Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Orlando Magic are Bigger and Badder

By Jason Ritas

One of my favorite thing about religiously following any team in sports is the fact that I live their events just as they do through the span of each year. Their successes become my own, and their failures mine too.

As a fan, you ride the peaks and valleys with your team, and there are plenty of them. It's easy to forget the bad times when things are good, and the opposite is just as true. Despite the ups and downs, the everlasting loyalty you give to your team is always present.

Each and every team is surely different and unique in their own way, and for the Orlando Magic, if you had to summarize their story in one word, it would be "Underdogs." Taking it back real quick to the beginning of last years playoffs and the Magic headed into the postseason with not many NBA analysts on their side. After surpassing the Sixers, the Magic headed into Boston as the underdogs (even with an injured Kevin Garnett on the sidelines).

Despite their injury issues, many still favored the Celtics to surpass the Magic in their series. Between the home court advantage, the veteran experience in Boston, and the inexperience in Orlando, the Magic were written off early in the series. Against Cleveland, no one gave the team a chance, despite the fact that the Magic had won the season series against the Cavs. Orlando quieted the doubters with a run to the NBA finals, their second since the mid 90s.

With the obtaining of Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson, and the signing of Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes, Orlando certainly expanded their bench, emerging as the deepest roster in the league. Now with Rashard Lewis suspended for the first 10 games of the season due to breaking the drug policy, the Magic have once again found themselves in an "underdog-type" situation.

Many might see this as a major problem, but all is calm in Orlando. The team will be just fine without him.

With Lewis sidelined for almost an eighth of the season, the Magic seize a perfect opportunity to mess around with their roster and see who fits in well and where. It gives players like Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus, Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson, and Marcin Gortat an outstanding chance to step up their game and not only help themselves in the long run, but the entire Magic team as well. Taking the Lewis situation as if it were an injury and the Magic can already honestly say that they have enough productive role players on their bench to fill the shoes of their starting All-Star without running into much of a problem whatsoever.

The team's depth without Lewis speaks volumes about this team's potential. The Orlando Magic will perhaps be the NBA's deepest team in 09-10.

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