What Otis Smith Had To Say...
The Orlando Magic got their most convincing win of the season dropping the Atlanta Hawks last night 121-87 in Orlando.
Magic General Manager Otis Smith gave HOOPSWORLD a few minutes last night after the game, and covered a wide range of topics including how impressive his team was on offense and defense last night.
"I think the guys are just trying to play healthy basketball," explained Otis. "That's kinda of what it's about; it's about getting better every night. And getting healthy enough to play in the post season, and I think we're getting there a step at a time."
Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy continues to be a relentless task master in his second year as head coach, continually preaching that his club tends to play to the score board, while he wants them to compete for every possession something the Magic did last night, even with a 50-point lead at one point in the 3rd quarter.
"Tonight's been the only night we've done that," joked Otis. "It seems we like it close. I told our guys they kinda have A.D.D when it comes to basketball and leads. I thought everybody played well tonight, the ball was going in the hole and we defended well."
The Magic have been a constant in NBA rumors circles, namely because the team is very thin at the point guard position. The Magic have been rumored to have entertained trades involving forward Brian Cook and fan favorite J.J. Redick, both player played extended minutes last night and shot the ball very well from outside.
"I don't know the rumor mill, I really don't subscribe to it," joked Otis about the rumors of his team looking for deals with Redick and Cook. "We have a pretty good locker room, with a pretty good group of guys. When they are all healthy, we're a hard team to play. There are not a lot of teams that want to line up... tonight we shot the ball well, J.J. and Brian came in and did what they do, they shot it well and got a lot of open looks."
The constant roadblock to a deal according to sources near the Magic is the commitment to the team's unique chemistry.
"I think chemistry should be important to almost every team regardless of the sport," explained Otis. "They say with chemistry you don't know when you get it and you don't know when you lose it, but you do know when you don't have it, and I think right now we have a pretty good locker room, so it's hard to say "Ok let's do this, do this" and mess up your locker room. That's important."
The NBA trade deadline is less than 40 days away, and talks around the league are heating up and Otis admitted he and the Magic were looking and would continue to look for the right deal.
"I wouldn't be a general manager if I didn't look," explained Otis. "I think you have to look. You have to see what's out there; if anything makes sense you do it. For the most part we like our team the way it, we'll roll them out there and see what we get."
The Magic's most glaring roster need is an additional point guard, something Magic coach Stan Van Gundy and Otis Smith have said was the most pressing need all season after losing backup Mike Wilks to a season-ending knee injury.
"The third point guard has kinda of been out there because it's a hole," explained Otis. "It's not really a hole; you gotta play the guys who have been getting the job done. Jameer's been getting it done. When he went down we played AJ, and then we played Turk behind him and Courtney some. It's not a huge need. It's just a luxury that you'd like to have, if you can have it, but it has to make some kind of sense for us. You can't just do it, to do it."
The Magic will face their toughest stretch of games yet, a stretch that includes facing all five division leaders in an eight game stretch, giving Otis and his staff enough looks against elite teams to see if his club really needs a deal or if they are ready to roll as constructed.
