Back to where the Magic stand right now though. Coming off a horrible game against Cleveland at home on ESPN, there are no excuses to this loss. Stan admitted his coaching wasn't right and nobody on the team came to play with a Cleveland team that wanted revenge. As Van Gundy puts it, "We are not good right now." There is no doubt he's right. The defense is horrible and among the worse in the league right now. Solutions? I also agree with Stan as he says it starts with the captains: Jameer and Dwight. Defensively they've got to lead and set an example for the rest. Everyone knows the defensive force Dwight can be, lately here is how he fares. 1 block in the past 3 games (Avg 2 a game last year) and he only has 5 games with double digit rebounding. Basically Dwight isn't playing like we know he can. I'm not bothered much by the loss due to the season being so young but the effort the Magic put in was a bit shameful. As always you expect them to come back stronger the next time Cleveland is on the schedule.
Of course injuries can affect a team at any time during the season. Unfortunately, the bug has hit the Magic quite early. Vince was the first to go down and missed three games before returning. Pietrus caught the flu and Anderson is still on the mend with a sprained ankle. All were contributing fairly before they went down.
Rashard's return:
His return should help boost this team, another guy that can score but at the same time can help on the defensive end as well. He rebounds well and a guy familiar with SVG's defensive unit from last year.
It's not rocket science at all, the Magic have their share of problems right now. I don't think it's time to hit the panic button just yet as we aren't even 10 games in. What can be done is a simple regrouping on the team's part to get on the grind. Dwight preaches all great teams have great defense and Stan wants to see it from his team, so ladies and gentlemen let's see how they get it done.
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