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Orlando Magic News & Notes: Trade Talk

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There are rumors flying all over the league but according to the Orlando Sentinel, the Magic are not expected to make a move.

As I said earlier, it will be very difficult for the Magic to make a move but that hasn’t stopped General Manager Otis Smith from shopping for a new Point Guard. Smith usually says that he is standing pat and likes his team but that hasn’t stopped him from making moves in the past.

Steve Kyler discussed Orlando’s possibilities last night.

"The Orlando Magic are said to be open to dealing Anthony Johnson’s ending contract, but are not finding a lot interest today… things are expected to increase as the deadline approaches. Magic sources said today that moving AJ for a younger point guard could happen."

You can find his Hoops World Deadline Diary here.

Brian Schmitz was lucky enough to have a Q&A with Smith.

"Q: Your record is not as good as last season’s. How do you see the club with 28 games left?Smith: I think we’re better because….we’re better. We’re better because of the pieces we added and because some players have gotten better. Dwight (Howard) has gotten better, J.J.(Redick) has gotten better. I think we still can play at a different level, still with more consistency, but I think we are better."

You can that story here.

Cleveland has been rumored to be in connection with the likes of Troy Murphy, Antawn Jamison and Amar’e Stoudemire. George Diaz thinks the Magic are toast if they make a move like this.

"The thing is, the Cavs will have more than enough people to unseat the Magic as champions of the East. The Cavs already are up, 2-0, in the season series. And contrary to some speculation that Shaquille O’Neal would not be a good fit _ I’ll raise my hand and plead guilty as charged _ the Cavs have adjusted nicely to his presence in the middle.Maybe the Magic make a deal. Maybe they don’t. Smith does have some “rent-player” options in Chris Bosh or Carlos Boozer. Such is the way of NBA economics. More often that not, you trade for the value in contracts, not players.I’m not going to rip Smith if the Magic don’t make a move. There is a boatload of talent on this Magic team.The Cavs just might be a better position to make a deal.If it happens, I don’t see the Magic getting back to the Finals, do you?"

You can find that here.

The Magic will face a difficult schedule the rest of the way.

"Magic SG Vince Carter can’t remember a season in which his team had played 54 games before the all-star break.“So, 28 games [remaining] or so is a breeze compared to what we’ve been through,” he said. “I think we’ve handled ourselves well.”The Magic are 36-18, good for the third-best record in the NBA. They were 40-14 after 54 games last season.The big difference has been on the road. Orlando is 16-13 after finishing 27-14 last season.Orlando’s remaining schedule features 16 home games and 15 games against teams who were below .500 before Tuesday’s action.The Magic practically face all the heavy hitters the rest of the way except the Boston Celtics. The Magic won the series against the Celts 3-1. Orlando plays the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers two more times — including at home this coming Sunday — and the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers once (at home on March 7).In addition to the Pacific Division-leading Lakers, the Magic will play the other two division leaders from the Western Conference. They have two games against the Dallas Mavericks and another against the Denver Nuggets."

You can find that and other Magic notes here.

It’s time for the Magic to really focus in.

"Dwight Howard, fresh off a 17-point performance in the NBA All-Star Game, got a chuckle out of Carter’s prediction for a perfect run to the playoffs, but said he’s looking for the Magic to become a most consistent team before the postseason.“We understand going into the second half that we really want to bear down and finish the season strong,” said Howard, the NBA’s leader in rebounding, blocked shots and double-doubles so far this season. “We want to start making that playoff push now.”The first part of the season was filled with plenty of highs and lows, something that is often commonplace for a team with so much upheaval last summer. The Magic added five new players to a team that won the Eastern Conference and reached the NBA Finals. Those new faces made this a dramatically different team than last year’s version and led to some inconsistency."

John Denton has the story here.

Dwight Howard has a new blog post discussing visiting a McDonalds in Dallas.

Read Dwight’s blog here.

HTD would also like to wish Marcin Gortat a very happy birthday. He turns 26 today.

Mike Prada took a look at the 20 best games of the season so far and you can find that here.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)