Le Basketbawl

Back in the early days of the NBA and even when Your Old Pal New York Vinnie was a teenager the league was ruled by giants. Ever since the early success of George Mikan and the old Minneapolis Lakers having a talented big man on your team was the number one priority for most teams in the league. However over the last few years the game has evolved away from that. In the current NBA there a whole lot more talented guards and small forwards throughout the league than talented centers. When it comes to guys in the pivot as New York Vinnie has told you many times there is the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard; and then there is everyone else.

The reason that the Orlando Magic defeated the heavily favored Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA  Eastern Conference Finals was Cleveland could not match up effectively with the starters Orlando had on the hardwood. By having the best center in the NBA in D-Howard the Magic had the luxury of starting two guys who were very similar in their talents making up the rest of the front-court. The Cavaliers kept getting messed up by a front-court composed of Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and Howard and the Magic were able to exploit that match-up and make it to the NBA Finals.

Well that will not be the case this year as Turkoglu signed a free agent deal with the Toronto Raptors and former sixth man Mickael Pietrus is expected to take his spot in the starting rotation. Can this new front line be just as effective as last season’s was? New York Vinnie does not believe so for a few reasons. First and foremost is a little nugget that the “Orlando Sentinel” reported Friday. Pietrus is still suffering from pain in his right wrist after fracturing it last December.  He is playing through that pain right now but how realistic is it that he can play in pain for an entire season and the Playoffs?

Pietrus is playing the good soldier and being stoic and New York Vinnie admires him for that. Every person’s pain threshold is different as well what could be enough to knock one person off their feet might be mild to another. Still how much pain can one person take especially when it is your shooting hand? Pietrus told reporters “It’s still painful. But at the same time, I go through pain all the time. So, for me, it’s more a matter of helping my teammates during the season.”

Mickael that is manning up big time and New York Vinnie truly respects you for having that mind-set. However My Man you will have opposing players swatting at that bum wrist numerous times every time you are on the floor. Now Orlando does also have Matt Barnes that they could use as the starting small forward but New York Vinnie is not sure if he truly is a starter for a team hoping to get back to the Finals. Brandon Bass who is the Free Agent they signed formerly of the Dallas Mavericks could play power forward and you could shift Rashard to the small forward position but again that does not make them as strong as last year.

New York Vinnie believes that the Orlando Magic will still be a very good team this season however I do not see them heading back to the Finals. They might not even win their division this year as the Miami Heat will be a legitimate threat. This is a different Orlando team than the one that made the Finals last spring; New York Vinnie does not think that  this edition will be that effective.