Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

Orlando Magic’s Most Popular Player: Breaking down the fan vote

By Philip Rossman-Reich

ORLANDO, FL - JANUARY 20: Anfernee 'Penny" Hardaway is presented with an award by Alex Martins for being inducted into the Orlando magic's team hall of fame on January 20, 2017 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - JANUARY 20: Anfernee 'Penny" Hardaway is presented with an award by Alex Martins for being inducted into the Orlando magic's team hall of fame on January 20, 2017 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Vince Carter, Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets
ORLANDO, FL – DECEMBER 23: Vince Carter #15 of the Orlando Magic takes the ball to the basket as his cousin Tracy McGrady #3 of the Houston Rockets watches during the game on December 23, 2009 at Amway Arena in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2009 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /

The Twitter Poll

Part of my original plan for this was to set up a sort of Twitter poll tournament to come up with a “Fan Vote” contribution to this poll. As I said, popularity is ultimately about the fans and what they want to see and who they remember and cherish. It would be unfair of me to run a poll like this without getting a sense of what the fans want.

To set up the Twitter poll, I seeded players based on where they had finished in the voting so far — a combination of the Orlando Magic Daily’s staff votes and the accumulation of the fan nominations. From there, I set up a poll with four players — all that Twitter allows — and advanced the winner of the poll to the next day’s poll.

The results and the responses were extremely interesting.

The first note, of course, was Vince Carter‘s dominance in the polling. He won three days’ worth of voting as he topped lots of more established players that I would figure to be higher on the list.

Vince Carter had an up-and-down two-year career with the Magic. I was honestly surprised he got as much love in all of our polling as he did. I figured Carter would receive goat status for his struggles in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals. Of all the players who missed free throws in big moments in a Magic Playoff game, Carter I thought would be the one that still receives the most blame and frustration.

Carter has taken on a grandfather status around the NBA. Every summer, young teams like the Magic seem like a perfect place for Carter to come and spread his knowledge and bring back a little nostalgia. Carter has taken on that role, refusing to sign with contending teams and chase a title.

The 2010 Magic will likely be the closest Carter ever got to winning a championship.

Carter’s place in Magic history is still a bit difficult to grasp and analyze. He is immensely popular throughout the league for his play with the Toronto Raptors most of all. Carter is absolutely beloved around the league.

With the Magic, he was a bit of a disappointment as he was unable to raise his game to be the perimeter attacker the Magic needed to win a title. And he was discarded fairly quickly.

More from All-Time Lists

Carter’s surprise run — he finished 22nd in our overall list — was one of the ambiguities in the question I expected to hit.

I also expected recency bias to play a role in the Twitter polling for sure. I suspected fans would lock onto the names that they remember most.

Aaron Gordon finished 11th in our overall polling over Rashard Lewis, something that did not sit well with some observers on the list. Aaron Gordon’s popularity will almost certainly fluctuate as his career continues. Mohamed Bamba even got a fan nomination, although he did not make the top 30.

But what was most encouraging was to hear fans respond to players who lost in the polls.

Jeff Turner especially got a lot of love. He was defeated by Carter in one of the early polls. I received several responses lamenting fans voting for Vince Carter over Jeff Turner.

Turner was the original Magic free agent and has been a staple in the Magic organization since his retirement — serving as a radio color analyst before joining the FOX Sports Florida broadcast crew. Jeff Turner is as much an original and longtime Magic personality as Nick Anderson is.

His play was not always that inspiring so his popularity comes from longevity and his work with the franchise. He finished 23rd in the final poll.

As for the top of the list.

Anfernee Hardaway won the overall voting, defeating Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy McGrady and Nick Anderson in the final poll. It seems most fans were happy with Hardaway winning the final vote. There was some discussion that I saw about O’Neal topping Hardaway as the most popular player in Magic history and even Tracy McGrady finishing second.

I cannot complain about any of the results. I voted Anderson as the top guy on my list. I will analyze my list in a future post since I tend to favor more unsung players than the stars. But Hardaway certainly is a fair selection for the most popular player in Magic history. His legend and story have only added to his cause.

The fans certainly made a good selection with their vote.