The Magic* summer league squad luckily pales in comparison to the normal full Orlando Magic team. Day 4 brought another loss for the Magic* as they fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder by a score of 80-78. [Quick note: I have decided to put an asterisk at the end of Magic to display that this is the summer league team and not the actual team. It’s not fair to Dwight and the rest of the team to be associated with this collection of players.] On a day where the Thunder’s best summer league players (Harden, Maynor and Ibaka) all sat on the sidelines and Thunder head cheerleader Kevin Durant was absent, the Magic* still failed to pull out a victory. The most exciting portion of the game took place at halftime when the Magic formally introduced the newest member of the organization, Chris Duhon.
Unfortunately there is little new to report on first round pick Daniel Orton. He continued to show the same struggles today as he has in the first three games. His final stat line read 4 points on 2-6 shooting, 4 rebounds and one impressive blocked shot on Byron Mullens. He is now shooting 3-20 from the floor cumulatively for the summer league. Stanley Robinson again showed flashes of his athleticism, but he played limited minutes and didn’t really get a chance to get comfortable. Donell Taylor led the Magic* in scoring with 18 points but it was Joe Crawford who once again had the ball in his hands at the end of the game. Crawford finished with 17 points on 6-11 shooting. While Joe Crawford is a very strong player and I would like to see him make the team, his chances are slim. There simply aren’t enough roster spaces available unless Otis Smith changes his philosophy and carries more than 13 this year (15 is league max).
Read more observations from day four after the jump.
Other random observations from day four:
- Patrick Ewing Jr. leads all Magic* players in minutes played so far with 108. The next closest player is Paul Davis with 78. Daniel Orton has played 66 minutes.
- Jerome Randle continues to struggle with his outside shot after going 1-8 today. He is now 6-25 throughout summer league. He has a quick first step and a strong handle, but his poor shooting this week is going to really hurt his future NBA opportunities. This year at least.
- Joe Crawford told me that he would not be playing for any further teams this summer. He did say that he will be going out to Vegas as a fan to cheer on his brother Jordan Crawford who was a first round pick of the Atlanta Hawks.
- The popular question around the RDV Sportsplex today definitely centered on what team the Drama King was going to be playing for next season. Everyone had an opinion and every reporter seemed to want to know what the players thought.
- The trade exception that the Magic acquired for Hedo last year is set to expire tonight at midnight. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Otis is likely not going to make a move using that exception.
- Jameer Nelson and Chris Duhon won’t be playing on the same team this season for the first time. The two teamed up together in college for the USA under-21 team.
- Duhon will be wearing #25 for the Magic. I am not a fan of this and think the Magic should retire Nick Anderson’s 25. For both good and bad reasons……..
Check back tomorrow evening for Day 5 notes.
Brian Serra is a contributing blogger at Howard the Dunk and the founder of MagicBasketballOnline.com. You can follow/add him on Twitter and on Facebook.