Enemy Lines An Opposing Team's Scout Sizes Up The Magic

Their big weakness has been interior defense, and it might get worse because they no longer have Darrell Armstrong and Jacque Vaughn pressuring the ball for 48 minutes. They need that pressure to create easy baskets in transition and to scramble the game. When you're able to execute your set plays against the Magic and work the ball inside, you know you'll either get a layup or go to the line, because they have nobody to defend the goal....

Tyronn Lue might be able to apply full-court pressure, but I don't see them getting it from first-round pick Reece Gaines, a 6'6" guard from Louisville who will have a hard enough time proving that he can handle the point in the NBA....

Juwan Howard and Drew Gooden are two of their best players and they're both power forwards, which means they're going to have a hard time playing together. Howard is skilled enough that you can throw the ball into him in the low post, but at 6'9" he'll be overmatched defensively against the bigger post-up centers....

Everybody talks about how Tracy McGrady needs to get his team out of the first round, but the guy who should be feeling the heat is coach Doc Rivers. A lot of people in the league criticize Doc for running plays that have no secondary option built in; if the defense shuts them down he just stops using them. So they wind up going to a lot of pick-and-rolls and post ups for McGrady, which makes them very easy to figure out....

The one advantage is that McGrady is handling the ball and he can create his own stuff. I go back and forth between him and Kobe on who's the best in the league....

They'll make the playoffs, but then they'll face a good, structured team that will know how to work the ball inside. I don't see how they get out of the first round.