Magic Wands: November 7, 2008

-Looks like our sister team fell the expansion bug too. The Orlando Magic were infamously the first victims of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2005. Now the Minnesota Timberwolves are the first victims to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Chin up guys, someone had to be first.

-Weekly Power Ranking Check: NBA.com (15, down five spots), ESPN.com (16, down three spots).

-Remember when Josh Childress bolted the NBA for Greece? Yeah, I am not trying to think about that either. But the economic hard times in the U.S. not only have players and David Stern thinking internationally, but also other athletes. Phil Mickelson is apparently being enticed by the larger purses of European Tour events to consider jumping across the pond. This could be an interesting trend in sports.

-Also an American first (but not for soccer), David Beckham is on loan to AC Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy. Is the world of American sports moving toward players as tradeable commodities moving to an interleague and international stage?

-So Dwight Howard is not the greatest writer in the world and maybe giving him a blog was not such a great idea. It is nice to see his more playful side. He is not liking a lot of people after they said bad things about him after the team's 0-2 start. Do not worry Dwight, we know you do a lot for the community and you deserve that awesome new house. Just block all those bad comments -- or use them as motivation for another 29-point performance.

-The Magic have not had an MVP candidate since Tracy McGrady in 2003. Dwight Howard might change all that. He is seventh on the Race to the MVP list on ESPN.com. Not to eliminate himself completely, he seems to be the frontrunner for defensive player of the year with his display of blocking prowess so far this season.

-Speaking of award winners. If defending Most Improved Player Hedo Turkoglu were in the running for an award it would be least improved player. Turkoglu is averaging 17.3 points per game this season but is shooting only 29 percent from beyond the 3-point line. His poor performance Monday against the Bulls drew the ire of coach Stan Van Gundy.

-Van Gundy said Turkoglu came to camp out of shape and "when he gets a little tired, he doesn't want to do anything except jack up jumpers." Them's fighting words. I think Van Gundy is trying to light a fire under Turkoglu like he did with Howard last year. I do not know if Turkoglu is the type to respond to harsh criticism like Howard is. But we will find out. Either way, it still looks like Orlando will not be able to resign Turkoglu and if he continues to struggle it might be time to see what the team can get for him.

-Now we know why most owners vote Republican. Good thing Drew Rosenhaus is not in the NBA.