You can see my preview of Orlando’s Forwards here and a preview of their guards here.
The Magic have the best big man in basketball in Center Dwight Howard but they also possess the best backup Center in basketball, Marcin Gortat.
Dwight Howard
2008-09 Statistics: 79 games played, 35.7 minutes per game, 20.6 points per game, 13.8 rebounds per game, 1.4 assists per game, 2.9 blocks per game, .568 Field Goal %, .594 Free Throw %.
Howard led the league in rebounds and block shots. He received more All-Star votes than any other player in the NBA. He was named the NBA’s defensive player of the year and came in fourth in MVP voting.
Simply put, Dwight Howard is the best Center in basketball.
Howard is a freak athlete and has many different strengths so instead of looking at those, we’re going to take a look at some of the aspects of his game he needs to work on.
Howard still needs a lot of work on his free throw shooting. He is a 60% shooter from the line for his career and isn’t showing any signs of improvement. He shot just 53% from the line this pre-season.
Howard struggled at times during the playoffs last season. He averaged 20.3 ppg throughout the post-season but only scored 15.4 ppg vs the Lakers (although he was a monster on the boards, grabbing 15.2 per game). He was bothered by LA’s big men and had 20 turnovers in the series (4 per game). He did show some flashes of brilliance, including a 40-point performance in a close-out game 6 win against Cleveland. He only had one game in the post-season where he didn’t record double-digit rebounds (9 in a game 3 win over Boston).
"“We had a lot of guys play extremely well but Dwight was unbelievable because early in the game they wanted to double him all the time. He took every double team and did not have a turnover until a very suspect travel call late in the game. He just kept making the right play.”"
I think Dwight is going to keep this up, avoid turnovers and just make better all-around decisions with the basketball. He brought two trainers with him everywhere he went this off-season and he talked about how hard he worked on his official website.
"“Some folks in Orlando are concerned that I’m not working enough on basketball while I’m doing all of this traveling, but yall have nothing to worry about. Everywhere I go my two trainers go with me. Just last week, we were going through workout sessions at 5:30 in the morning and again in the afternoon. We usually spend 90 minutes a day in the weight room and 90 minutes on the court. Trust me, I’m working harder this summer than I’ve ever worked in my life.”"
Vince Carter is a bona fide go-to scorer and should take more pressure off of Howard and allow him to see less double-teams. I expect Howard to have his best season yet.
Dwight Howard on the up-coming season:
"“I told the guys that last season we had a great run but this is a new team. I want our guys to sacrifice, give everything that they have. We want to get back to the finals.”"
Marcin Gorat
2008-09 Statistics: 63 GP, 12.6 mpg, 3.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, .8 bpg, .567 FG%
Gortat had a decent season backing up Dwight Howard and posted slightly better numbers during the post-season (3.3 PPG and 3.2 RPG). He showed some signs of being a very good Center. He had some big dunks, played solid defense and had some huge blocked shots (including swatting a few LeBron’s attempts), but Gortat really shined in game 6 of Orlando’s opening round series against the Philadelphia 76ers. After Dwight Howard was suspended, Gortat stepped in to the starting lineup and posted very good numbers; he played for 40 minutes, had 11 points, 15 rebounds, and four steals
Gortat had a strange off-season. He, along with the rest of us, thought his days with the Magic were over. He had some interest in the Houston Rockets before signing an offer sheet with the Dallas Mavericks. Orlando, to the surprise of some, matched the offer and retained Gortat. Gortat initially seemed to express some displeasure when Orlando matched because of his desire to be a starting Center, but he is actually excited about his return and named three major reasons why.
"“Great team where we can win the championship. Great coaching staff. And fans.”"
After a great showing at EuroBasket 2009 in his native country of Poland, Gortat is having a solid pre-season. He played in all 8 games, starting one. He averaged 8.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg, and 1.9 bpg while playing 21.6 mpg.
He has shown off some nice moves down low. He has been utilizing a spin-move that has got him some easy buckets under the basket. I expect Gortat to play more this season and put up better numbers than he did last season. Unfortunately for Gortat, it’s hard to tell just how much better those numbers will be, since he does play behind the game’s best Center.
Gortat on his offense:
"“Well, you know, it’s not always about new offensive moves. I don’t think there’s any move which I haven’t seen. It just depends against who you’re playing, how you’re feel every day, if you’re focused and coming concentrated to the game. It depends who you play. If you play against a slow guy and guy who has a low basketball IQ that’s not the highest then trust me, you can do every move on him but you know playing against Dwight, trust me, you just got to do everything perfectly, smart, quick, you just got to be brave to do it. If you hesitate one time, he’s got you”"
Adonal Foyle
2008-09 Statistics: 10 GP, 6.6 mpg, 1.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg, .9 bpg, .636 FG%
Foyle did not play much last season. In fact, he was traded to Memphis on February 19 as part of a three-team deal that sent Rafer Alston to Orlando before being waived and re-signing with the Magic on May 1.
Foyle played in just 10 games last year, nine coming with the Magic. He appeared in two playoffs games, but failed to score.
Foyle was re-signed for his intelligence, leadership and locker-room presence. It was unlikely that he would have seen much time on the court and now he may not see any time at all.
Foyle underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. He did not appear in any pre-season games because of soreness in his knee and there is no timetable for his return. It will depend on how his knee reacts to the surgery.
Foyle on his role as a veteran:
"“Well I think it always is important to have veteran leadership. When I first came into the league, I had many of those. From Felton Spencer to Terry Cummings who taught me the game and taught me how to approach opponents. Those things are very important but I just think most importantly in the locker room and just going out and having a professional approach. In a lot ways, a veteran’s model for younger guys without having to let younger guys know you’re modeling for them. It’s just the way you do things because the younger guys are always watching. Good and bad, so it’s important.”"
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)