P&T: The Magic are one of the few legit teams in the East, but I think we can agree that they're probably not going to be winning a championship this year. What's their downfall gonna be? Inconsistency at point guard? Lack of depth? Adonal Foyle?

3QC: I think it's a combination of those things, but the biggest problem is defense. We do a horrible job preventing penetration, which is why most of the guys who have torched them this year have been smallish, slashing guards: Dwyane Wade, Larry Hughes, and Ben Gordon are just three of the of the players who have posted season-highs against us this season. Just the other night, Andre Miller and Willie Green outscored our backcourt of Jameer Nelson and Maurice Evans, 52-2.

Offensive rebounding is also a concern, as is toughness. The Magic don't have a goon who can come into games and knock guys onto the court. While I don't advocate thuggery, it'd be nice to have some grizzled old guy in the paint to make the little guys think twice about venturing inside. Yes, Dwight Howard is intimidating, but he's not going to knock you out; he will, however, spike your shot into the 3rd row.

P&T: Other than tripling the team's average cholesterol, what has Stan Van Gundy's impact on this team been? What grade would you give him?

3QC: I love Stan. I think he's already the best coach in franchise history. He's candid, not afraid to rip his players, and he plays to his team's strengths. I don't know if many other NBA coaches could have managed to pair Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu and make it work, but he has. Unfortunately, the defense has gotten pretty awful lately, so I wish he'd turn up the intensity there. But overall, I'm stoked to have him coaching this team. He's the Man, and most Magic fans will agree.

P&T: Is Hedo Turkoglu's explosion this year merely a function of increased minutes, or is he doing something differently/better? Does this semi-breakout make you think all that money Rashard Lewis is making should've been spent elsewhere?

3QC: It's not that Hedo has gotten better, necessarily, but that he finally has a coach who has found a way to make use of Turk's exceptional ballhandling skills. He's our best playmaker and crunch-time scorer, and obviously the second-most valuable player on the team. And finishing second to Dwight Howard is nothing of which to be ashamed.

And no, I don't think Otis should have spent the Rashard money on anyone else. People talk about how Lewis spreads the floor for Dwight, and that's true, but they neglect to mention how that also opens up the lane for Turk (and our guards) to penetrate. It's weird to say that a 6'10" small forward does stuff that doesn't show up in the box score -- that talk is usually reserved to low-scoring guys who rebound and take charges -- but it certainly applies to Lewis this season.

What may become a problem is Turk's ability to opt-out after next season. He's certainly earned a big payday, and there may not be enough money to pay him fairly. Of course, he may choose to stay here if he feels like we stand a good shot at winning a title. But I really don't want to think about that right now. Picturing Hedo in another team's uniform hurts.

P&T: Orlando's bottom three minute-getters are J.J. Redick, James Augustine, and Pat Garrity. What does Van Gundy have against white people?

3QC: Let me first say that I laughed hysterically at this question. Thank you.

To answer it, I don't think Stan has anything against white people, but he does have NBA observers would agree that Redick is a better scorer than Keith Bogans, a shooting guard who is a career 39% shooter from the field , but Redick is just so poor on defense that Van Gundy can't justify playing him. Meanwhile, Augustine is probably a few months away from signing with a team in Greece, and Garrity is the same amount of time away from working behind a desk in the Magic's front office. Dude's been here for 9 years and the organization loves him. Neither of them fit into the team's long-term plans... on the court, anyway.

P&T: Before the trade deadline, you were clamoring quite a bit for Otis Smith to snaggle a decent big man. The deadline's come and gone, but I would imagine this is still a major need. Ideally, what type of player is ideal to complement Dwight Howard in the frontcourt?

3QC: Anyone of decent size who has the toughness to bang inside, but the shooting touch to knock down 13-footers consistently. Udonis Haslem, Joe Smith, and Kurt Thomas are jus three players who fit this description. Rebounding is obviously a weakness for us, even with Dwight, but the shooting ability is important because we want to keep as much distance between Dwight and the double-team as possible. Horace Grant did the same thing for Shaq during our last title run.

I'm sold on Davis as a player. He's got quick feet, busts his ass on defense, has one of the more developed offensive repertoires on the team and understands the game. Recognizing that you experienced half of the Michael Sweetney era up close, I probably don't have to go too in depth about how much Davis' weight scares Celtics fans. Eddy Curry and Jerome James work there as well. And I swear Davis' weight seems to fluctuate noticeably from week to week. However, he is thinner than he was at LSU and even occasionally gets enough lift to dunk of late. As far as his headshot goes, I'm not entirely sure. He is a class clown type and could have been screwing around. Just watch him get into his Christina Aguilera routine around the 2:20 mark. At the same time he may have been confused. It would be a lot easier to explain if it were David Harrison's photo.

In his recent visit to Boston Cassell said he wanted to play for Boston, went out and got ejected for a hard foul on the guy he would back up and then complained that he was misquoted by the Boston papers. And ClipperSteve is quick to remind everyone, Cassell to the Celtics does not make much sense for LA. Still the Cassell rumors just won't die. Meanwhile, Scot Pollard is over the hill, Kendrick Perkins recently hurt his shoulder, Leon Powe and Glen Davis are effective but undersized and KG is hurt and no one wants him to play center. A lot of Celtics fans are quick to call for a big man. But who is out there besides PJ Brown? If a guy is 7 feet and can play it's safe to assume he's on somebody's payroll. In the end I'd be happy to see Cassell join the team.

LeBron James absolutely terrifies me. The last time he played the Celtics LeBron hit some deep, video game style three pointers. I knew he could finish around the rim and pass when he felt like it. But the new range was unsettling. I also think "LeBroned" should be a verb. Example: The Pistons got LeBroned in last year's playoffs.

Fantastic question. I actually thought about this one for at least ten minutes. If you had asked me last season I would have said there was very little chance, given how young the Celtics were. On that squad I would guess that Paul Pierce, Wally Szczerbiak and Brian Scalabrine might drop that reference. Of those three Scal would have been the most likely because Szczerbiak took himself so seriously and Pierce was disgruntled. On top of that Scal is a goofy guy. He's got some serious Shaggy potential. Trust me on this one. But this year's edition of the Celtics is much older. Pollard strikes me as a big Scooby Doo guy. KG could go either way. He might be too active to sit still and watch TV. Or he could love it. Although, KG strikes me as the type of guy that lived for Mr. T's cartoon performances. Ultimately I have no evidence. But I imagine it occasionally happens until Tony Allen flies off the handle and demands that everyone make Power Ranger references. And Allen gets so worked up to the point that no one knows if he is serious. As a result everyone drops the Scooby talk and moves on. If you've made it this far I'd like to add that for some reason Rajon Rondo reminded me of Scrappy Doo. This has somewhat damaged Rondo's reputation in my eyes, which I previously thought was impossible. I blame you. And I would feel a lot better if Bryan Doo were named Bryan Splinter and this was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles discussion.