[ShefGator2]

Haberstroh even apologizes for their previous articles claiming Magic got fleeced. This is an ESPN Insider article so I'll just paste some highlights about the Magic here:

http://insider.espn....mod_nba_xxx_xxx

When the four-team blockbuster trade that went down in early August sent Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, it seemed as though the Lakers had built a championship-caliber team overnight, the Orlando Magic got drawn and quartered, the Denver Nuggets took a big step forward, and the Philadelphia 76ers landed a franchise cornerstone.

But here we are at the halfway point of the 2012-13 season, and almost none of that has proved to be true.

The Winners

Orlando Magic

Perhaps we owe the Magic an apology. When new general manager Rob Hennigan dealt one of the top three players in the league for a package headlined by Arron Afflalo, most people either laughed or shook their heads in astonishment -- and sometimes both.

But look who's laughing now. No, the Magic aren't good this season, but that was all part of the plan. All they need was a young stud to build around. And it looks like they have one, even if we couldn't see it at the time.

Largely overlooked in the trade, Vucevic, 22, has been a revelation at center for the Magic, and is averaging 11.7 points and 11.1 rebounds this season. Here's the list of active players who have averaged 11-and-11 by age 22: Howard, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand and Tim Duncan.

The former USC Trojan has been particularly good lately, averaging 15 points and 14.9 rebounds in his past 10 games, including a 20-point, 29-rebound effort against the defending champion Miami Heat. Vucevic also has nearly as many double-doubles this season (21) as Howard and Andrew Bynum combined (23).

This post has been edited by Captain Hi-Top: 22 January 2013 - 07:20 PM
Reason for edit: Edited For Length

[Captain Hi-Top]

I gave a little leeway in terms of the four paragraph rule to give a bit of the set-up.


It's a decent article written on a very short term point of view, but fun to read if you have access to ESPN Insider.

[Jareth Cutestory]

Captain Hi-Top, on 22 January 2013 - 07:22 PM, said:

I gave a little leeway in terms of the four paragraph rule to give a bit of the set-up.


It's a decent article written on a very short term point of view, but fun to read if you have access to ESPN Insider.

...

[ShefGator2]

Captain Hi-Top, on 22 January 2013 - 07:22 PM, said:

I gave a little leeway in terms of the four paragraph rule to give a bit of the set-up.


It's a decent article written on a very short term point of view, but fun to read if you have access to ESPN Insider.

My bad. I tried to limit the pasting just to the Magic portion of the article because I know we're not supposed to paste entire articles. I didn't realize there's a 4-paragraph limit.

[Captain Hi-Top]

Quote

COPYRIGHT LAWS
You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyrighted material is owned by you. Although we cannot review the messages posted prior to going live, the Orlando Magic is not responsible for the content posted in any of these threads. We reserve the right to delete any message for any reason whatsoever, without discussion.

No articles that are found on OrlandoMagic.com, NBA.com, or any other team site may be repurposed because they are the property of NBA.com. Also, don't re-post or repurpose content from other editorial sites. If you want to draw attention to a story on ESPN.com, then link to it, don't copy and paste the entire article on the Message Boards.

The four paragraph "rule" is more of a guideline we use informally. Above is what is posted in the actual Forum Rules - Terms of Service thread.

No worries though, I just wanted you to know why I edited your post.

[Soul Bro]

Love this part:

Quote

Largely overlooked in the trade, Vucevic, 22, has been a revelation at center for the Magic, and is averaging 11.7 points and 11.1 rebounds this season. Here's the list of active players who have averaged 11-and-11 by age 22: Howard, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand and Tim Duncan.

[BigPoppaV]

ShefGator2, on 22 January 2013 - 07:16 PM, said:

Haberstroh even apologizes for their previous articles claiming Magic got fleeced. This is an ESPN Insider article so I'll just paste some highlights about the Magic here:

http://insider.espn....mod_nba_xxx_xxx

When the four-team blockbuster trade that went down in early August sent Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, it seemed as though the Lakers had built a championship-caliber team overnight, the Orlando Magic got drawn and quartered, the Denver Nuggets took a big step forward, and the Philadelphia 76ers landed a franchise cornerstone.

But here we are at the halfway point of the 2012-13 season, and almost none of that has proved to be true.

The Winners

Orlando Magic

Perhaps we owe the Magic an apology. When new general manager Rob Hennigan dealt one of the top three players in the league for a package headlined by Arron Afflalo, most people either laughed or shook their heads in astonishment -- and sometimes both.

But look who's laughing now. No, the Magic aren't good this season, but that was all part of the plan. All they need was a young stud to build around. And it looks like they have one, even if we couldn't see it at the time.

Largely overlooked in the trade, Vucevic, 22, has been a revelation at center for the Magic, and is averaging 11.7 points and 11.1 rebounds this season. Here's the list of active players who have averaged 11-and-11 by age 22: Howard, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand and Tim Duncan.

The former USC Trojan has been particularly good lately, averaging 15 points and 14.9 rebounds in his past 10 games, including a 20-point, 29-rebound effort against the defending champion Miami Heat. Vucevic also has nearly as many double-doubles this season (21) as Howard and Andrew Bynum combined (23).

Not a bad list of guys to compare to.....

[My 5th Rebuild]

I haven't seen the Magic play much this season because I have been consumed with football this season, more than ever. The times that I have seen them it seems like what they need to find is just a go-to scorer. I'm not sure what's been happening lately with the lapse in defense (injuries, laziness, don't know), but I Hennigan is going to build a contender sooner than later.

The Lakers may finally be entering a nice long period of suck, just like the Celtics, Bulls, and Knicks went through. It's their time. Hollywood has a new team to cheer for while the Lakers go through some bump and bruises.

The Celtics are also making the mistake of holding on to their vets for too long. Their finished.

[Optimist Prime]

The article mentions Vuc having nearly as many double-doubles as Howard and Bynum combined... But fails to mention that Bynum hasn't played all season.

[Ibn Battuta]

Optimist Prime, on 23 January 2013 - 12:17 AM, said:

The article mentions Vuc having nearly as many double-doubles as Howard and Bynum combined... But fails to mention that Bynum hasn't played all season.

It was an indirect shot at Bynum (health concern).

Anyway, we just discussed this topic a few days back. I really don't feel like revisiting it again.

If it makes any sense, we still lost the trade but we get the last laugh.

[30Assists]

Yeah, have to admit Henny comes out looking more like a genius than ever. I also wonder if maybe he didn't get a good look at Dwight's medical charts post-back surgery and come away thinking that maybe the big guy was going to go the route of McGrady.

Dwight certainly hasn't been tearing up the league this year, but then again, Pau and even Kobe are better rebounders than just about anyone on the Magic team last year. Okay, not Baby. And maybe Ryno? Not sure, but point being Dwight in yellow isn't playing like Dwight in blue.

And Bynum...okay - I was wrong on that one: phew - dodged a bullet...

[For the love of the game]

30Assists, on 23 January 2013 - 01:15 AM, said:

Yeah, have to admit Henny comes out looking more like a genius than ever. I also wonder if maybe he didn't get a good look at Dwight's medical charts post-back surgery and come away thinking that maybe the big guy was going to go the route of McGrady.

Dwight certainly hasn't been tearing up the league this year, but then again, Pau and even Kobe are better rebounders than just about anyone on the Magic team last year. Okay, not Baby. And maybe Ryno? Not sure, but point being Dwight in yellow isn't playing like Dwight in blue.

And Bynum...okay - I was wrong on that one: phew - dodged a bullet...

Interesting point on Dwights medical charts, but maybe we should give him until next year for a full recovery to see what happens.

As for your second point, did you not just basically equal out your point by saying not Baby or maybe not Ryno.