Magic make another pickup with Barnes puts them ahead of Celtics/Ainge

[Edgar]

I never made any direct reference or comparison to House and Redick/Johnson.
I commented on Eddies all around game.
I commented on the Magic's bench stating that Redick/Johnson were the only 2 players that were suspect.

The Magic have a better bench...as of now.

Carter, Bass, Anderson, Barnes beat Hedo, Lee, Battie, Alston hands down.

that's your opnion, and your entitled to it, but i think it's way off base.

bass certainly beats battie by a wide margin, but the others are equals or downgrades, at best.

and they already have two centers...

[timepiece33]

The Magic have a better bench...as of now.

Carter, Bass, Anderson, Barnes beat Hedo, Lee, Battie, Alston hands down.

Only because of the presence of Bass vs. Battie.  Remove that one from the table ... I'll take Hedo, Lee, and Alston over Carter, Anderson, and Barnes today AND that doesn't even consider Lee's immense upside potential.   

Let's look at the top 4 off the bench

Wallace, Daniels, Davis, House

vs

Pietrus, Gortat, Anderson, Redick

Personally if they were to play a 4 on 4, the Celtics would win that because Wallace is by far the best player of the group. 

[BballTim]

DAM!
What is up with Orlando making great moves to support Superman?

Lets look at it.
Magic, Celtics, Cavs

Magic got Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson, Matt Barnes, & Bass? DAM!
Cavs got Shaq, Moon and had the best overall record.
And, Anthony Parker, resign Varejao.

Celtics got Sheed, Daniels.
The Celtics have the better quality in the top 7 players, but I think Orlando's bench could be a .500% winning team.

All-Star game will have 3 players from each team or more.

I feel bad for the Eastern conference.
DAM!

You think Anthony Johnson, JJ Redick, Matt Barnes, Brandon Bass, and Marcin Gortat could be a .500 team?  Wow. 

Lets look at their team now.
Anderson, Bass, Carter, Gortat, Howard, Johnson, Lewis, Barnes, Nelson, Pietrus, Redick.
Thats 9 dam good players...with Redick and Carter playing their roles.

9 not 7 like the Celtics.
I hope DA has another plan for a PG and a SF/C.
If KG, Sheed, or Perk gets hurt, then the Celtics are screwed.
Especially not knowing about BBD yet.

So you are saying all 9 of those guys outclass House? I can't agree with that. Or are you not including Daniels?

Celts starting 5 and Sheed/Daniels.
Eddie is great, but one dimensional with the 3. Spot and shoot.
No assists, layups, but probably the best 3pt shooter in the league. Luv him for that.
Suspect on D too.

   Yet Redick's great? Wow. And our top 7 > their top 7. That trumps their 8th, 9th and 10th men.

[ManUp]

The Magic are deeper right now, but we aren't to far behind.

Petrius - Very good 6th man.
Gortat - Very good backup.
Barnes - Solid backup SF/PF.
Reddick - House is better.
Johnson - Serviceable backup nothing more

vs.

Wallace - Best talent on either teams bench by a wide margin.
Daniels - Solid backup SG/PF
House - Reddick plus consistency, minus a couple of inches.

If we resign baby we're a scrub pointguard away from having the same type of depth they have.

[Neurotic Guy]

Here's an interesting match-up possiblity -- imagine this coming down the stretch of a tight game:

Rondo    Nelson
Pierce   Vince
KG       Lewis
Rasheed  Bass
Perk     Howard

Yes, I know this puts Ray on the bench and KG at the SF -- but I think he can match-up nicely with Lewis.   I think we win this match-up -- but I think it is a great potential clash.

[xmuscularghandix]

I think you are underestimating the loss of Hedo...a lot.

TP

[Brickowski]

LOL.  The Magic have acquired Matt Barnes!  It's the end of life on earth as we know it!

Every minute that Barnes takes away from Mickael Pietrus makes the Magic a worse team.

[xmuscularghandix]

what if BBD resigns here? (which is looking more and more possible) then whats up? and what happens if Marbury comes back?

Rondo       Nelson
R.Allen     Carter
Pierce      Pietrus
Garnett     Lewis
Perkins     Howard

Wallace     Gortat
Davis       Bass
Daniels     Barnes
House       Reddick
Marbury     A.Johnson
Scalabrine  Ryan Anderson  


i think we win in so many matchups that the Scal one doesn't count. you can make it Wallace VS Gortat+Anderson and it still goes our way.

[crownsy]

LOL.  The Magic have acquired Matt Barnes!  It's the end of life on earth as we know it!

Every minute that Barnes takes away from Mickael Pietrus makes the Magic a worse team.

yea, no kidding.

[snively]

BTW, it's Anthony Johnson, not Anthony Carter.  Get your journeyman points in order!

The Magic have moved laterally.  Vince Carter is barely better than Hedo and doesn't really pose any match-up problems at the 2 or the 3.  They now have more 3-pt shooting off their bench, and more playmaking in the backcourt but when was that their problem?  They didn't need to shoot more 3s last year, they needed better defense and rebounding at the 4 spot.  They didn't get it.  If their plan is to start Bass or Barnes, they are in trouble.

[Jon]

DAM!
What is up with Orlando making great moves to support Superman?

Lets look at it.
Magic, Celtics, Cavs

Magic got Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson, Matt Barnes, & Bass? DAM!
Cavs got Shaq, Moon and had the best overall record.
And, Anthony Parker, resign Varejao.

Celtics got Sheed, Daniels.
The Celtics have the better quality in the top 7 players, but I think Orlando's bench could be a .500% winning team.

All-Star game will have 3 players from each team or more.

I feel bad for the Eastern conference.
DAM!

Count me very unimpressed with Cleveland and Orlando's moves.  I'm much more impressed with the Laker's acquisition of Artest and the Spurs' acquisition of Jefferson and McDyess.  Why?  Because they actually upgrade flaws.  With the Cavs Moon and Parker aren't all that much better than Wally and West, so we're not talking huge upgrades there.  Similarly, with another year on Shaq's body and his stupid reality show keeping him busy, I wouldn't be surprised if he's only a marginal upgrade over Big Z.  Similarly, unlike Wallace who can play with Perk or Garnett, Big Z can't play with Shaq. 

As for the Magic, Gortat was there last year, so it's not like it's a big upgrade.  And if they want to use him more, they're going to have to play him at the 4 with Howard, which means that Lewis is going to have to play some 3.  If that happens, the Barnes acquisition basically means nothing, since he's basically just a Pietrus repeat. 

The C's are in my book a much better team.  They won 62 games with zero depth and no KG for 25 games.  Now they have an All Star backing up the 4/5 and someone competent backing up the 2/3.  That should pay huge dividends. 

[SCBirdman]

Marbury
House
Daniels
BBD
Sheed

don't tell me the magic have a better bench than that. I don't want to hear it.

[wdleehi]

Lakers had so call great bench depth with a lot of shooter two years ago as well.


Celtics solid defensive bench beat them.  Now that Wallace has upgraded Posey's 6 man position, Celtics bench can match up with any bench.

[houseonfire09]

It's 2009, not 2001.  I highly doubt Vince Carter and their bench can push Orlando over the top.  I think Orlando gave up too much to get him.  They are barely a 3-seed at this point IMO.

[Fafnir]

It's 2009, not 2001.  I highly doubt Vince Carter and their bench can push Orlando over the top.  I think Orlando gave up too much to get him.  They are barely a 3-seed at this point IMO.

Who's going to challenge them for the three seed? Washington?