26-year old center Dwight Howard has to be getting angry with the rest of his teammates.  The Magic have lost four of their last five games and they are getting outscored 92.0 to 78.6 in those games.  Howard is doing his part as he has averaged 20.0 points, 13.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocked shots in his last five games.   Howard has played in 20 games (all starts) for the Magic so far this year and he is averaging 37.4 minutes, 20.2 points, 15.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.1 blocked shots per game.  The bad thing for the Magic is that they are 12-8 on the year and the team is built around Dwight Howard.  Howard allows a lot of guys  to get open shots as defenses try to stop him.  So if the Magic decide to deal Howard, I think they are going to go downhill no matter what they get back for him.  The front office is going to have a very difficult decision when dealing with the Dwight Howard situation, as he is much more than the Magic’s all-time leading scorer.

32-year old small forward Hedo Turkoglu is off to a good start for the Magic so far this year.  He has played in 16 games (all starts) for the Magic so far this year and he is averaging 31.3 minutes, 13.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.  Turkoglu is shooting 38 of 81 (46.9%) from three point range so far this year and that is outstanding.  Turkoglu helps keep everyone involved in the offense as he is like having a second point guard on the court and that is a good thing.

26-year old center Dwight Howard is letting his play do the talking so far this year.  He has played in 8 games (all starts) for the Magic so far this year and he is averaging 39.1 minutes, 20.3 points, 15.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 2.6 blocked shots per game.  The Magic have maintained that they don’t want to trade Dwight Howard, but, they probably will in advance of the trade deadline.  The Magic are looking for good, established veteran players back for Howard…so it will be interesting to see who offers the biggest package for him.

23-year old power forward Ryan Anderson has been outstanding for the Magic so far this year.  He has played in 3 games (all starts) for the Magic so far this year and he is averaging 31.3 minutes, 18.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  Anderson is also shooting 11 of 25 (44%) from three point range so far this year.  Anderson is playing so well right now that they can’t give Big Baby Davis the minutes they thought he was going to get.

26-year old power forward Brandon Bass sent out the old play me or trade me vibe before the 2010-11 season started.  The Magic then decided to give Bass a chance to show them what he could do and he played well.  Bass played in 76 games (51 starts) for the Magic last year and he averaged 26.1 minutes, 11.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  Bass has now played in 336 games (59 starts) in his first six years in the NBA and he is averaging 18.4 minutes, 7.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  The Magic will likely go into next year with Brandon Bass as the starting power forward.

51-year old head coach Stan Van Gundy is still doing a solid job for the Orlando Magic.  They were 52-30 (63.4%) during the regular season but they were 2-4 (33.3%) in the playoffs against the Hawks.  Van Gundy now has a 222-106 (67.7%) record during the regular season in his four years with the Magic.  He is also 30-24 (55.6%) during the playoffs as the head coach of the Magic.  Van Gundy might be a whiner, but he’s still a very solid NBA head coach.  Van Gundy has a career record of 334-179 (65.1%) during the regular season and he is 47-35 (57.3%) during the playoffs.

25-year old center Dwight Howard has been the best center on the planet for quite some time now, but, he’s growing frustrated with the Magic’s inability to surround him with impact players.  He has declined to sign a long term deal with the Magic, which lends me to think that they could make a huge mistake and deal him.  Howard played in 78 games (all starts) for the Magic last year and he averaged 37.6 minutes, 22.9 points, 14.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.4 blocked shots per game.  He has now played in 567 games (566 starts) in his first 7 years with the Magic and he is averaging 36.0 minutes, 18.2 points, 12.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steal and 2.2 blocked shots per game.  Howard is already the Magic’s all-time leader in both rebounds (7,287) and blocked shots (1,228).  He is also #2 in games played (567), #4 in steals (545) and he’s #2 in points scored (10,322) in Magic history.  They need to keep Howard at all costs, so they will need to find some way to improve the roster around him.

It’s desperation time for the Orlando Magic right now, so they should give Gilbert Arenas a shot to shine tonight.  Arenas came alive in Game #4 for the Magic and he almost brought them all the way back.  He had 20 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 blocked shot in only 22 minutes in that game.  Arenas has now played in 3 games (0 starts) in this series against the Hawks and he is averaging 13.7 minutes, 9.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  With the way the shooting guards are playing in this series, it’s time to turn Agent Zero loose.

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard has won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award for the third consecutive year.  He played in 78 games (all starts) for the Magic during the regular season and he averaged 22.9 minutes, 14.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.4 blocked shots per game.  He is quite simply the best center in the NBA, period!  He proved it again in Game #1 against Atlanta when he finished up with 46 points, 19 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 blocked shot.  Howard rules the paint for the Magic and he deserved this award.

32-year old small forward Hedo Turkoglu is really stepping up so far in March for the Magic.  In his last five games, Turkoglu is averaging 38.0 minutes, 16.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game on 50% shooting from the floor.  He has now played in 44 games (all starts) for the Magic so far this year and he is averaging 33.9 minutes, 10.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  Turkoglu is shooting 41.1% from three point range for the Magic this year as he is taking full advantage of the collapsing defenses on Dwight Howard.  They need him to keep up the good work.