Turkoglu and other Magic players contracts

He will probably sign back with them at one heck of a premium
 
All the buzz was about Trevor Ariza's offense when in fact it was his disruptive defense on Turkoglu that really made a difference for the Lakers. Hedo would normally set up on top of the key behind a screen, but Ariza wouldn't let him. Trevor would deny him the ball, and if Turkoglu would get it Ariza would sneak behind the screen and paste himself onto Hedo. Turkoglu couldn't pass it, couldn't create, coudn't drive to the hoop and certainly coudn't shoot it. Ariza was just tenacious.

None of the other Magic players was capable of creating his own shot like Kobe. In my mind it was the defense on Turkoglu that turned the tide. Odd that as good a coach as van Gundy is that he could not introduce a wrinkle to counteract that.

I think J.J. Reddick could have played a valuable role for Orlando, if he wasn't always looking to shoot first. Even worse he would invariably miss.

In the end Turkoglu is a better player than he showed in the championships. He has many qualities that Magic Johnson has. A great court awareness, excellent passing skills, good outside shooting and an ability to go into the paint to snag a rebound or drive to the basket. These are definitely desirable skills and many an NBA team is willing to pay big bucks for them.
 
I think he'll be back with the Magic next year. While I certainly thought LA to be the far superior team, Orlando played very well and basically have every component necessary for a truly great team. Give all of their younger players another year to develop and I think they will be even more dangerous next year. I don't see any real gap in their roster. They just need a few guys to be more consistent.
 
ViCtorioUs said:
I think J.J. Reddick could have played a valuable role for Orlando, if he wasn't always looking to shoot first. Even worse he would invariably miss.


Everything I saw from Reddick was him looking to set his team up first.
 
Mercury said:
ViCtorioUs said:
I think J.J. Reddick could have played a valuable role for Orlando, if he wasn't always looking to shoot first. Even worse he would invariably miss.


Everything I saw from Reddick was him looking to set his team up first.

Everything I saw from Reddick was him dribbling around for a bit and then shooting. One of three factors was at play:

1. He couldn't find his team mates due to the Lakers' defense.
2. He isn't capable of pulling off good passes at the NBA level.
3. He is actually always looking to shoot first, and just dribbles a bit first to try and create his own shot.
 
Reddick made some pretty impressive passes in game 5. The announcers were even surprised, commenting that Reddick was a much better passer than they ever gave him credit for. Granted, by the time the 4th quarter rolled around, he started jacking up a lot of 3's...
 
xjohnx said:
Reddick made some pretty impressive passes in game 5. The announcers were even surprised, commenting that Reddick was a much better passer than they ever gave him credit for. Granted, by the time the 4th quarter rolled around, he started jacking up a lot of 3's...

I will admit that Game 5 I saw the least of. Since I was visiting Richmond that day, I was only half paying attention to the game at the bar and mostly chatting with some people I hadn't seen in a while.
 
xjohnx said:
Reddick made some pretty impressive passes in game 5. The announcers were even surprised, commenting that Reddick was a much better passer than they ever gave him credit for. Granted, by the time the 4th quarter rolled around, he started jacking up a lot of 3's...

He was jacking up 3's because the Magic needed a comeback and they just weren't getting any type of spark from anyone else. Reddick is an excellent passer but at times he does have that shoot first mentality that he was used to. If he can develop into a pass first player, he could be an excellent role player because he has the ability to do so, its just whether or not he's willing to is the question.
 
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