Earlier today, I received an email from a reader named Darrell urging me to watch this morning's edition of ESPN's First Take because it featured an interview with Dwight Howard in which the big fella can be seen wearing what appears to be the Magic's new uniform. As much as I would have loved to see the new uniform, I did not want to have to sit through First Take.

Now the video is up on ESPN.com. Even better, Black and Blue Jor took some screencaps of it, which you can view at his site, The Howeva Files.

Bad: No sign of the pinstripes that Courtney Lee had on his uniform during the rookie photo shoot. Worse: the side paneling on the home uniforms is black, whereas the wordmark is blue. It just looks... off.

The away uniform is pretty solid, though. I'm a sucker for Magic blue.

Maybe it's just a mock-up, but I rather doubt it because the official unveiling is less than three weeks away -- check the countdown clock on the homepage for the exact time remaining.

So, based on the screencaps Jor so graciously provided, what do you think about the new uniforms?

Some odds and ends:

• J.J. Redick is back from vacation and says he and a few teammates have had some "informal" workouts this week.
• Brian Schmitz has the team's local television schedule.
• New 3QC user PSmith7 would like to know what the heck is up with Fran Vazquez.

More later this weekend on Mickael Pietrus and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Probably.

• Erick Blasco of Bleacher Report lists the league's 30 best centers. Our very own Dwight Howard ranks second, behind Yao Ming, in large part due to his lack of offensive moves. Blasco also calls Howard out for poor court awareness on defense. (Hat tip: Canis Hoopus)
• As you might imagine, Dwight's proud to be an Olympic gold medalist. John Denton has the details. (Hat tip: SLAM)
• The Magic are proud of him, too. Check out the splash page of their website.
• The Magic's drafting of Fran Vazquez in with the 11th pick in the 2004 Draft may go down as one of Otis Smith's greatest blunders. Not only did he select a player who has yet to join the team, and who probably won't until next summer at the earliest, he passed on several good-to-great players in the process. As we know, Danny Granger is one such player. Tom Ziller explains what makes him a rising star, and why he's due for a breakout season, in his NBA Top 50 series at FanHouse. For what it's worth, Granger's 44th.
• The Oklahoma City NBA franchise, long-rumored to be named the Thunder, will officially announce its name and colors at a news conference next week. The Magic had a role in the confirmation, as The Lost Ogle found a goof on the team's website whichlisted their December 5th game as "vs. Thunder." Oops. (Hat tip: TrueHoop)
• SLC Dunk user "clarkpojo" believes the Magic would be wise to ship J.J. Redick and Brian Cook to Oklahoma City for Chris Wilcox. I like the idea, at least from our perspective. It clears out the logjam at the two-guard and strengthens the power position at the same time. If only the Thunder had a decent, affordable young point guard to add to the deal...

File photo by Chuck Burton, the Associated Press

• Best birthday wishes to Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy, who turns 48 today. In his first year with Orlando, The Man guided the Magic to their third-highest win total in franchise history, all without wearing a tie. I've yet to meet a single Magic fan who doesn't like him. We're glad to have Stan aboard and we hope he took at least today off from preparing for this season to relax.

• And belated birthday wishes to one Patrick Joseph Garrity, who turned 32 on Saturday. Garrity's career is probably over (although the team has not ruled-out re-signing him), but he spent the last nine seasons with the Magic, and, as such, will forever be identified with them. Thanks, Pat.

• Last week, I linked to a story that reported Jameer Nelson was hosting his Magic teammates in Philadelphia for a week of team-building exercises. That story has picked up some steam, and some people who aren't even huge fans of Nelson's game are praising him. From Empty the Bench:

  NBA players are under more of a microscope than any athletes in any other major professional sport, and when they screw up it's amplified ten times more than when, say, a football player beats and batters his girlfriend during the offseason. And even though this isn't going to change my views of Nelson's on-court game -- it'll take stats and wins for that to happen -- it's a great story and one that deserves some attention.

  Nelson's show of leadership like this is rare in any pro sport. Whether or not it actually amounts to anything remains to be seen, but either way it's the thought that counts.

  And from FanHouse:

  Every NBA team has a captain, but I guarantee no one takes the role more seriously than Jameer Nelson.

  [....]

  I'll be the first to admit, I've used this space in the past to give Nelson grief over the size of his contract, but the guy exudes leadership.

  I'm an unabashed Jameer lover, so I'm happy to see that a) he's taking the initiative -- again -- to help his team jell; and b) that he's getting recognition from non-Magic fans for doing so. Let's hope he continues to earn praise this season with his work on the floor.

• Hardwood Paroxysm recently hosted a roundtable discussion regarding the role of small-market teams in the NBA. I partook, as did bloggers representing Charlotte, Cleveland, Memphis, Milwaukee, Sacramento, and San Antonio.
• Nothing But Net passes along word that Dwight Howard's official basketball camp will take place this Saturday and Sunday at RDV Sportsplex. Visit DwightHowardCamp.com for more information.
• Indy Cornrows, SB Nation's Pacers blog, says the NBA has denied Indiana's request to use a red, white, and blue ABA basketball for a preseason game. The reason I mention that news here is because I recall the Magic and the Spurs playing a regular-season game with a red, white, and blue ball just a few seasons ago. Does anyone else remember that game?

Also note some changes around the network. The left sidebar of every SB Nation site includes a complete SB Nation blogroll, separated by league, which expands and collapses with a click. Below that, you'll find a subscription center which houses the feeds for the main page, FanPosts, and FanShots. Thanks to the SBN tech wizards for their hard work.

Team U.S.A. celebrates defeating Spain for its first Olympic gold medal since 2000.

Photo by Chang W. Lee, the New York Times

Congratulations to Dwight Howard and everyone involved in U.S.A. Basketball for their gold-medal-winning performance in this Olympics. Howard scored 8 points (3-of-3 from the field, 2-of-6 from the line) and grabbed 5 boards as the United States defeated Spain, 118-111, to win its first Olympic gold medal since the 2000 games in Sydney. The New York Times' recap notes that Howard, along with four other core players, has already said he would like to return to Team U.S.A. for the 2012 Olympics in London. Here's to hoping he does.

U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

• Monday morning, Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld reported the Magic are basically finished making moves this summer. A rumored Tony-Battie-for-Nick-Collison swap isn't happening, his sources assured him. Damn. Collison's the tough, rebound-centric forward the Magic need. I suppose they value Battie's defense more than they would Collison's work on the glass. Either that, or they love Tony too much to banish him to Oklahoma City.
• It's probably just as well the team's finished making moves, though; they'd hate to have to buy any new acquisition a plane ticket to Pennsylvania. Darren Heitner reported yesterday that Magic co-captain Jameer Nelson is hosting the team in Villanova, PA, for his third annual Building Magic program:

  Building Magic week's mission is to bring the Orlando Magic organization closer together in the offseason by having a week full of workouts, team-building activities, and other events.

  • UPDATE: More on this story from Matt Steinmetz (thanks to 3QC reader Susan for the email assist):

    Magic vice president of communications Joel Glass said Nelson and Howard, Orlando's captains, are the ones who deal with getting players together, and that the team has nothing to do with it.

    Glass said from what he understands the players work out together during the day, then go out to dinner, comedy clubs, etc., at night.

    According to Foyle, the Magic will be bowling, attending a Philadelphia Phillies game and heading down to Atlantic City over the course of the week. Who knows if Foyle will push for next year's bonding session to be in his hometown ... that isle in the Caribbean.

• Last week, the Magic released their preseason schedule, as reported in the Orlando Sentinel. 3QC member Marie noted in the FanPosts three weeks ago that the Magic will host CSKA Moscow in one game. CSKA Moscow employs former NBA-ers Trajan Langdon, Viktor Khryapa, Zoran Planinic, and Terence Morris (who played for the Magic three seasons ago). Former Bucknell standout J.R. Holden also plays for CSKA.
• Dwight Howard posted 6 points and 7 rebounds in Team USA's 116-85 win over Team Australia this morning. Howard played a decent game but -- surprise, surprise -- continues to struggle from the foul line, connecting on just 2 of his 5 freebies today. He also had one of his shots swatted and was late on at least one defensive rotation.
• We all knew the contract Rashard Lewis signed last summer was big. Well, Business Pundit puts it in a historical context, saying it's the 18th-richest sports contract of all-time. Hardwood Paroxysm remains flabbergasted.

The Orlando Magic will introduce their new uniforms on September 23rd, if you believe this teaser image posted on the team's official online store:

Is that when the team will reveal the new uniforms? Is that when they go on-sale? Both? Neither? The image doesn't tell us much, other than to circle September 23rd on our calendars... because something will happen. Hooray! Nebulousness!

Don't read at all into the fact that Dwight Howard is "blacked out" in the teaser image. As we saw in the Getty Images rookie photo leak two weeks ago, the Magic's new uniforms are blue, not black. League rules dictate that teams must wait two years to introduce an alternate uniform after a uniform change, which means the soonest we'll see the team in black is 2010. Bummer, I know.

Speaking of bummers and Dwight Howard, he did not fare so well against Greece yesterday. Hampered by foul trouble, he played just 12 minutes and watched his backup, Chris Bosh, steal the spotlight yet again with a game-high-tying 18 points. I'm not worried, though. Bosh's finesse and keen defensive instincts make him a better fit for international competition than Dwight, which is fine. Dwight could average 0 points and 5 fouls per game and I wouldn't care as long as the United States won the gold medal. I just hate to see Dwight's confidence shaken. And he is playing with that sullen look Magic fans have come to fear. I hope he regains his focus, and soon. Spain, the next-most talented team in the tournament, awaits this Saturday at 8 AM. He'll have the chance to pay Pau Gasol back for all the flopping he did in February.

... make it the latest installment in CelticsBlog's "Runnin' Fives" series, which focuses on the Magic. "Runnin' Fives" aims "to put together the best possible standard five-man line-up (two guards, two forwards, one center, with some room for finagling if need be) for each team based on the performance of the players while with said team." Steve Weinman asked me for my input, which makes me the fourth-most notable contributor to the post. Magic Senior Vice President Pat Williams (!) and Orlando Sentinel beat reporter Brian Schmitz also weighed-in. At least one of the omissions will shock you; it sure as Hell did me.

If you have a chance, make sure to watch United States play Greece in Olympic action. The game starts at 8 AM (on USA Network, if I'm reading this [rassafrassin'] guide correctly), so you might have a few more minutes to nurse that bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats before turning the tube on. Dwight Howard has played solidly, albeit unspectacularly, in the States' first two games, both blowouts. We need to see if he can come up big against a formidable opponent. One of those 20-point, 15-rebound, 5-block games would go a long way toward bolstering Howard's reputation and, much more importantly, securing a victory for the United States.

The stars align to pit Dwight Howard against two of his biggest weaknesses: the Detroit Pistions and free throw shooting, not necessarily in that order.

File photo by Paul Sancya, the Associated Press

Sportswriters wore out the Dwight Howard/Superman puns several months ago, but that won't stop me from making the obvious assertion that the big fella's Kryptonite is his lack of shooting touch, especially at the foul line. Over his four-year career, Dwight has shot 60.3% from the stripe, a number buoyed by his (relatively) stellar rookie campaign, during which he connected on 67.1% of his freebies.

Is there any hope for Dwight? Can the Magic ever hope to turn him into a reliable free throw shooter? We tackle these questions and pose a few more after the jump. Stick with us.

Continue reading this post »

Dwight Howard, seen here watching the United States' Women's Basketball team compete against the Czech Republic, seems to have lost some popularity among NBA observers.

Photo by Mark Dadswell, Getty Images

I get the impression that some people have soured on Dwight Howard.

Perhaps not as a player -- he's coming off his best professional season, one in which he lead the league in rebounding and his team in scoring; earned First-Team All-NBA honors; and propelled the Magic to their first second-round playoff appearance in a dozen years -- but maybe as a personality.

I like keep up with stuff in the blogosphere. I like to think I have a decent handle on what non-Magic fans think about Orlando's players, and especially Howard. And in my year-plus of covering the Magic extensively, I haven't read more than one or two posts from people saying deriding Howard's personality, or at least questioning it.

In the last four days, I've read three.

• Wednesday night, Evil Ted predicted the Redeem Team would win bronze, saying Howard makes the team "look like a bunch of retards," although he later backed off that statement when he realized the video he posted to support his point came from 2006.

• Yesterday, Kyle from Forum Blue and Gold broke down Team U.S.A., player-by-player. Of Howard, he wrote,

  In terms of what Howard is doing, I love it and think he is great. A bigger concern right now for Howard is that he appears to be in Coach K's dog house. Coach K doesn't like how Howard has gotten chippy with the other players and Howard's tendency to gloat after good plays (he did this a lot during the five exhibition games, more than any of the other players, which was frankly shocking to me as I thought Howard was the nice, humble Christian). This bugs me too as the days of US dominance are over. Lets hold off on the showboating and rim hanging until we actually win an international tournament that matters. Hasn't happened in six years.

• Also yesterday, a minor quibble from Natalie of Need4Sheed, who posted a video of Team U.S.A. entering the arena during the opening ceremonies. She writes, "Are Carlos Boozer and Dwight Howard too cool to wear the official USA sanctioned Ralph Lauren head wear during their ceremonial walk? Everyone else seemed to be just fine with it. What's the deal?"

Dwight got off to a great start in Team U.S.A.'s first game in round-robin play this morning (boxscore | New York Times recap), going 4-for-4 from the field, all on dunks; I didn't tape the game, so I can't verify this assertion, but I don't recall him celebrating or goofing off after any play. About the only negative body language from Howard occurred after 6'09" guard Sun Yue rejected one of his layups. Dwight sagged his shoulders a bit and played below-average for the rest of the game, which shouldn't surprise Magic fans, who are used to Dwight losing focus when flustered. Disconcerting, to be sure, but not out of the ordinary.

Have you all noticed a change in Dwight's attitude? Should we be worried about it heading into next season, in the first year his maximum-level contract extension?

UPDATE: I'm a bit late to the party, but I feel like I should mention that Natalie from Need4Sheed clarified what she meant with her original post. From the comments of this entry:

I really wasn’t upset at Dwight or Bozzer for that matter, be it that they were ugly or it was too hot everyone else didn’t seem to have a problem with them. I just though it may have been a bit disrespectful. Can’t say that I have soured on Dwight, he’s still one of my favorite players.

Yeah, looks like I reached when I originally wrote this post. 3QC commenter magic fanatic might have said it best: "All this means to me is that he is officially a superstar."

Via Jerry Greene, here's one way for Magic fans to participate in the team's 20th anniversary celebration: the FanTastic Bobble-head. Click here to vote for one of five Magic players to be made into a bobblehead this season. The choices are, in the order listed on the website,

• Dwight Howard,
• Shaquille O'Neal,
• Nick Anderson,
• Tracy McGrady,
• and Darrell Armstrong.

So, whom will you choose? Here's my thought process:

1. Eliminate any player whose likeness the team could use in the future. That means you, Dwight Howard. Sorry, but you're under contract with the team until 2012. We'll have plenty more opportunities to see your noggin immortalized on a resin figure.
2. Eliminate any player who left the team on bad terms. That step eliminates Shaquille O'Neal and Tracy McGrady. Shaq called Orlando a "small pond" when he ditched it in 1996; T-Mac admitted he mailed-in the 2004 season when he realized the team stunk. Then he demanded a trade. If the fans choose either of these guys, it's because they want to detonate something.

To me, Darrell Armstrong and Nick Anderson are the only sensible choices. And since Darrell played during the height of the bobblehead's popularity, it's possible he already has one; let me know in the comments if you know for sure.

Nick Anderson, four botched free throws notwithstanding, will get my vote. He deserves yours too.

And while we're on the subject of voting, don't forget to support Jameer Nelson in Hoops Addict's Floor Burn Tournament, which strives to recognize the league's best hustle players. David Lee is cleaning his clock right now, 82% to 18%. Support Jameer!