Random Thoughts

Apparently, the Jameer Nelson experiment in Orlando at the end of last season was too successful for an Orlando Magic team that has become accustomed to losing. New head coach Brian Hill has reinstated Steve Francis to his role as starting point guard/ball hog and early results have been, well…terrible. While the Magic pulled out their first victory of the season on Tuesday with a 76-74 win over a Houston team struggling without T-Mac, “Franchise” was well on his way to blowing it down the stretch, just as he did against Washington on Friday, before Nelson came off the bench to take over the game’s final three minutes. There’s only one franchise player on this team, and his name is Dwight Howard, who took just one shot during the entire fourth quarter. Although some fans might dig the “excitement” that Stevie’s high-flying, shot-chucking, no-passing game brings to the table, scoring less than 80 points per game and blowing late leads is a sure way to keep the fans away in droves. If the Magic want to start scoring points, they need to find a point guard who can distribute the ball to the post and play smart down the stretch. Nelson deserves the opportunity to run the team with Francis shifting over to shooting guard, where his ability to create shots will be more useful and his innate selfishness will be less of a liability.



In yet another indication of how boring it can be to follow basketball north of the border, the most exciting news surrounding the Raptors these days is a point guard controversy… between Mike James and Jose Calderon. The Spanish youngster Calderon is a great distributor (4.5 assist/turnover ratio), but Toronto desperately needs James’ scoring. Yes, Raps fans, that is a very scary thing. I give Sam Mitchell about another month before the axe falls.

Earth to Peja… Earth to Peja… After assuaging early concerns by going off for 33 points on Sunday night, the Slavic sharpshooter put worried looks back on the faces of Kings fans and fantasy owners everywhere by putting up an ugly 9-point performance on 4-13 shooting against the Pistons. The career 46.5% shooter is now shooting a miserable 40.9% in what was supposed to be a huge contract year. Maybe he's been a little too busy posing for shirtless publicity photos and not busy enough working on his jumper.

Needless to say, my team is doing pretty crappy right now, shooting .416 from the field and .691 from the line. I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet, but I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't a little worried. Peja has been sucking, Kirilenko's mask is messing up his shot, and Dwight Howard has not been getting the shots he needs to get to be effective--or converting at a high percentage on the ones he has gotten.

Pray for Mojo.