The Orlando Magic had a championship-contending roster during the Dwight Howard era, peaking with playoff appearances from 2007-12 with an NBA Finals appearance in 2009 and an Eastern Conference Finals run in 2010. The core of Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard formed a dynamic roster of playmaking, shooting and defense.
The front office, specifically former general manager Otis Smith, had a difficult time finding the fifth starter to complete the group. Not to mention retooling on the fly after the team starting breaking apart and after the team needed to keep up with the LeBron James-led Miami Heat.
This will be a reoccurring theme within the article where the Magic took one-year fliers on several players who simply could not complement the starting unit enough to push them over the hump for Orlando to bring home their first title.
The Dwight Howard era was one of the most successful times in Orlando Magic history. Still the team fell short as it built its roster around its center and sought a way to build the best lineup.
Even after the Magic made their Finals run and traded to bring in Vince Carter, they could not gel as a unit. They lost franchise cornerstone Hedo Turkoglu to the Toronto Raptors via free agency only to bring him back in two years later to much less effect than the first time.
Smith was looking for another guard or small forward who could focus on perimeter defense while also being able to stretch the floor. That proved difficult to find.
If Orlando had considered bringing in a starting-caliber talent to complete the first five, the team’s history and Dwight Howard’s final years with the Magic could have been much different.
5 worst starters of the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard era
Kelvin Cato (2005-06)
50 starts, 6.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.1 BPG
Dwight Howard’s early years in the starting lineup looked much different. This is because he was the starting power forward for the first two seasons of his NBA career.
The Orlando Magic acquired Kelvin Cato in the Tracy McGrady trade and found himself starting his first year with the organization. His job was to protect the rim and grab rebounds.
The roster was clearly going through turnover after Orlando could not compete in the Eastern Conference and began retooling after dealing away their star player. Cato was a stable starter and had the fourth-most appearances in the starting lineup this season behind Steve Francis, Grant Hill and Dwight Howard.
Cato was second on the team in rebounds per game behind Howard and also contributed 1.3 blocks per game. The two of them formed a formidable duo averaging 3.0 blocks per game and led the Magic to 11th in the NBA in blocked shots.
Even though Cato started, he only averaged the seventh-most minutes on the roster that season and did not contribute much on the offensive end.
He only shot 4.8 shots per game which was 10th on the team, but that was not his job. The Magic had a successful offensive season in Howard’s rookie year and averaged 99.5 points per game. That was ninth in the NBA.
The team had offensive weapons but needed someone to do the intangibles, and that was Cato. He was a mentor for Howard at 30 years old when Orlando acquired him.
But his 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per contest were not enough to prove he could be a long-term starter. He played similarly to Howard as a back-to-the-basket player. Spacing was not a thing in the NBA at the time.
Cato was excellent at running the floor during fast break situations for easy finishes at the basket, but so was Howard. Their games were too similar for Cato to remain a focus on the team.
The 2006 season was Cato’s last with the Magic as he struggled with a shoulder injury that kept him out most of the season. He managed to suit up in 23 games and came off the bench the entire season.
At the trade deadline, he was traded to the Detroit Pistons along with a first-round pick for Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo.
5 worst starters of the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard era
Tony Battie (2005-09)
183 starts, 5.9 PPG, 5.0 RPG
Tony Battie is the only player on this list to manage to start most of two seasons. He spent five seasons with the Magic, but only two as a starter in 2006 and 2007.
The Orlando Magic acquired him before Dwight Howard’s rookie season for Drew Gooden, Steven Hunter and Anderson Varejao. Orlando was probably not thrilled with that investment years later, but Battie again brought a veteran presence to show Howard how to rise to stardom.
Battie was probably the most influential veteran on the Magic’s roster and a critical player who helped guide Howard through his early years.
Tony Battie’s first season as a starter was essentially a replacement for Kelvin Cato as he rehabbed an injured shoulder. But Battie proved that he belonged.
He started 81 games alongside Howard and was again given a role as a non-scoring big man who focused on rebounds. But he did have a trait that Cato did not.
Battie had an impressive mid-range jump shot, and at his height of 6-foot-11 could get it off over most defenders. He averaged 7.9 points per game spreading the floor (or at least considered spreading the floor in this era) for Dwight to develop his interior offensive repertoire during the 2006 season.
The Magic took their time on offense this year and was the second worst in field goals attempted this year. But the team was third in field goal percentage and sixth in three-point percentage. Orlando would play a lot of half-court offense and focus on offensive sets rather than pushing the pace under coach Brian Hill.
Battie only averaged 5.6 rebounds per game in his first season as a starter, but that was still second-best on the team. Dwight Howard was averaging the second most rebounds in the NBA at 12.5 per game, only 0.2 rebounds per game behind Kevin Garnett.
Howard was a force to be reckoned with when rebounding and he started to blossom into a dominant interior presence. He single-handedly made Orlando a top-three rebounding team in the NBA and gave Battie some freedom to play toward his strengths.
Tony Battie was not as much of a paint protector as Kelvin Cato so Dwight Howard occupied this assignment for the starting unit and Darko Milicic took on those duties with the bench.
The following season, Battie played in 66 contests and started in all of them. Hill made the decision to move Battie to power forward and play Howard as the full-time center.
This paid off in dividends as the team reached the postseason and continued to develop Howard into the All-Star talent he became. Battie’s statistics decreased with increased roles given to both Howard and Milicic.
Battie’s defense started to decline and at 30 years old his timeline started to not align with the rest of the core of the roster.
The next season he hurt his shoulder and was sidelined for the entire 2008 season. That proved to be fortuitous as it accelerated a plan to line up Rashard Lewis at power forward alongside Hedo Turkoglu. A championship core was born.
When Battie finally returned he was more of a bench presence and third-string big man when Howard was a perennial MVP candidate.
Battie was a stable presence for Orlando while Howard developed and the organization decided that a player who can stretch the floor even more would be more suited for the starting lineup.
Lewis became the perfect front-court pair for Howard and led to several seasons of Magic success.
5 worst starters of the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard era
Maurice Evans (2008)
47 starts, 9.3 PPG, 56.7% eFG%, 39.6% 3FG%
Maurice Evans only played in one season for the Magic, but he started 12 more games than Keith Bogans in his lone season so he gets the nod. Evans did not have many traits that stood out for the Magic besides his shooting.
That was the whole reason the team acquired him as newly hired coach Stan Van Gundy appreciated shooting around Dwight Howard more than most other statistics. He wanted to implement a 4-out, 1-in system to perfection.
The Magic shiped out Trevor Ariza to the Los Angeles Lakers for Maurice Evans and Brian Cook, adding two shooters for the young defensive player who struggled to shoot at the time. This deal can be painful for Orlando fans as Ariza went on to improve dramatically and was a catalyst in the 2009 NBA Finals.
This deal gives even more of a reason to include Evans on this list.
It worked though in the short-term. Orlando secured the division title and third seed in the Eastern Conference. The team was sixth in points per game, which stemmed from their shooting. The Magic were first in three-pointers made, second in threes attempted, and fourth in three-point percentage. That’s a 134.2 percent increase in threes taken than the year prior under coach Brian Hill. Placing Evans in the starting unit was a factor.
Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis all shot better than 40 percent from three this season and Maurice Evans was close behind at 39.6 percent. But he did not contribute much else to the starting unit.
Evans only averaged 1.0 assists per game so he was predominantly a catch-and-shoot player. Evans also averaged 0.6 steals per contest and this was an area that the Magic were lacking.
The team finished 27th out of 30 in steals per game, and Lewis was the only player to average more than a steal per game.
Orlando also dropped in rebounds per game as Tony Battie was not able to play this season. The Magic had 32-year-old Adonal Foyle as the backup center and he averaged a mere 2.5 rebounds per game.
Evans rebounded 3.1 boards per contest which is admirable for a starting shooting guard who plays most of his minutes with Howard. Howard went on to grab more than 1,100 boards on the year.
Evans was solid and 9.3 points per game on a top 6 scoring roster is respectable, but he did not bring what was required for the Magic to beat the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs.
5 worst starters of the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard era
Courtney Lee (2009)
42 starts, 8.4 PPG, 52.6% eFG%, 40.4% 3FG%
The Orlando Magic fan base had little expectations for Courtney Lee when he was drafted 22nd overall in the 2008 NBA Draft. But coach Stan Van Gundy did and quickly found a way to get him in the game.
Lee started the fourth most games for Orlando in his rookie season and replaced Maurice Evans as the starting shooting guard as the team propelled itself into title contention.
The Magic had other options to start like veterans Keith Bogans and Mickael Pietrus. But Van Gundy appreciated what they contributed to the team coming off the bench. By mid-season, the rookie guard was starting and contributing timely plays on both ends of the floor.
Lee could not bring much of an offensive spark like Bogans and Pietrus could off the bench, but he was a good enough shooter that Van Gundy planted him in the starting unit.
He was a spot-up shooter similar to Evans, but he shot 40.4 percent from three which was second-best behind Jameer Nelson in the rotation. Nelson, of course, missed most of the second half of the season with a shoulder injury before returning for the NBA Finals.
The team also had enough offensive tools to let Lee focus on defense and playing with effort. Courtney Lee was a much better option to defend opposing guards than Keith Bogans or J.J. Redick.
He averaged 1.0 steals per contest, which does not seem like a lot, but was important for a team that finished 22nd in the NBA in steals.
He was a rookie and still had growing pains. But he quickly found his place within the Magic ecosystem.
Lee was a bona fide scorer who played four seasons at Western Kentucky and averaged more than 20 points per game in college so he is far different than the average rookie in today’s NBA, but he had inconsistency shooting the basketball.
This was obvious in the 21 games he played in the playoff that year, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from three.
The underwhelming shooting in the playoffs is justifiable for a rookie’s first appearance in the playoffs and having his sinus fractured in the first round against Philadelphia.
Lee is most famous in a Magic uniform for getting the assignment of guarding Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals. This was no job for a rookie and was a deciding factor in the series, but Lee was impressive nonetheless in his lone season in Orlando.
There are a lot of what-ifs with that roster but one that can be considered is how would that series change if General Manager Otis Smith brought in another shooting guard to start for the Magic.
Even though he only played one season in pinstripes, the NBA noticed Lee was an ascending talent and was one of the main pieces that brought former All-Star Vince Carter to Orlando.
Lee went on to play 12 seasons for eight different franchises.
5 worst starters of the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard era
Matt Barnes (2010)
58 starts, 8.8 PPG, 54.6% eFG%, 31.9% 3FG%
Matt Barnes was signed on a two-year deal to bring some perimeter defense and toughness to the Orlando Magic following all the changes in the summer of 2009. The starting lineup was different than the year prior with Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee gone.
Barnes tried to become an enforcer for the Magic team destined to make another deep playoff run. Local t-shirt company Mother Falcon started selling shirts with a mean-mugging Matt Barnes that simply read, “Matt Barnes Will Kill You.” Magic fans loved it.
This is emphasized in Barnes’ most infamous moment in Orlando where he gave a ball fake at Kobe Bryant’s head while taking the ball out of bounds. Bryant did not flinch and Barnes looked foolish for even trying (the video shows a different angle than what we all believed at the time). But it impressed Bryant enough to call him up to join the Los Angeles Lakers the following year.
The defense for Orlando improved that year as they held teams to 95.3 points per game, which was fourth-best in the NBA.
Even though he only averaged 0.7 steals, Barnes had the ability to play tight perimeter defense through a lot of body contact.
This frustrates offensive players when they do not have much space to operate and this fueled Barnes’ game. He was up for the challenge to defend the best opposing wing player night in and night out.
Unfortunately, he did not bring the same shooting prowess that Maurice Evans or Courtney Lee did. But Orlando still finished first in threes taken and threes made that season.
Barnes shot 31.9 percent from three which was the worst percentage on the team since Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat did not attempt a three the entire season.
If his shooting was even at the league average he would have been a much better fit on the roster. Even though his shot was not falling from deep, he made up for it with the second-best two-point field goal percentage on the team behind Howard.
He would take easy shots and let the offense come to him instead of trying to do too much. He shot less than 7.0 shots per contest.
Barnes also helped on the boards averaging 5.5 rebounds per game in the one year he was with Orlando which was second best on the team. That is not bad for a 6-foot-7 forward.
The 14 playoff games that Barnes started in might be the reason he opted out of the final year of his deal with Orlando.
He shot 40 percent from the floor and averaged 6.4 points per game. He scored a point every four minutes he was on the court.
The lack of offense really hurt the team and he saw his minutes decrease throughout the playoffs to give more offense to the team with Mickael Pietrus and J.J. Redick.
The Barnes experiment was promising but ended up not being what Orlando needed to get back to the NBA Finals.