After an intense first day of practice, the team was back out on the floor Wednesday morning - a little over 13 hours after Tuesday evening's session came to a close.
If there were any signs of fatigue after Day 1, they weren't too visible in the early stages of practice as the
intensity and hustle of the first practice seemed to carry over well to Day 2. In fact, in the first hour, Trevor Ariza
and Carlos Arroyo went through a couple intense battles during one-on-one drills, Darko Milicic and J.J. Redick both went
to the floor hustling after the ball and Grant Hill had to be treated for a bloody nose after taking a hard hit
to the face.
But for each player that went to the floor after hustling for the ball, there were three teammates at his feet ready to
pick him up. And
while some are challenging for a spot in the starting rotation and everyone is competing for playing time, it's those
little things that demonstrate this team's desire to win and play as one.
Augustine Visitors: Rookie James Augustine has seen a couple familiar faces watching over his first days of NBA
training camp. On Monday, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive back Nick Sorensen - who also happens to be Augustine's cousin -
watched a bit of the morning session. On Tuesday morning, Bruce Weber - Augustine's coach at Illinois - stopped in to
watch some practice.
Dwight Finishing Strong: One of the most impressive things I've seen in the first couple days of training camp is how
well Dwight is playing close to the basket. Perhaps all that summer training against Elton Brand, Chris Bosh and company
really paid off. There doesn't seem to be any hesitation from Dwight on putting the ball on the floor, making a quick
move and then getting to the rim. Dwight has had some stellar post moves against Darko Milcic, Tony Battie and Bo Outlaw
in the first couple of days.
Hedo Feeling Ill: Forward Hedo Turkoglu was not with the team for the morning session while feeling a little under the weather. Turkoglu is battling a case of the stomach flu at the moment.
Bogans on D: One major hole the Magic will have to fill this season will be the defensive presence left by DeShawn
Stevenson, who signed this summer with the Washington Wizards. Look for free agent acquisition Keith Bogans to play a
large role in filling that void. While a member of the Magic during his previous stint with the team, along with his time
in Charlotte and Houston, Bogans has proven his ability to play tight defense and has looked good in camp - regardless of
who he is defending. He also has a solid shot and should be able to contribute just as much as Stevenson did on the
offensive side of the ball.
Evening Session - Day 2
By Matthew Gardner | October 4, 2006
Before Wednesday evening's session, the team had endured nearly 10 hours of court time through three practices. With such a rugged start to the week, the first hour of practice No. 4 was almost certainly welcomed by all 16 on the court.
The players spent the first 60 minutes on Wednesday night going through some conditioning exercises, followed by working through a number of offensive situations - a relatively light load compared to their prior on-court activities.
The second hour was a bit more strenuous with some more drills and work on executing the offense.
Teaching the Newbies: Keith Bogans and J.J. Redick have both mentioned how great the returning players from last year's squad have been in helping them learn a new system. And while Bogans is entering his fourth season in the league, he admitted it always takes some time to learn a new playbook.
As one offensive play was being dissected by Coach Hill on Wednesday night, Trevor Ariza was on the sidelines helping Redick understand the play. The same type of tutoring could be seen with Bo Outlaw talking to Jackie Manuel and Pat Garrity and Outlaw discussing situations with James Augustine.
Battie's Knee: After tweaking his right knee late in Wednesday morning's practice, Tony Battie participated in a limited number of conditioning activities in the evening - doing mostly upperbody work. But he was on the court as the team ran through some offensive sets and cautiously worked through some jumpshot drills with the other bigs.
Other Camp Aches and Pains: Hedo Turkoglu was again missing from action while recovering from a bout with the stomach flu and Grant Hill sat out much of the evening's workout - just for precautionary reasons like Tuesday, nothing injury related.
After undergoing four practice sessions over a two day period, the aches and pains and soreness are bound to set in. Such was the case with rookie J.J. Redick, who participated in the first hour of workouts before sinking his sore left foot in a bucket of ice. Redick recently tore some soft tissue on the bottom of his foot and the soreness started to flare up on Wednesday. Trevor Ariza also sat out the final few minutes of practice.
After an intense first day of practice, the team was back out on the floor Wednesday morning - a little over 13 hours after Tuesday evening's session came to a close.
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