Orlando Magic

Ryan Blake, the senior director of NBA scouting operations, offers his take on Syracuse Orange point guard Michael Carter-Williams:

As the saying goes, hindsight is always 20/20, so with the benefit of history before us let’s look back at the past 10 years of NBA Drafts and pick how those draft nights should have unfolded.

Mark October 9 on your calendars, Magic fans. It marks the official opening of the 2013-14 season. Orlando will host the New Orleans Pelicans at the Veterans Memorial Arena in downtown Jacksonville in their preseason opener, the team announced. The game will be at 7 p.m. and the rest of the preseason schedule will be released later on. This will mark the Magic's third trip north to Jacksonville, with the last coming in 2008. That was technically a Heat home game, which the Magic won 100-92 with Dwight Howard scoring 26 points. At least Michael Biamonte will not be making this trip. {youtube}ER69VlfsVOA{/youtube} Jacksonville will obviously get a very different treat this time around as the Magic are not coming off their first trip to the second round in 12 years and beginning to start a season that saw them run to the NBA Finals. No, this is a team that will be welcoming a new top-two draft pick and still rebuilding with an eye more on the future than on the present in a lot of ways. It is not even certain what veterans will remain on the team, who that draft pick will be (reportedly Ben McLemore's workout did not go as expected and Victor Oladipo is pulling ahead), or what the makeup of this roster will be by October 9. These non-NBA city neutral site preseason games though are fun to mix up some of the monotony of the routine and expose new markets to the NBA. The Magic definitely want to stake some sort of claim to Jacksonville and attract fans down to Amway Center every once and a while. Orlando will open training camp in Orlando on October 1. It cannot get here soon enough.

The Orlando Magic enter their 25th season with a wealth of game-night traditions, many of them involving musical cues designed to stir fans into a frenzy. More NBA Music Guides: SB Nation The first of these cues occurs before tipoff, as the starting five for the opposing team are introduced to The Who's 1978 classic "Who Are You," a tune familiar to fans both young and old thanks to its featured status as the opening-credits music for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The next familiar cue comes during the first full-length timeout of the third quarter and also features a familiar jam from 1978: "Shout!," as performed by Otis Day and the Knights and as featured in the film Animal House. Since the Magic's move to Amway Center, a video montage featuring dance scenes from that film, as well as other dance numbers from other films such as Iron Man 2, has accompanied "Shout!" on the MagicVision hanging above center court. The final and arguably most recognizable cue opens the fourth quarter as Orlando breaks the huddle and takes the floor: John Williams' legendary "Main Theme" from Star Wars blares through Amway Center, as it did at the old Amway Arena as far back as one can remember. Paul Porter, Orlando's top-notch public address man, intones "Here come the Magic!" while Williams' legendary score plays, adding a bit more gravity to the situation. There are certainly other memorable musical cues in Magic history, as when the team's game operations crew peppered replays of spectacular Dwight Howard replays with Williams' "Superman March," but the three above are the most indelible and inextricably tied to the Magic, at least for fans of the team. Which in-house musical cue is your favorite, and which musical suggestions would you make to Magic game ops? Looking for Orlando Magic tickets? Orlando Pinstriped Post has you covered. We invite you to follow Orlando Pinstriped Post on Twitter and like Orlando Pinstriped Post on Facebook. Poll Which Magic musical cue is your favorite? "Who Are You" by The Who "Shout!" by Otis Day and the Knights "Main Theme" from STAR WARS by John Williams 17 votes | Results

Orlando Magic to Open 2013 Preseason in Jacksonville

Via Orlando Magic press release: The Orlando Magic will open the 2013 preseason at Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on Wednesday, October 9 against New Orleans. Tip-off is 7 p.m. This marks the third time that the Orlando Magic have played a preseason game in Jacksonville, with their last trip coming in 2008. The remainder of the Magic’s preseason schedule will be released at a later date. Orlando will open training camp on October 1 at Amway Center.

Some fans and analysts have used the concept of a Big Three as a prism through which to view the 2013 NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs boast Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili, and Tim Duncan, while the Miami Heat have LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. San Antonio has the chance to wrap up the series Tuesday night in Miami, prompting ESPN Insider analyst Tom Harberstroh to dive into the question of how the Spurs and Heat trios stack up next to the NBA's all-time great threesomes since 1974. More NBA Finals coverage: Hot Hot Hoops Pounding the Rock Haberstroh defines a Big Three as any group of three teammates who individually posted at least a five Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) in a given season. The ESPN scribe only considers trios from 1974 onward, as that year is when the NBA began counting turnovers, a component of WARP, as an official statistic. Somewhat surprisingly, the Orlando Magic crack Haberstroh's top-10 list, with the trio of Shaquille O'Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, and Nick Anderson coming in 10th. The trio qualified for Big Three status, under Haberstroh's definition, from 1994-96, making one NBA Finals appearance in that span. Despite not having homecourt advantage, the Houston Rockets swept the Magic in the 1995 NBA Finals. Orlando would not return to the NBA's biggest stage until 2009, where it lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. That Lakers squad, featuring Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom, ranks sixth on Haberstroh's list of all-time great Big Threes. O'Neal infamously left the Magic as a free agent in 1996. The team kept Hardaway and Anderson together for another three seasons after O'Neal's departure, only to trade them within two days of each other in August of 1999 as John Gabriel looked to create salary-cap space to sign max-dollar free agents the following summer. Though the O'Neal/Hardaway/Anderson triumvirate is undoubtedly the best Big Three in Magic history, one can argue that the late-aughts squad which advanced to the Finals was a better overall team. It didn't boast any secondary stars on the level of Hardaway or Anderson, but Stan Van Gundy coached it expertly, and it had stronger role players than the mid-90s squad did. And while Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson aren't on the level of Hardaway or Anderson, they nonetheless earned All-Star berths in 2009. According to Haberstroh's methodology, the best Big Threes since 1974 are the Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish of the Boston Celtics (1982-87); Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Horace Grant of the Chicago Bulls (1990-93); and San Antonio's Duncan, Parker, and Ginóbili (2004-09, 2011). Looking for Orlando Magic tickets? Orlando Pinstriped Post has you covered. We invite you to follow Orlando Pinstriped Post on Twitter and like Orlando Pinstriped Post on Facebook.

The Orlando Magic on Tuesday held the first day of a two-day mini-camp for 21 veteran free agents at Amway Center.

Ryan Blake, the senior director of NBA scouting operations, offers his take on Michigan Wolverines point guard Trey Burke:

Here come the doubters again, encircling Trey Burke just like they always have.