Vince Carter - First time Conference Finalist. When his play was decent against Boston, Orlando lost anyway. When he played poorly, the team won.
He's helpless on defense and clutchless on offense, and yet he's due $17.3 million next season. It's the last year of his contract, so maybe a team will trade for him halfway through the season as a roster/ salary cap move.
I didn't think he would make the Magic the best team in the league, but I thought he was better than Hedo Turkoglu, who he basically replaced. The reality is that Carter was a step back from Orlando's roster with Turkoglu*. Vince proved me wrong.
Carter's defining career moment happened when he played on Spawn of Dream Team. He jumped over Frenchman Frederic Weis on a dunk that scared France's Weis from following through on his plans to play in the NBA. Not a Lithuanian, Russian or even Argentinian or Spaniard. A Frenchman.
On his biggest real basketball stage against NBA champs like the Celtics, Carter missed clutch free throws, he had back to back 1-9 and 3-10 nights from the floor, and his defense was weak throughout.
Half-man Half-Amazing is now Half-Inconsistent Half-Inefficient.
White Chocolate. This season, Jason Williams gave the Magic a boost from the erratic existence of Rafer Alston. He's the only Magic player who has an NBA ring. He's still got a nice jump shot and still has handles.
Damn if he didn't look old on that hustle play by Rondo. At least he bounced right back after the game with this gem in the locker room.
Williams is a free agent. Last year he made $1.3 million, tied for lowest on the Magic with never used reserve Adonal Foyle. Somebody will definitely pay more for partially aged White Chocolate. Orlando will likely let 3rd string vet Anthony Johnson go. They should pay Williams more and get a dirt cheap 3rd stringer.
Matt Barnes. The best Kobe Stopper in the NBA right now. He can opt out of his $1.6 million contract this off-season.
Barnes is a 30 year old defensive specialist. He's ready to enter the Bruce Bowen years of his career by finding that solid team that'll give him a multi-year deal and security in exchange for endless hustle and mayhem night after night. With Dwight Howard dominating the paint on defense, the Magic would do well to bring Barnes back to patrol the perimeter.
Dwight Howard. He's not superman, but he is the best center in the NBA. That's not saying that much considering that Shaq is a shell and Yao will be lucky to play 25 minutes a night for the rest of his career. Even so, Howard is the driving force for the Magic because of his dominant defense.
The Magic need to do everything possible to assemble a team that exploits the defensive greatness of Dwight Howard. His powerful physical presence and borderline dirty play in the paint will take them further than relying on scoring from Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter.
The main mistake Orlando should avoid this off-season is overpaying J.J. Redick. He played well at times against the Celtics, but he also made the bone headed play of the series in crunch time of game 2 by forgetting to call time out before advancing the ball.
Redick is a quality guy off the bench, but that's about it. Besides, he's a Dukee and the only recent NBA ring any of Coach K's drones have won is Danny Ferry, master 12th man for the Spurs in 2003.
If Redick wants to break some team's bank, let him go with the cursed Clippers.
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The Magic took a step back this season. But at least Dwight has another way to remember Nate besides this view.
*Thanx CJD02
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