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.

• 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.

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!

As promised, a few assorted bullets on stories not involving Carlos Arroyo:

• Hoops Addict is conducting its first annual Floor Burn Tournament, which seeks to credit the players who do the so-called "dirty work" for their teams without getting much acclaim. Round One is up now. I nominated Jameer Nelson, who must defeat Knicks forward David Lee to advance. Show your support for Jameer, who does not get enough credit for the little things he does.
• Dwight Howard did not fare well for Team USA in a tune-up game against Team Russia. Dime (via BDL) gives us the awful truth:

  On Dwight's first touch he threw up an ugly hook shot off an awkward post move that hit all glass, and in general seemed hesitant to beast his way to the basket despite being guarded by guys who looked like Keith Bogans standing next to him. He finished with five points and made just one field goal.

Dwight will have a chance to redeem himself tomorrow morning at 8 AM, as Team USA will take on Team Australia -- and its center, Andrew Bogut, selected first overall in 2005, a year after Dwight -- in its final exhibition match.

• For more Olympic coverage, I recommend these sites:
  • At the Hive, SB Nation's New Orleans Hornets blog;
  • Green Bandwagon, SB Nation's Boston Celtics blog;
  • 20 Second Timeout;
  • and Upside and Motor.

Great work, fellas.

• Last Friday, the Clippers withdrew their qualifying offer to Nick Fazekas, a hardworking power forward whom they signed after Dallas cut him to make room for Jason Kidd. Fazekas is now an unrestricted free agent. I'm not the only Magic fan who wants the team to consider signing him, as this thread on Denton's board shows. But fans of other teams are taking note, too, as Hoopinion wants the Hawks to take a look at him as well.

No shortage of opinions on Carlos Arroyo's move overseas, which surprises me, because I didn't think anyone else cared. Still, he'll make roughly $5 million U.S., and can opt out after each season. Not a bad deal for him, I suppose. To the links:

• The ubiquitous Matt Moore had so many thoughts on the signing that he couldn't confine them to one place: here's his take at Ridiculous Upside, and at FanHouse. From the FanHouse post:

  Arroyo started last season in contention for the starting spot for the Magic, then went to a backup role behind Jameer Nelson, before eventually not appearing hardly at all except to make sure Jameer Nelson didn't hurt himself by playing too much. When you lose your job to a guy who was heavily responsible for the Magic's self-destruct versus the Pistons and who the Magic had not interest in retaining, yeah, a change of scenery might be nice.

• Rob Mahoney, who is not Matt Moore, chimes in at Hardwood Paroxysm.
• FreeDarko briefly notes Arroyo's departure in its first-ever daily links post:

  So many teams need a point guard, and Carlitos can't even get more than 2.5 mil? Dude has become, like the Puerto Rican Steve Francis in terms of a fall from grace.

• The Heat, rumored to be one of Arroyo's suitors, will have to look elsewhere for a backup point guard. The Peninsula is Mightier doesn't have a problem with that.

Stay tuned for bullets regarding the day's other Magic stories.

As you may have noticed, Getty removed the pictures which depicted the new uniforms for the Magic, Timberwolves, and Kings from its website. Apologies if you didn't manage to catch them in time.

Onto the news...

• Beyond the Arc, a Grizzlies-centered blog, refutes a recent internet report from an NBA website which stated the Grizzlies and Magic were discussing a trade involving Memphis shipping Javaris Crittenton to Orlando for the rights to Fran Vazquez. Those discussions never took place, according to the Grizzlies' owner, Michael Heisley. If they had, I'd worry for Mr. Heisley's sanity. (HT: Ball Don't Lie)
• In a fairly meaningless Olympic tune-up, Team USA defeated Team Turkey (which played without Hedo Turkoglu or Mehmet Okur), 114-82. Dwight Howard had 14 points (7-of-8 FG) and a game-high 8 boards. Here's the boxscore.
• Orlando Magic Blog examined the players the Magic have lost this summer and raises a good question: who's going to absorb their minutes? Jameer Nelson, Mickael Pietrus, and Anthony Johnson better eat their Wheaties this year, that's for darn sure. Courtney Lee, too.
• After some intensive number-cruncing, The Arbitrarian has created the Model-Estimated Value (MEV), a statistic which seeks to accurately account for each player's value based on his box-score statistics. It's like John Hollinger's PER and Dave Barri's Wins Produced insofar as it sums-up a player's production in a single number. Anyway, this metric rates Dwight Howard as the sixth-most productive player in the league last season, trailing LeBron James, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire, Kobe Bryant, and Allen Iverson.

Otherwise, it's quiet on the Magic front. We're still waiting for them to acquire a third point guard and to unveil their new uniforms.

The Orlando Magic reached an agreement to sign free-agent guard Anthony Johnson, who played for them during the 1999/2000 season, as seen above.

File photo by Don Frazier, the Associated Press

The Orlando Magic signed veteran point guard Anthony Johnson to a two-year deal. Denton and Schmitz have the scoop. Schmitz also says that the team expects backup center Adonal Foyle to return, although he will probably not sign for another month. The 2008/09 roster is indeed taking shape, and there could be another deal in the works, as the Magic are still trying to acquire point guard Javaris Crittenton from the Memphis Grizzlies.

Only that last bit of news excites me. Johnson will turn 34 before the season starts and is, at best, a third-string point guard on a contending team. The Magic need to find a younger, taller option to lead the second unit. And as much as we all admire Foyle's hustle and character, he's too much of an offensive liability to effectively back-up Dwight Howard.

Based on today's news, I expect next season's depth chart to resemble the following (inactive players in italics):

The roster is loaded with bigs, so I expect the team to jettison at least one of them (Cook?) before the season starts. So far, this roster isn't a huge improvement over last year's, which won 52 games and a division title, so maybe we shouldn't complain.

Maybe.

Brian Schmitz says the Orlando Magic have offered Keyon Dooling a two-year deal worth a total of $3.8 million, hoping it will be enough to retain the team's best defender. Unfortunately for us, Dooling would be wise to decline that deal because it fails to offer the long-term financial security that he desires and deserves.

I don't know whether to applaud Otis Smith for at least making an offer to Dooling or to criticize him for making such a low offer. It's the latest in a series of moves that Dooling could perceive as snubs. First, the Magic offered their back-up point guard job to Chris Duhon, regarded by most fans and media experts as inferior to Dooling. Then, when Duhon signed with the Knick, the Magic turned their attention to Golden State swingman Mickael Pietrus, whom they eventually signed. In so doing, they lost the cap space they could have used to make Dooling a competitive offer.

Bottom line: we'd love to see Keyon back, especially in light of Jameer Nelson's injury history, which Schmitz mentions in the article. But $3.8 million won't get it done. Once Dooling formally declines that offer, the Magic will probably extend it to Anthony Johnson, Jason Williams, or another such bargain-basement point guard in this barren free-agent market. If those options don't sound good to them, they could always try to swing a trade, using out-of-favor J.J. Redick as bait; Schmitz mentions Keith Bogans and Brian Cook are on the block as well.

n8c21 with the assist.

• Kyle Hightower of the Orlando Sentinel has some details on how the Orlando Magic plan to celebrate their 20th season. Chris D'Orso, the Magic's V.P. of Marketing, told Hightower the following:

  "This campaign embodies the history that has prepared us for today and the great moments to come. Every game, every play, every moment really is history in the making."

• At the end of this local-politics piece, Scott Maxwell, also of the Orlando Sentinel, has a brief note on Jameer Nelson's wedding, which took place last weekend.
• Fred Kerber of the New York Post says Keyon Dooling is the New Jersey Nets' most coveted free-agency target. Dooling played himself out of Orlando's price range, and the Nets might not be able to land him either unless they trade one of their surplus power forwards. Can the Magic execute a sign-and-trade with the Nets? That's a question I'd like to have answered, because Sean Williams is a shot-blocking machine. (Hat tip: NetsDaily)
• Another potential trade partner, at least in the minds of Magic fans, is Memphis. The Grizzlies have a bevy of point guards who could capably back-up Nelson. The web's best Grizzlies blog, 3 Shades of Blue, argues the team shouldn't trade any of its point guards.

• The most important rumor floating today might not be exactly credible -- it comes from a message-board poster -- but if it's true, I'll be one happy camper, as will plenty of Magic fans. Says poster INeedMoreDarko (via Punisher):

  I've been told Turkoglu will sign a 2 year extension this offseason. Turk loves Orlando(and the Dragon Room), loves Stan, loves the direction the Magic are headed and loves the signing of Pietrus.

  Otis also has a great relationship with Lon Babby, his agent. And will extend Turk another 2 years, possibly 3(Similar to Lew's non-fully guarenteed contract for the last year of his). Remember when we inked Battie to an extension out of nowhere? Agent? Lon Babby... I dont know how much he'll be extending for but I hear it will be roughly 8 Mil a year.

  John Denton reported only a few days ago that Pietrus and Turkoglu vacationed together in Turkey earlier this summer, so it makes sense that Hedo would appreciate the Magic signing one of his close friends. I don't know when Turk would sign this extension; Battie signed his near the end of the 2005/2006 season.

  I do not know what the Dragon Room is.

• Denton also says the Magic's front office is keeping its eyes on what happens to embattled point guards Jamaal Tinsley of Indiana and Stephon Marbury of New York. If those players accept buyouts from their present teams, the Magic will consider signing them to back-up Jameer Nelson. Tinsley's a decent enough point guard when healthy and not shooting the ball, but I think I'd feel more comfortable with Jason Williams. As for Marbury... no. A million times, no.

  UPDATE: Brian Schmitz spoke to Otis Smith about the Marbury and Tinsley rumors. There's no truth to them:

  The Magic desperately need a point guard, maybe two, to back up Jameer Nelson.

  So when I asked Smith if he had interest in either the Pacers' Jamaal Tinsley or the Knicks' Stephon Marbury --- two moody, controversial players who might be bought out by their teams and available for a song --- he shook his head.

  No.

  And no way.

  "You know me," he said.

  That's a relief.