The Orlando Sentinel’s Magic BasketBlog has moved!

The Magic BasketBlog has undergone a welcome renovation.From now on, the blog will reside at a new address: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/blogs/magic-basketblog/. Please take a moment to bookmark the new location and update your RSS feeds.Our old posts will still be available on the Orlando Sentinel’s website.Follow Josh Robbins on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins and e-mail him at jrobbins@o

Magic add two free agents, roster at 19

The Magic expect to sign guard DeQuan Jones and guard-forward Armon Johnson, completing their training-camp roster at 19 players.Jones, 6-8, 221 pounds, was undrafted in the 2012 NBA draft after playing four seasons with the Miami Hurricanes. He participated in the Magic’s summer league.Johnson, 6-3, 195 pounds, was drafted in the second round by the [...]

Schmitz’ Take:Dwight Howard says he was no regrets

There’s Dwight Howard’s version of his divorce from the Magic, and then there’s reality.Howard, in an interview with ESPN, says he has no regrets and that “everything happened the way that it was meant to happen.”Really?Dragging himself and the Magic through a incredibly chaotic, comical and controversial season was pure destiny?Yes, Howard certainly followed his [...]

Lakers say Dwight won’t be ready for camp

Former Magic center Dwight Howard won’t be able to start training camp with the Lakers, according to the team.Howard, dealt to the Lakers in a multi-player blockbuster last month, continues to rehab after undergoing back surgery in April.The Lakers said on their website that Dwight hasn’t suffered any setbacks in his recovery and has begun [...]

Schmitz’ Take: How ex-Magic players fit in new homes

Magic players were on the move this summer, several sent packing in the mammoth Dwight Howard clearance sale. How’s how the players involved in deals might fit or not fit in their new homes:Center Dwight Howard: Howard should be a force for the Lakers, turning them into serious title contenders. An upgrade over Andrew Bynum, [...]

Schmitz’ Take: Stan Van Gundy to ESPN?

Former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy says he’s talking to ESPN about joining its NBA studio show this season, but tells me Tuesday that nothing is finalized yet.My guess is that ESPN — whose studio show can’t compare to TNT’s Charles Barkley-led lineup — will make it happen.Sports by Brooks is reporting that Van Gundy [...]

Schmitz’ Take: Tweaking Dwight never gets old for Shaq

Even in retirement, tweaking Dwight Howard never gets old for Shaquille O’Neal.Howard was traded by the Lakers to the Magic recently, following the same path that Shaq took when he walked out on Orlando as a free agent in 1996. His reaction?“I don’t have a reaction. You have to care to have a reaction,” Shaq [...]

Orlando Magic announce the signing of E’Twaun Moore

The Orlando Magic announced the signing of free-agent combo guard E'Twaun Moore on Thursday.

Dwight Howard says he loves Orlando in newspaper ad

Dwight Howard thanks Orlando fans in a newspaper ad that appears in Sunday's Orlando Sentinel.

Schmitz’ Take: Magic players on trading block

Even though Dwight Howard, Ryan Anderson, Jason Richardson, Earl Clark and Chris Duhon have been shipped out, the Magic are hardly finished in their attempts to make trades.They are open for business to any team that is interested in the likes of holdovers Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, J.J. Redick, Big Baby Davis and Quentin Richardson. [...]

Dwight Howard’s in China two weeks after missing his camp in Orlando

Dwight Howard is on the road again.Two weeks after he originally was supposed to host a kids basketball camp in Orlando — a camp he withdrew from, citing the need to remain in Southern California to rehabilitate his surgically repaired back — Howard has traveled to China.The former Orlando Magic superstar is visiting China as [...]

5 must-see Magic games this season. No, really.

If you are deciding which Magic games to see at Amway Center this season, here’s 5 to put on the list:Nov. 25 — Doc Rivers and the Celtics come to town, with the former Magic coach facing the sequel to his original Heart & Hustle team on 1999-2000. That team under Rivers finished 41-41 and [...]

Schmitz’ Take: Magic will have different look without Ryan Anderson

The Magic have a surplus of power forwards — or rather, some big men who can play the position.But they don’t have anyone like Ryan Anderson, who was traded to the New Orleans Hornets this summer, leading to another dramatic change in their Dwightless offense.Of course, without Dwight Howard’s double-team presence, Anderson likely would not [...]

Schmitz’ Take: Magic have no chance…to top last season’s controversy

So what do you think will pass for controversy during the upcoming Magic season?Hmmmm…..J.J. Redick is ejected from a game, frustrated that his new hair gel hasn’t performed like his old gel.Ish Smith complains to league about security at every away arena holding him until the Magic verify he’s not a ball boy. Coach Jacque [...]

Stan Van Gundy: Magic CEO Alex Martins showed “naivete”

Former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, looking to coach again in the near future, chastised franchise CEO Alex Martins for intimating that Van Gundy could not relate to players.Martins fired Van Gundy after the club was ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers.“It’s a typical lack of understanding from someone [...]

Dwight Howard embraces Lakers mystique in new photo

Dwight Howard embraces Lakers mystique with new Facebook photo

Murphy stays at E. Mich, won’t join Magic

Eastern Michigan coach Rob Murphy apparently has had a change of heart — and a financial hurdle to leap — and will not join the Magic’s scouting department.Murphy announced Thursday night that he will remain the Eagles’ coach. His about-face could have been influence by the fact that Murphy would have been required to pay [...]

It’s too early to accurately evaluate the Magic’s Dwight Howard trade

Was the Orlando Magic’s trade of Dwight Howard a smart move or a mistake the franchise will regret?It’s too early to tell.The wisdom — or lack thereof — of the deal cannot be measured accurately until at least several years have passed.Clarity only will emerge when the following questions are answered:1. Will Andrew Bynum become [...]

Schmitz’ Take: Get ready for Heart & Hustle II…sort of

Magic fans, welcome to Heart & Hustle, Part 2.Remember the 1999-2000 season? It was Operation Rebuild, otherwise known as Thanks, Shaq, For Nothing.A dozen years later…it’s Operation Rebuild, The Sequel, otherwise known as Thanks, Dwight, For Nothing. This time, there are some similarities, beginning, of course, with the departure of an all-world center to [...]

The Orlando Magic’s future salary commitments

In the NBA, salary-cap space is a valuable commodity because it helps teams to sign free agents and acquire players in trades. So how does Orlando Magic’s payroll stack up? This chart will give you an idea.Using databases from the websites HoopsWorld and ShamSports, as well as the NBA’s rookie-scale figures, we’ve compiled the current [...]

The Magic will receive these draft picks in the Dwight Howard trade

The Orlando Magic acquired a total of five draft picks in the blockbuster trade that sent Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers. Three of those picks are first-round picks. Two are second-round picks. Here is a breakdown of each of those picks, specifically explaining the conditions that apply to each one

Schmitz’ Take: Magic deal for Dwight good for rebuild

This is what rebuilding looks like.It’s open to criticism, it’s unpopular, it’s messy, and it’s depressing.That said, I have few, if any, problems, with what the Magic did in trading Dwight Howard to the Lakers.Ninety-nine percent of the Magic’s critics have amnesia and are looking at this blockbuster Dwight deal the wrong way. And that [...]

Dwight Howard, Lakers Headlines: A look at how others are reacting to pending blockbuster deal

Dwight Howard, Lakers Headlines: A look at how others are reacting to pending blockbuster deal

Schmitz’ Take: That hollow feeling returns with Howard trade

The Dwight Howard drama is over with Thursday’s blockbuster trade (pending league approval.) Our National Dwightmare is over — at least that’s what everybody says outside of Orlando. We know better.It will never be over, not really. Like Shaq’s exit, it will never ever leave a Magic fan’s subconscious.It will haunt.Time marches on, more players [...]

Schmitz’ Take: Magic likely wouldn’t keep Bynum or Gasol in latest Dwight scenario

The latest Dwight Howard trade scenario is a four-team blockbuster highlighted by Howard going to the L.A. Lakers and Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol funneled to the Magic, according toYahoo!Sports.It only makes sense for the Magic if they can flip either Bynum or Gasol for more assets in their major rebuild, along with gaining draft [...]

ProCamps’ chief executive defends Dwight Howard

Gregg Darbyshire, the chief executive of ProCamps Worldwide, feels it’s time to defend Dwight Howard. Darbyshire has read and heard all the handwringing about Howard bowing out of his youth basketball camp for kids Monday and Tuesday in Orlando.

Schmitz’ Take: Big Baby needs to be a leader

This coming season will be the best chance, maybe the last chance, that Glen “Big Baby” Davis will ever get to prove he can be a leader.The Magic will be under new management, from the front office to the floor, making the difficult transition without superstarDwight Howard (we’re assuming he’s gone).The Magic don’t need the [...]

Robbins: Magic’s current problems can’t be blamed on player development

The Orlando Magic have problems to address. But those problems are not the result of bad player development.

Glen Davis remains impressed with new Magic coach Jacque Vaughn

One of Jacque Vaughn’s first tasks as the Orlando Magic’s new coach was to speak with all the players on the roster, preferably face-to-face. He has met already with Glen Davis, the team’s projected starter at power forward.

The Orlando Magic are following the San Antonio Spurs’ model

The exact details of the Orlando Magic’s long-range plan remain unclear, but whatever path the team follows, it will bear the imprint of the San Antonio Spurs’ model. This past offseason, the Magic hired two products of the Spurs’ wildly prolific tree, and Magic executives have said publicly that they hope to replicate the Spurs’ success.