Orlando Magic '97-98

...Should Penny Play Shooting Guard?...

Penny Hardaway moved to the second guard slot after Rony Seikaly got hurt in Game 3. He took it upon himself to be the entire offense and he was a pretty good one. He averaged 39 points in the final three games of the series from the two-guard slot and nearly gave the Magic an upset win. After that, people were asking why he hadn't been at that position all along.

Remember when the Bulls moved Michael Jordan to "point guard" in the early '90's and it brought them a little more success than they had been having? Jordan didn't really take over the point, but the Bulls created an offense where they could get all their best offensive players on the court at the same time, despite not one of them being a true point guard. The Penny move is not all that different. Hardaway plays a position that is defined by his skills, not by some artificial definition of a point guard or an off guard. Wherever he plays on the court, he has to be on the court and his teammates have to fit with him.

In Chicago, Scottie Pippen has really turned into the closest thing to a point guard, bringing the ball up, serving as the most common player to dribble around on a pick-and-roll, and the team leader in assists. Orlando needs to find out who their best players are and get them on the court, wherever that might be and determine if one of them can improvise a complimentary role to Penny.

The problem now is determining who their best players are...

...How Much Should Rony Seikaly Be Involved?...

This is related to the previous question because, as mentioned, Penny started scoring and the Magic started winning once Seikaly went down with an injury.

Seikaly is a passable center. He is not a liability because he does most of the things a center should do defensively and he usually converts the easy shots he gets. He is just very erratic in his ability to create for himself. Some games, he can be a serious threat that the other team must double team. Other games, he will miss the easy stuff.

Even if Seikaly is hitting his shots, he is a low post scorer and that means less room for Hardaway to create inside. This typically isn't a problem for great players, but there were rumors of complaints about Shaq preventing Penny from being his best because he was always on the low box.

The Magic do need a center to guard the big centers around the league. Seikaly is the best of their centers even if he was not helping against Miami and replacement Danny Schayes was. Coach Chuck Daly is pretty creative in finding ways that his players can help -- witness Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman. He will find a way to get Seikaly in the game and make him work with Penny.

...How Do Anderson and Grant Fit In?...

Horace Wimp missed the entire playoff series with a sprained wrist. Most thought that the injury was not enough to keep him out, but Grant insisted. Miami did pretty well without him, using Derek Strong in his place. It is likely, however, that Strong's size and shooting problems will keep him from being effective over the course of a season. Grant is one of the league's best defenders at the power forward spot and doesn't make mistakes on the offensive end.

The toughest player to figure out then is Nick Anderson. Anderson was a valuable player until last year, even during his troubled '96 season after missing the four critical free throws against Houston in the '95 Finals. More than anything Orlando has to get the real Anderson back. His failures last year to get to the line, to make it from the line (shooting only 40% from the line), and to find his game within the three-point arc have to be corrected. That may be the key to Orlando's success this year because Penny Hardaway cannot do it all, no matter what position he plays.