I can't sleep (and I'm kind of a numbers nerd) so I've compiled a ton of stats from 8 games since the two trades that the Magic made. I'll post what the stats are and also where the new post-trade stats would rank the Magic compared to the rest of the league.

TEAM STATS
W/L Record: 6-2

PPG: 103.1
NBA Rank: 7th

PPG Allowed: 93.8
NBA Rank: 7th

Point Differential: +9.3
NBA Rank: 2nd

Team FG%: 299-634, 47.1% FG
NBA Rank: T-5th

FG% Allowed: 275-647 - 42.5%
NBA Rank: T-1st

Team 3PT%: 94-218, 43.1%
NBA Rank: 1st

3PT% Allowed: 56-157, 35.6%
NBA Rank: T-13th

Team FT%: 133-184, 72.2%
NBA Rank: T-26th

FTs Allowed: 197, 24.6 per game
NBA Rank: T-13th

Rebounds: 42.0
NBA Rank: 13th

Rebounds Against: 40.75
NBA Rank: 12th

Rebound Diff: +1.25
NBA Rank: 11th

Turnovers: 15.3
NBA Rank: 21st

Turnovers Forced: 14.5
NBA Rank: 18th

Turnover Diff: -0.8
NBA Rank: 21st

Fastbreak Points: 16.1
NBA Rank: 5th

Opponent Fastbreak Points: 11.3
NBA Rank: 2nd

PLAYER STATS

New Players (sorted by MPG)
Hedo Turkoglu (8 games): 35.0 MPG, .442 FG%, .410 3PT%, .762 FT%, 12.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 5.6 APG, 1.9 TOPG, 1.3 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 4.0 FPG

Jason Richardson (8 games): 33.0 MPG, .440 FG%, .375 3PT%, .778 FT%, 12.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.5 TOPG, 0.8 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 1.8 FPG

Gilbert Arenas (8 games): 24.3 MPG, .337 FG%, .351 3PT%, .667 FT%, 10.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 5.0 APG, 2.9 TOPG, 1.3 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 2.8 FPG

Holdovers (sorted by MPG)
Dwight Howard (8 games): 36.3 MPG, .552 FG%, .000 3PT%, .621 FT%, 19.6 PPG, 15.2 RPG, 1.6 APG, 4.2 TOPG, 1.5 SPG, 2.6 BPG, 3.6 FPG

Jameer Nelson (8 games): 27.8 MPG, .459 FG%, .444 3PT%, .923 FT%, 12.0 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 5.0 APG, 2.3 TOPG, 1.1 SPG, 0.0 BPG, 3.1 FPG

Brandon Bass (8 games): 27.3 MPG, .542 FG%, .000 3PT%, .857 FT%, 11.7 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.8 TOPG, 0.3 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 2.0 FPG

JJ Redick (8 games): 26.4 MPG, .535 FG%, .611 3PT%, .846 FT%, 13.6 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.5 TOPG, 0.5 SPG, 0.0 BPG, 1.1 FPG

Ryan Anderson (6 games): 22.7 MPG, .434 FG%, .423 3PT%, .750 FT%, 10.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.8 TOPG, 1.1 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 2.1 FPG

--Amazingly enough, all 8 players in the rotation are averaging double figure points through 8 games. This is probably unsustainable, but this level of production being spread around the entire team is really incredible and unlike any other team in the league. This basketball team is SCARY deep, balanced, and dangerous on the offense end of the floor. 8 guys averaging 10+ points is just silly.

--Not only is this team loaded with offensive firepower, but despite a few poor halves, the Magic have really put the clamps down defensively. The defensive field goal percentage since the trade has been spectacular.

--Jameer is outplaying Gilbert in my opinion. Gilbert has had a couple of really brilliant performances (especially @ Cleveland), but Jameer has just been a more consistent game in and game out player since the trade. One thing I was really concerned about after the trade was that Jameer would be looking over his shoulder and pressing with Arenas lurking behind him on the bench. That hasn't happened. Jameer has been his usual self, only in less minutes a night with a much smaller play making role to shoulder every night.

--Another concern of mine was the fact that Dwight's shots and touches in general were going to go down with all the new weapons offensively. Thankfully, that hasn't happened. Dwight's scoring, FGA, and FTAs are all pretty much in line with where they were before the trade. One player that we can all thank for that is Hedo Turkoglu. Hedo and Dwight have a great rapport and Hedo is always looking to feed the monster in the post. Not only that, but Dwight's been blocking more shots and grabbing more rebounds since the trade. Hedo himself has been playing a great all-around game since he got back as well.

--JJ Redick is on freaking fire. 2nd leading scorer on the team since the trade and shooting a ridiculous 61% from three over the last 8 games. There is no possible way you can trade this guy right now unless you're getting a bonafide all-star power forward who's in his prime.

Thoughts?

--Jameer is outplaying Gilbert in my opinion. Gilbert has had a couple of really brilliant performances (especially @ Cleveland), but Jameer has just been a more consistent game in and game out player since the trade. One thing I was really concerned about after the trade was that Jameer would be looking over his shoulder and pressing with Arenas lurking behind him on the bench. That hasn't happened. Jameer has been his usual self, only in less minutes a night with a much smaller play making role to shoulder every night.

I Feel u, i thought this would be Meer/Arroyo all over again but im glad 2 see Meer has matured. Im liking Meer starting and Gil finishing, Either way i think our point guard tandem is 2 much for most teams 2 handle on any given night... And its a good "problem" 2 have

the stats are better in the 6 game winning streak, points differential is +90 or 15 ppg

Excellent post.

You should re-post that on the General Discussion board. I'd love to see the haters flock to it.

Pretty impressive and thanks for compiling this.

We won't trade JJ because we won't be able to get fair value for him. He won't land us an all-star PF, not even close and he's great in our system.

Did I just see Anderson out rebounding Bass?

The main stat that makes the difference is being ranked 2nd in the league in Fast Break points. That is a huge difference! They haven't had a good fast break in years.

I don't think Jameer is outplaying Gilbert at all. Maybe by numbers, but it seems like the offense always picks up and the team goes on a run when Gilbert and JJ enter the game.

If you look at +- numbers, the offense is far better when Gilbert is running the offense, and it's easy to see in the games the overall tempo is much better when Gilbert enters and the team usually goes on a run. But, it is better to have Gil off the bench because he wouldn't mesh as well with Hedo in the starting line-up.

Great post and effort. Im absolutely loving what im seeing and the fact of the matter is that we are still turning the ball over way too much and if we can cut that by 30% that could result in 6 extra points on the offense and -6 for the other team. Can you imagine that. this is based on 99tos in the past 6 games equalling 16.5to/g -30% =11.5=5 possessions=roughly 1.2points/possession.

What we were the fast break points/ranking prior to the trade? I think that the effort to push the ball by Nelson, Turk and even Arenas has been significant. I also think that's part of the reason the turnovers are so high

I'm most impressed with our FG% allowed and fastbreak points. Those are huge improvements and I think the one thing that will have to improve (and naturally will with practice) is turnovers.

funny how we add three new offensive players to our roster, and so our shooting percentages of the other players goes up. I guess Gil and Hedo just pass the ball exceptionally well.

Its a great rotation, this is what we've needed for a LONG time - a solid 8 man rotation (and just add a 9th "body" in for Dwight, a vet that only needs small time), this is much better than a 12 man rotation we've been having last year.

Still we've had hardly any practice with this team ..

damo[23] wrote:Its a great rotation, this is what we've needed for a LONG time - a solid 8 man rotation (and just add a 9th "body" in for Dwight, a vet that only needs small time), this is much better than a 12 man rotation we've been having last year.

Still we've had hardly any practice with this team ..

Excellent point.

I do wonder sometimes, is our recent success a product of just playing fast, loose, and free, with Stan knowing that we have new guys who don't know the system so he's let the reins up?

My math might be a little fuzzy, but the Magic have scored 326 fast break points on the season and 129 in the last 8 games.

That means in 26 games before the trade the team was averaging 7.5 fast break points per game which was distantly last in the NBA.

Since the trade they are averaging 16.1 fast break points a night which is obviously more than double from where they were before.

The Magic are still last in the NBA on the season in fastbreak points, but they have increased their season average from 7.5 to 9.6 in just 8 games.

Give it another 2 weeks and they should be middle of the pack. Another few weeks after that and they might be top 10.

Stats look great.. us Orlando fans have seen some nice stats the past 3 years..
But i still ask, who is our guy when we need a bucket.. who will go one on one and get us that huge bucket in the 4th qtr..

Shanghai Kid wrote:I don't think Jameer is outplaying Gilbert at all. Maybe by numbers, but it seems like the offense always picks up and the team goes on a run when Gilbert and JJ enter the game.

If you look at +- numbers, the offense is far better when Gilbert is running the offense, and it's easy to see in the games the overall tempo is much better when Gilbert enters and the team usually goes on a run. But, it is better to have Gil off the bench because he wouldn't mesh as well with Hedo in the starting line-up.

One reason to consider why the offense always seems to pick up and go on a run when Gilbert is in the game is because he's playing the vast majority of his minutes with Redick who has just been on a ridiculous hot streak since the trade.

It's certainly arguable that Redick has been the 2nd or 3rd best overall player on the team since they made the trade and Gilbert has definitely benefited from being able to play with Redick in the same backcourt often.

Since the trade what ive loved the most, is the tempo..
Im sure somebody can find a stat for this.. but what about dwights usage in the post.. these last 8 games, it seems as if we are going to him a lot less..

DHoward4Mvp wrote:Stats look great.. us Orlando fans have seen some nice stats the past 3 years..
But i still ask, who is our guy when we need a bucket.. who will go one on one and get us that huge bucket in the 4th qtr..

I think Hedo, Jameer, J-Rich, JJ, and I'll even throw Hibachi in there, are all capable and willing to take a big shot towards the end of the game.

I think that makes it really hard to guard us when 4 guys out on the floor towards the end of a game are all ready and capable to take a big shot and make it.

The best part of it is not a stat. OUR PLAYERS ARE HAPPY AGAIN. Our chemistry has grown so much. I thought it was going to be better, but not so quickly.
And we are AGAIN THE BEST 3PT SHOOTING TEAM!!! Hedo seems to be the key here. Believe t or not. He was made for the magic and the Magic was made for him.