Magic need to clean up turnovers, defense

Orlando Magic fans and NBA know-alls alike are more than aware of the team's one big attempt at adding talent during the trade-deadline season: GM Otis Smith tried to grab forward/center Kurt Thomas for a pair of expiring contracts and the Magic's first-round pick in 2010. Seattle considered the swap then balked when the Spurs offered the same package, but with a pick in 2009 rather than '10.

At first glance, the trade seems a bit off. The Magic think they're a Kurt Thomas away from contending? Just a bit part away from the top? This is how deluded their front office is?

And then you think about it.

Thomas provides spacing, hitting that top-of-the-key jumper while allowing Dwight Howard to do his damage down low. He can set screens for the Magic guards without creating offensive fouls. He can still guard all comers down low, letting Howard roam for blocks and rebounds.

You think about this Orlando outfit a little more, and you start to wonder why they can't make a run even without Thomas' services.

The Magic are well above .500, an abject rarity for most other Eastern Conference teams. The group is more or less a lock for the Southeast Division crown, and with that banner comes the third seed in the Eastern playoff bracket. With that seed comes a first-round matchup with one of the Conference's lesser lights, followed by a likely pairing with either the Detroit Pistons (as it stands now) or Boston Celtics (should the C's start Brian Scalabrine at power forward for the whole of April).

Orlando is 4-3 against Boston and Detroit, combined. The Magic are the only team in the league to have beaten both twice. Stan Van Gundy's bunch has the best center in the East, competent point-guard play, two scoring forwards in their prime and a solid bench. What, exactly, are we missing here?

Actually, that's what coach Stan Van Gundy has been wondering all season.

Van Gundy has done a remarkable job with this team. The caveats behind that statement are many and of great importance, but he has turned last season's 40-win team into an outfit that is on track to win 52 games. Significant improvement like this cannot be solely credited to the addition of Rashard Lewis and the continued maturation of Dwight Howard.

Last season's Magic turned the ball over on 19 percent of their possessions, by far the worst mark in the NBA and primarily a function of Brian Hill's incredibly predictable offense. This year the team gives it away on 15.7 percent of its possessions, seemingly a mild improvement, but enough to rank a respectable 13th in the league. The offensive efficiency has shot from 22nd in the NBA to fourth, and though the defense has faltered as a result (seventh to 16th), you can't argue with the winning results.

So why are the Magic so maddening and why is nobody considering them a possibility for the Eastern Conference finals?

Mainly because the stigma remains, and it isn't entirely undeserved: This team can still be incredibly careless with the ball, it doesn't always take the best shot available and it sometimes forgets that it has to work hard defensively just to remain among the ranks of the mediocre. Put this frustrating mix together and the Magic are often looking at a 33-18 deficit as they head into the second quarter.

And yet, the Magic still have a chance to work their way into the lofty status that Boston and Detroit have enjoyed all season. Orlando is 38-23 and 15 of its last 21 games come against teams with losing records. In Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis, the Magic have a pair of forwards who turn 29 this year and are in the midst of their ostensible primes. Lewis has struggled to fit in at times, but he's also been cast as this team's fourth offensive option for long stretches and there's no reason why a hot hand and a few good screens wouldn't produce a 45-point night, even in the playoffs.

In Howard, the team has a go-to center who contributes on both ends of the floor and that's a facet that no team in the East can match, if not counter. If his head is in the right place, he can more than make up for the team's rebounding woes, get the opposition in foul trouble (thus sending Orlando's cadre of sound free-throw shooters to the line) and throw in 25 points without having many plays called for him.

So the stage is set. The run is possible. Van Gundy has inherited his predecessor's insistence on moaning about his point-guard tandem at every given opportunity, but things could be worse. J.J. Redick could use a few more minutes per game, but it's hard to argue with the league's fourth-best offense. The cohesion on both ends of the floor will likely improve as the season drones on and Van Gundy's pleas become more and more familiar.

All it takes is an inspired run to end the season, and the Magic – great in the one position (low-post center) Boston and Detroit are not – could find themselves a worthy conference finalist come June.