The Orlando Magic began the season as a frontrunner in the NBA Eastern Conference only to hastily reshuffle their roster at the first sign of trouble. Two months later, they're showing signs of embracing a newly assumed underdog role -- as unlikely as that may seem given they went to the conference finals last year and NBA Finals two years ago. And the Magic have renewed optimism after beating the reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers over the weekend.
But it will take more than one significant win to fill in the cracks in Orlando's foundation, especially when the team's two highest-paid players -- Dwight Howard and Gilbert Arenas -- are lightning rods for locker room shattering controversy.
Only last week Howard fended off rumors that he wants to leave Orlando when his contract runs out in 2012 without giving any sign that he's actually thinking about staying.
"I never said I wanted to leave stop reading the rumours," Howard responded to a fan on Twitter. "It's really stupid. And annoying to be honest. They tryna make something outta nothing I have another yr under my contract before I can sign."
Arenas, meanwhile, likely isn't going anywhere due to the albatross of a contract he brought with him from Washington -- along with the unconvincing arguments for why he'll eventually be the player he used to be.
The superstar Arenas of old was gone long before this season started in Washington. And now in Orlando, he's the Magic's worst-shooting player (34.9 percent) aside from Malik Allen , who's played in 10 games all year. In the month of February, Arenas has missed 21 of 23 3-point attempts, yet he thinks he should have the ball more.
"When I look back at our games, when we were on the nine-game winning streak, I was dominating that second unit," Arenas told Sports Illustrated last week. "I need to get back to that."
The Wizards waited years for Arenas to get back to his pre-knee injury form and look where it got them. If the Magic can't achieve what they hope to in the playoffs this season, they could be headed down the same road.
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