Magic Wands: June 12, 2009

-Why Dwight Howard is such a nice change of pace from the tyrannical reign of Shaquille O'Neal.

-Interesting compilation of NBA Finals coverage on ESPN. I am still working my way through everything, but it seems like there are a lot of nice factoids inside here.

-Once again, vote for your all-time favorite Magic player. And don't just pick someone on this year's team because you have only been following the Magic for the last three months.

-Something will have to change in this rule in the near future. Ricky Rubio is suing his team in Spain to allow him out of his contract -- or to reduce his buyout -- so he can play in the NBA. NBA teams are only allowed to contribute $500,000 to buyouts. Rubio's buyout is expected to be $4-5 million.

-Want to live next to Dwight Howard and golfer Chris DiMarco? Here's your chance.

-The other 28 teams are in offseason mode. And it looks like the New York Knicks will zero in on Marcin Gortat.

-The Magic are winning the tug-of-war battle with the Heat for the state's affection right now, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says.

-Irsraeli league champion Carlos Arroyo is cheering on his former team.

-Apparently Reebok is all of a sudden unhappy that their client Marcin Gortat has a Michael Jordan tattoo on his right leg. He has had that ink for a while now. Don't know how they didn't notice.

-The NBA scores high marks for gender diversity in a new study.

-Deconstructing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's historic sky-hook.

-Marcin Gortat has the fastest car in the NBA. Or at least the loudest.

-The Magic have officially hit the big time. Dwight Howard will become the second Magic player to grace the cover of a video game box and the first to do so for the wildly popular NBA Live series. Howard will be the cover boy for NBA Live '10 (wanted to write 010, but that is just wrong). Looks like I will need to buy the newest version of NBA Live.

-John Hollinger uses his fancy stats to rank the NBA franchises. The Magic come in 15th (Insider Only) and Lakers are No. 1.