lakers.

I think all of these things are surely attainable with a PG like Nash running the team. What remains to be seen is if Mike Brown will put the players around Nash and Kobe in better positions to utilize all of this. Allow Steve Nash to do what he has done the past eight years in Phoenix, and things can go smoothly. He doesn't have to be a world beater to make this work, but he does need plenty of rope with the team. Kobe should be salivating at the chance to still score and chuck it, but be in a position where he's not draped with defenders every time.

The most important thing for Steve Nash might be putting this behind him:

When should a jersey be retired?

When should you retire a jersey? What are the qualifications for retiring a jersey? Should the guy be a fan favorite? Do they have to be an all time great? Did they need to win a championship? These are all questions that any fan, player, or team must ask themselves if a jersey is to be retired. This came up the other day while I was talking to fellow ClutchJeans writer Bo Churney about Joe Johnson. He believes Johnson's number 2 jersey should be hanging from the rafters one day. I disagreed saying Dominique set a bar that Joe hasn't even come close to achieving. Of course I am not a fan of the Hawks so I can't really give a great view point. I can however give one on the Magic. A team that has never retired a jersey for a player. They have retired the number 6 in honor of the fans being the sixth man. But some people believe that the Magic have players who's numbers should be retired. I will go over each player's case and decide if their number should be retired or not. I will judge them based on many factors but I will point out two key moments of each players career. A notorious moment that hurts them and a great achievement.

Nick Anderson-SG-#25
Most Notorious moment-Missed 4 consecutive free throws in the 95 Finals.
Greatest Achievement-Stole the ball from Michael Jordan in the 95 Eastern Semis
Mr.Magic himself Nick Anderson. This guy has been around since the very start and fans love him. He was the 3rd guy on those great Magic teams in the mid 90's behind Penny and Shaq. Now he works in the Orlando front office. A prime candidate for a retired jersey.
I am one of those who believe Nick should have his jersey retired because of everything he's done for Orlando. He was their first draft pick, he was a huge factor for the team in the 90's, and now he's in the front office. He may as well come full circle and be our first retired jersey.

Penny Hardaway-PG-#1
Most Notorious moment-Led a player coup and got Brian Hill fired
Greatest Achievement-His entire career up to the 95-96 season
Penny Hardaway the posterboy of "what could have been" spent a huge majority of his career dealing with injuries to his ankle. Penny was shot in the ankle by a stray bullet his freshman year of college and many believe this is why he had ankle injuries throughout his career. While with Orlando he regularly averaged over 20 points a game and led them to many winning seasons. He was the right hand man to Shaq and was a national icon. It's sad to think how great he would have been if the injuries hadn't happened.
Penny shouldn't have his jersey retired. As much as I hate to say it he only spent 6 years with Orlando (6 great years) but he did a lot of bad in the coup of Brian Hill and he just wasn't a factor after Shaq left because of the injuries. We can revisit this later but I don't see this changing.

Shaquille O'Neal-C-#32
Most Notorious moment-Left Orlando for LA
Greatest Achievement-Well...this should be enough

Shaq arguably the greatest player to ever play in Orlando. He was the number one overall pick in 1992 and the years he was there he was THE GUY. After they put Penny next to him a championship seemed assured.  At least it was assured till Shaq left for LA and became public enemy number 1 in the eyes of Orlando. With every championship he won and every dominant performance he had Orlando fans got angrier because "that could have been us" they screamed and of course Shaq didn't make it any better burning down every bridge he could.
No Shaq's number should not be required. Yes he's probably the best player who ever played in Orlando and yes he was dominant but when he really made a name for himself when everybody knew he was going to be an all time great was in LA not in Orlando. Sorry Shaq ask again in 5 years and maybe my mind will be changed.

Tracy Mcgrady-#1-SG
Most Notorious moment-Ugh. I could put so much here but this defines it all

Greatest Moment-Can I use the same video twice? No? Okay. Carrying Orlando to the playoffs in 2003
Tracy was amazing. One can only imagine how good those Orlando teams would have been if Grant Hill had been healthy and management had put good players around him. Instead they did things like trade away Mike Miller after he won rookie of the year and sign old washed up veterans such as Shawn Kemp and Patrick Ewing. Tracy did so many amazing things for Orlando on offense and defense with the help of coach Doc Rivers of course. Go look at the rosters Tracy played with from 2000-2004. Look at the numbers he put up and everything he did for the team. He gave everything to Orlando and they gave nothing back.
Unfortunately as much as it pains me to say it I don't think Tracy will ever have his number retired in Orlando. 4 amazing years were spent in Orlando but that's it. Only 4. In that time Tracy put up amazing numbers but at the same time he said things like "It feels good to be in the 2nd round" after going up 3-1 against the top seeded Pistons and then not closing it out. See the video again. Tracy also burned some bridges when he left but time heals all wounds. I just don't see it happening nor can I really support it.

Dwight Howard-C-12
No...just no. Not even gonna bother. Ask me in like 10 years.

So I only said Nick Anderson should have his number retired and he wasn't even the Magic's best player. Well you can make a case for why Nick shouldn't have his number retired for that reason. But as you see the 4 best players to ever play for Orlando Tracy, Shaq, Penny and Dwight. 3 of them burned bridges on their way out (one is burning the whole team as I write this) and the other was injured half the time. So you can see why Orlando has no retired numbers. But what should be the requirements on any team for a retired number? However I think it's safe to say that the star player who leads Orlando to that first illusive championship will have their number retired. This also might open it up for more retired numbers. For now though that number 6 for the fans will remain lonely.

Nets Gonna Net

As I imagine you may have heard, The Brooklyn Nets recently made a trade that sent Anthony Morrow, Jordan Farmar, Jordan Williams, Johan Petro, and DeShawn Stevenson, and a lottery protected first round pick to Atlanta for the talented, but wildly overpaid Joe Johnson. For Atlanta, I liked the deal well enough. They got an eventual first round pick, and they were able to dump the huge mistake of a signing that was Joe Johnson. Not that they shouldn't have tried to get him back, but not for the biggest deal in the league. For a guy that is (was?) unaffectionately known as "Iso-Joe" throughout the Atlanta area, making him the highest paid guy in the league isn't really the desired outcome. But, with new GM Danny Ferry in charge, they were able to dump that contract, get some cap room, and also nab a first round pick to help rebuild in the future. Good for them.

But, for the Nets, I (for whatever you think my opinion is worth) am not exactly fond of the deal. From a purely basketball perspective, it makes sense. Joe Johnson is a good scorer, and is a top 7 SG in the league. He can create for himself off the dribble as well as shoot the ball fairly well. After you get past his scoring ability, he can become pretty one-dimensional though.

But, unfortunately for the Nets, this deal cannot be viewed from only a basketball perspective. It has to also be viewed from a look at the salary cap. The acquisition of Joe Johnson puts Brooklyn over the cap, and pretty much takes away their ability to take on any other free agents (other than re-signing Deron Williams, someone for a $1.9 million exception, and whatever they want for a vet's minimum) for at least this year. Being cap-locked is never a good situation to be in as a team, but it's even worse considering the situation they are currently in also.

You see, they are the leading team on Dwight Howard's wish list. For those of you living under a rock the past few days, after waffling more than Eggo, opting into the last year of his contract, and getting his coach fired in the process (not to mention making many Magic fans hate him), Dwight Howard has requested a trade, and various sources around the league have come out and said that the Brooklyn Nets are the only team on his list that he wants to play for.

The problem with this, is that the Nets are really in no position to make a great deal for Howard at this time. The best thing they can offer consists of Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, and several future first round draft picks. However, Lopez and Humphries would have to agree to sign-and-trade deals, and on top of that, due to the cap reasons, they would have to have a third team involved to make the trade work. It's all very speculative right now, and if you're the Brooklyn Nets right now, you cannot be happy with the current situation. What is even worse is that if the Nets hadn't traded for Johnson, they could not only put together a package for Dwight Howard (they would also have to take Hedo Turkoglu's contract, which is also more unlikely after the Johnson deal), but, if Orlando decides not to move Howard, they would still have enough cap room to give him a great deal in next year's free agency.

But since they rushed to trade for Johnson, they have lost all leverage in the deal, and it's now in Orlando's favor. Brooklyn could have waited to make sure that the Dwight deal got done, then used whatever other assets it had to get Johnson after that deal was done. In fact, none of the assets used for the Johnson deal were ever talked about for Howard, so it's very possible that they could have done the same deal, just later on in the calendar year.

But, alas, even though they have changed geographically, the Nets' mindset is still the same, led by their fearless GM, Billy King. In a classic Nets move, they were worried that Deron Williams would not come back to the team (he still could leave, which could leave them even worse off), so they panic-traded for an overpaid former All-Star who is known as "Iso-Joe". They should have been more patient, told Williams that they were working their butts off to get him a new toy in Howard, and that they could probably also gotten Joe. If the deal for Howard didn't get done in a timely matter, then they could have gone this route as a "Plan B" type option.

However, the Nets went with the contingency plan instead, and guaranteed themselves a lesser upgrade in Johnson, but they may have very well screwed themselves out of getting the best center currently in the league. But now the Magic hold all the cards. It's still possible that the Nets get Howard, but it's not more likely than any other option. The Magic could keep the Nets from becoming a contender in a couple of ways. They can either trade Howard to another team, if they feel they have a better offer (as of this writing their target seems to be Andrew Bynum). They could also just make Howard play out the year, and then due to the salary cap, the Nets wouldn't have enough money to get him.

For now though, it seems as though Howard won't be in Brooklyn any time soon. But, we shall wait and see. Anything is possible, but, as always, Nets fans shouldn't get their hopes up. I just hope that for their own sake the Nets figure out that patience is a virtue and that they learn to exhaust all of their best options before panicking and moving on to a contingency plan.