Tania Ganguli of the Orlando Sentinel has a good article about Orlando’s lineup while Rashard Lewis is out.

•The lineup: Howard, Bass, Pietrus, Carter, Nelson

I prefer Pietrus off of the bench.

•Why this might work: With the exception of Bass, this is an experienced bunch. Nelson, Pietrus and Howard know how the system works with this team and could take leadership roles in getting the two newcomers, Carter and Bass, into the fold. this is the strongest lineup, talent-wise, in a traditional scheme.

•Why this might not work: the question remains about how effective the Magic would be in a traditional lineup, though. what worked last year was precisely that their lineup wasn’t traditional. but with Lewis out and Hedo Turkoglu in Toronto, the Magic are down another perimeter shooter. this lineup will test how effectively the team can operate traditionally.

My personal choice is Howard, Bass, Barnes, Carter and Nelson because Pietrus was so good off of the bench during the post-season.

Getting a third PG is very important for the Magic.

Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to sign former Celtics PF Leon Powe. Cleveland won 66 games last season and have improved their roster.

Linas Kleiza has decided to join Josh Childress and sign with Olympiakos.

Former Magic target and Florida State product Von Wafer has also signed with Olympiakos.

Jeremy Richardson, who was on Orlando’s summer league roster and spent last year with the Magic is also heading to Greece. He has signed with Aris Thessaloniki.

LeBron James says that he still wouldn’t shake hands with Orlando after their game 6 victory if he had to do it over. Talk about a sore loser.

John Hollinger ranked the offseasons off the Eastern Conference teams. He likes Orlando’s moves, but is also worried about backcourt depth.

The one reason for misgiving is a lack of backcourt depth after the trades of Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee to New Jersey; now Mickael Pietrus is a likely starter and J.J. Redick and Anthony Johnson will have to play major minutes, and another injury to Nelson could leave them exposed.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger.Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily. Check out his ACC Football preview here.)

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