Denton: Magic-Blazers Notes
Denton: Magic-Blazers Notes
By John Denton
January 15, 2010
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy and Rashard Lewis met on Thursday to discuss the standout power forward’s frustration over his lack of shots in the offense of late. What came from the session was the thought that both of them have some work to do to ease the frustration and keep Lewis more engaged in the offense in the future.
Lewis didn’t play in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s win in Sacramento and got just nine shots in Wednesday’s loss in Denver. After the game, he vented that some of the Magic’s reserve players were getting more shots than him and that he planned to talk to Van Gundy about the matter.
``For all of us, we need to find more shots for our key guys,’’ Van Gundy said. ``But part of it is the defense, especially on Rashard. And part of it is his energy and aggressiveness. I talked to him for quite awhile (on Thursday) and I think he’s frustrated. I think that’s a bit of a problem and there’s sort of this frustration running through our entire team.’’
Lewis entered Friday’s game in Portland third on the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game. That’s off dramatically from the 17.7 points that he averaged last season and the 18.2 points he averaged in his first season in Orlando.
FRUSTRATED FEELING: Van Gundy picked up on one line in Lewis’ postgame rant that he thought was prevalent throughout the Magic. When Lewis remarked that ``it feels like we’re a last-place team,’’ Van Gundy believes the weight of expectations have hurt the Magic this season.
On the one hand, he feels the raised pressure to win and win big after reaching the NBA Finals last spring is a good thing. But he thinks that the troubles that the Magic have been through with injuries and new players have made the elevated expectations somewhat unrealistic.
``We’re 39 games into the year with a difficult schedule in terms of travel, our four main guys have played 10 games together, we have five new guys and in the loss column we’re two games behind Boston and Cleveland,’’ Van Gundy said. ``I’d think the realistic approach would be, `Hey, they’re doing a pretty good job.’
``But the external and internal expectations are real high. We have the fourth-best record in the league and we’re frustrated,’’ he continued. ``I think in some ways that’s good because it shows a standard that we’re holding ourselves to. But what it’s doing is we’re frustrated and that leads to a lack of energy. Guys have to be a little more realistic. I think expecting us to be great, great, great now with everything we’ve been through is not a realistic expectation. We’ve got three months to go and we’ve got to be better as we go. But the frustration right now isn’t helping us.’’
ETC: Magic point guard Jameer Nelson, who played his 13th game Friday night after missing 16 games following arthroscopic knee surgery, admitted that he’s considered pulling himself from the lineup to see if some rest might help a knee that still has lingering pain and swelling. But Nelson said he isn’t about to make any excuses because of his knee. ``It’s tough right now, but hey I’m out there,’’ he said. ``There’s nothing I can do right now. Who to say that if I didn’t play that that would help. I just hope that one day this thing will get right. My thing is I’ve always tried to play and hope injuries get better.’’ … Magic superstar center Dwight Howard thrilled fans in Portland’s Rose Garden before Friday’s game when he sank a trick shot from behind the Magic’s bench. Just prior to that, Howard stroked dozens of 12-to-15-foot jump shots while working with assistant coach Patrick Ewing. Howard said that he’s been watching game tapes regularly and he sees opportunities where he could mix in a couple of jump shots a game. He said Magic General Manager Otis Smith has been urging him to shoot more in an effort to expand his game. … Portland has been one of the hardest hit teams by injuries this season and it was again without star Brandon Roy Friday night because of a hamstring strain. The Blazers entered Friday’s game having lost 185 player games to injuries with only Andre Miller and Martell Webster appearing in every game. Still, the Blazers started Friday just 1.5 games back of Denver in the Northwest Division. Said Van Gundy: ``They’ve been one of the great stories in the league with all of their injuries, and continuing to be a very good team and a large part of that is because of their two best players. Brandon Roy and (LaMarcus) Aldridge is as good as a one-two punch as you could have.’’
By John DentonJanuary 15, 2010
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy and Rashard Lewis met on Thursday to discuss the standout power forward’s frustration over his lack of shots in the offense of late. What came from the session was the thought that both of them have some work to do to ease the frustration and keep Lewis more engaged in the offense in the future.
Lewis didn’t play in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s win in Sacramento and got just nine shots in Wednesday’s loss in Denver. After the game, he vented that some of the Magic’s reserve players were getting more shots than him and that he planned to talk to Van Gundy about the matter.
``For all of us, we need to find more shots for our key guys,’’ Van Gundy said. ``But part of it is the defense, especially on Rashard. And part of it is his energy and aggressiveness. I talked to him for quite awhile (on Thursday) and I think he’s frustrated. I think that’s a bit of a problem and there’s sort of this frustration running through our entire team.’’
Lewis entered Friday’s game in Portland third on the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game. That’s off dramatically from the 17.7 points that he averaged last season and the 18.2 points he averaged in his first season in Orlando.
FRUSTRATED FEELING: Van Gundy picked up on one line in Lewis’ postgame rant that he thought was prevalent throughout the Magic. When Lewis remarked that ``it feels like we’re a last-place team,’’ Van Gundy believes the weight of expectations have hurt the Magic this season.
On the one hand, he feels the raised pressure to win and win big after reaching the NBA Finals last spring is a good thing. But he thinks that the troubles that the Magic have been through with injuries and new players have made the elevated expectations somewhat unrealistic.
``We’re 39 games into the year with a difficult schedule in terms of travel, our four main guys have played 10 games together, we have five new guys and in the loss column we’re two games behind Boston and Cleveland,’’ Van Gundy said. ``I’d think the realistic approach would be, `Hey, they’re doing a pretty good job.’
``But the external and internal expectations are real high. We have the fourth-best record in the league and we’re frustrated,’’ he continued. ``I think in some ways that’s good because it shows a standard that we’re holding ourselves to. But what it’s doing is we’re frustrated and that leads to a lack of energy. Guys have to be a little more realistic. I think expecting us to be great, great, great now with everything we’ve been through is not a realistic expectation. We’ve got three months to go and we’ve got to be better as we go. But the frustration right now isn’t helping us.’’
ETC: Magic point guard Jameer Nelson, who played his 13th game Friday night after missing 16 games following arthroscopic knee surgery, admitted that he’s considered pulling himself from the lineup to see if some rest might help a knee that still has lingering pain and swelling. But Nelson said he isn’t about to make any excuses because of his knee. ``It’s tough right now, but hey I’m out there,’’ he said. ``There’s nothing I can do right now. Who to say that if I didn’t play that that would help. I just hope that one day this thing will get right. My thing is I’ve always tried to play and hope injuries get better.’’ … Magic superstar center Dwight Howard thrilled fans in Portland’s Rose Garden before Friday’s game when he sank a trick shot from behind the Magic’s bench. Just prior to that, Howard stroked dozens of 12-to-15-foot jump shots while working with assistant coach Patrick Ewing. Howard said that he’s been watching game tapes regularly and he sees opportunities where he could mix in a couple of jump shots a game. He said Magic General Manager Otis Smith has been urging him to shoot more in an effort to expand his game. … Portland has been one of the hardest hit teams by injuries this season and it was again without star Brandon Roy Friday night because of a hamstring strain. The Blazers entered Friday’s game having lost 185 player games to injuries with only Andre Miller and Martell Webster appearing in every game. Still, the Blazers started Friday just 1.5 games back of Denver in the Northwest Division. Said Van Gundy: ``They’ve been one of the great stories in the league with all of their injuries, and continuing to be a very good team and a large part of that is because of their two best players. Brandon Roy and (LaMarcus) Aldridge is as good as a one-two punch as you could have.’’
