Prepare for even more magic in Orlando next season.

Vin-sanity is now headed to the Orlando Magic. Why do I like this move? Not only because Vince Carter is an obvious All-Star and has shown superstar potential, but because the already loaded Orlando Magic made a move to get themselves even more loaded. Like The Matrix… reloaded.

I compare the positive nature of this move to their mid-season move of last year when they traded for Raefer Alston. When Jameer Nelson went down, the Magic picked up Alston to take care of the slack. In Alston they had found another capable point guard to run the floor for the Magic. Now, they have given up Alston and Tony Battie for Vince Carter. And in all seriousness, because they have a still budding Nelson at the point, that definitely makes Vince Carter worth those two players and the other no-name they gave up to get him.

Finally, the Magic will further be known as the team who thrives on the three point play. They still have Mikael Pietrus, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Jameer Nelson, and Courtney Lee who can all hit the dagger three. Even the capable Anthony Johnson can do it. Now they add Carter with Dwight Howard and they have two true All-Star players on their team. This proves that the Magic were not happy with the final result of their season and I commend them for it.

In the East you have five sub-500 teams fighting for an eighth seed in Milwaukee, New Jersey, Chicago, Indiana, Charlotte in order from best to worst, with the best, Milwaukee, sporting a 29-35 record.

Meanwhile in the wild West the Suns and the Mavericks are shifting between the eighth and ninth spots every few games or so. Currently, the Suns are in ninth and they have a 34-26 record. That’s better than the eighth seed in the East, Milwaukee, and also would tie them with Atlanta for the fourth seed and homecourt advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

It’s a little different when you get to the higher seeds though. The two seed in the West, the San Antonio Spurs are 40-19. If they were in the east, that too would be no better than the fourth seed in the East. Orlando, who is 44-16 and third in the east, would be second in the west.

Although not surprising, it’s still interesting.

Carlos Boozer of the Utah Jazz

In the past few weeks, the Utah Jazz have the leagues’ best hot streak with four straight wins. Two of those wins have come at home where they are 24-6 against the Lakers and the Celtics. Although Garnett did not play the second half, they still held serve and beat two experienced teams and one champion.

With Deron Williams’s career highs in points per game with 19.2 and an excellent 10.2 assists per game, it means this guy is averaging a double-double per outing. Carlos Boozer has been out for a while, but the other players have been picking up the slack: Ronnie Brewer with 13.5 points per game, Paul Millsap 14.6ppg, 9.2 rebounds per game, and even C.J. Miles with 10.0ppg.

The Jazz are set to welcome back Boozer’s 20.5ppg, and 11.7rpg. With that added to the two vets of Mehmet Okur, 18.0ppg, 8.4rpg, and Andrei Kirilenko 12.6ppg, and 5.5rpg and Utah has a seven man rotation that can averaging double-digit points per game. Last season they took L.A. to six hotly contested games in the second round of the playoffs. What’s even better for the Jazz is they pose a lot of matchup problems for opposing teams with their height, size, and strength.

I am not saying the Jazz are in the Finals already, but they could turn some heads and go as far as the Western Conference Finals.

Say hello to the league's next young equalizer.

Coming into this season, everyone knew that Brandon Roy was one of the rising stars in the league. However, up until his 52 point performance against the Phoenix Suns last night, he may very well be a rising super star.

I think the most widespread feeling across the league is that guys like Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge would make nice compliments to Greg Oden. However, until Greg Oden can begin to score twenty plus points per game, that cannot be said. Brandon Roy at this point is the player that you say “The team goes as far as Brandon Roy goes,” and his main man and sidekick is Aldridge, and not Oden.

Now, with Portland jumping to a 17-6 record which is good for 5th in the western conference, and coming off a recent three-game slump, the huge performance in Portland should propel the team to hit off some three to five game win streaks here and there for the next few weeks.

Go Brandon Roy.

So far in the NBA a few teams are back up to their old tricks, a few have been somewhat disappointing, and a good number of upstarts from last year as well as some surprising newcomers have begun to surface.

The newcomers that need to be involved in this discussion are as follows; in the east it’s Miami, New York, and New Jersey and in the west all of the other teams with playoff aspirations are of no surprise at this point in the season. Miami, led by top scorer in points per game, Dwyane Wade, are currently 9^th in the eastern conference standings. Last year, everyone remembers how atrocious they were. New York seems to be hitting its stride under the tutelage of former Phoenix head coach, Mike D’Antoni as they are 8-8 and 8^th in the standings. Finally, the previous season’s trade between the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets has finally begun to payoff, as the Devin Harris led Nets are 8-7, 6-4 in their last ten, and 7^th in the east.

The Upstarts from last year that are proving their worth are as follows; in the east it’s the Orlando Magic, the Atlanta Hawks, while in the west we have Portland and Denver. The Magic currently sit at 3^rd and atop the eastern conference standings at 13-4 going 9-1 in their last ten. Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, and Hedo Turkoglu and company are really hitting their stride. The continued and improved production of guard/forward Keith Bogans and the extra lift provided by off season veteran pick up Anthony Johnson as point guard have been stalwart.

The Hawks slid a bit after starting off 5-0 mainly because of losing Josh Smith for the next few months, but have regained form and are now 10-6 and 5^th in the eastern conference.

In the west the Portland Trailblazers, continue to look like a team of the future with stars Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and the potential of first-year NBA players like Rudy Fernandez, and Greg Oden. They are now tied with Phoenix, Denver, and Houston at 11-6 while going 7-3 in their last ten games.

Denver’s success can be attributed to the trade of Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. The Nuggets are 11-6 and 7-3 in their last ten while holding 3^rd place in the west. They have had many impressive victories and performances as they beat Boston in Boston, and took the Lakers to the brink of a loss in L.A.

Now come the disappointments. The Detroit Pistons are hovering somewhere between average and above average. Although they are 10-5 and in 4^th place in the east, they are suffering some inexcusable losses, most recently a 10+ point loss to Minnesota, do not yet seem to have their act together with Allen Iverson skipping the thanksgiving day practice (however, I do give huge props to Michael Curry for taking charge by suspending him for one game), and are not nearly as consistent as they were when they had Chauncey Billups in the lineup. 

The other eastern disappointments for the eastern conference are the Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Washington Wizards.

The Raptors just 8-7 and are barely holding a spot in the eastern conference as the 7^th seeded team. With capable point guard Jose Calderon, and former all-start Jermaine O’Neal, they should be doing better.

The Sixers were a team last year that without Elton Brand finished 6^th in the east and took Detroit to six games in the playoffs. Now with virtually the same team and Elton Brand, they are struggling to find their rhythm and are 7-9 and 5-5 in their last ten. As for the “Wiz Kids,” although without injured star Gilbert Arenas they may not have been a playoff contender anyway, they are still abysmal with their 2-12 record which is good for worst in the east. Last season they played without Arenas for the most part, but still managed to finish above .500 and make the playoffs. They have now fired their coach Eddie Jordan and are in a state of disarray.

The disappointments in the west are the New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, and L.A. Clippers. The Hornets finished second last year and were one game away from the western conference finals. They are now 9-6 and 7^th in the standings in the west. The Mavericks are 8-8 and look like they are ready to get their act together one game, and then go back to mediocrity the next. As for the Clippers, you would think they could be more competitive than their 3-13 record would suggest with the pickup of marquee point guard Baron Davis. Oh well.

As for the Spurs, I’m sure a lot of people would like to put them in as a disappointment, but they have been playing without Manu Ginobli for the entire season (who is set to return soon), and Tony Parker has just returned from his injury earlier in the season. To further their defense, they are now 9-7 and 7-3 in their last ten while being 8^th in the west.

Finally we come to the top dogs in the league.

In the east you have the Cleveland Cavaliers with their 14-3 records, 9-1 in the last ten games, and 2^nd place spot in the standings. They have put together a bevy of blowouts on their opponents this season, and the addition of a scoring point guard in Mo Williams has been absolutely huge for them.

The second team that has picked up right where they left off from last year is the Lakers. They are 13-1 and making mince meat out of would be superpower teams and have the best record in the NBA.

But the pinnacle of all teams continues to be the Boston Celtics. They’re 16-2 and are still dominating defensively and continue to get great production from their supporting cast members. And although the Lakers get much help from their bench and up and coming players, let’s face it… the Celtics are still the champs.

The last three teams I must mention are the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, and Utah Jazz. To me, these three teams are in a state of limbo. Houston would look to be an upstart, but they can’t seem to keep their stars, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, healthy. The Suns seem like the same team as last year, which wasn’t a contender anyway, and the Jazz keep being a team with potential that can’t seem to build on it.

That would about sum up the NBA season at or around its quarter mark. We’ll look to see who shifts from wherever they were in this discussion and who remains where they are in the coming weeks. As for those that I did not include in this article… you really just aren’t worth mentioning (Chicago, Indiana, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Golden State, Minnesota, Sacramento, Memphis and Oklahoma City).

NBA League Pass is a bargain at $180.00 for an entire season of 2,460 games.

 I don’t work for the NBA. I work for the SportsRoids authority of America in my spare time. But I must say that the NBA League Pass is something that diehard NBA fans should get. And I’m not talking about diehard fans of one team. I’m talking those who follow all the team’s records throughout the season, and who like to watch games because of the talent and action.

If you multiply the 82 games that each team plays each season by the 30 teams there are in the league you get a total of 2,460 games. It seems almost unbelievable! I have enjoyed watching great NBA basketball the past two years as a League Pass owner for various reasons.

The NBA likes to nationally televise the games between the contenders, but there are plenty other teams out there with start talent and superstars that aren’t being given face time. There are also a lot of young teams that have promising talent and fans cannot see them grow because they haven’t reached their potential yet and the NBA schedulers won’t “recognize” them.

I’m telling you, get NBA league pass. You get a whole lot of bang for your buck, and the games between underdogs and contenders are typically more competitive than if they met in a best of seven series. It is just a suggestion. 

Micheal Jordan Skys Above Penny Hardaway

I always wanted to be like Mike. Just look at him, it’s crazy. There will never be another MJ.

I always wanted to be like Mike. Just look at him, it’s crazy. There will never be another MJ.