Jameer Nelson: Best Choice as Orlando Magic Point Guard

The doubt started to creep in months ago. But Jameer Nelson held his tongue while the only NBA team he has ever known quietly shopped him around the league.

The whispers of an imminent trade quickly turned into the sound of eager footsteps running swiftly to Central Florida from as far away as Phoenix, Northern California and Toronto. Yet he never felt compelled to justify to the press or his teammates why he was a better fit than Steve Nash, Monta Ellis or Jose Calderon to play point guard for the Magic.

The squeaking sounds of sneakers on hardwood hoping to head south soon combined with Amway Arena murmurings, as disgruntled Orlando fans witnessed the 30 year-old struggle through the first half of this abbreviated NBA season. As expected, though, he continued to play hard despite being dinged up while comporting himself as the consummate professional.

But the frustrated groans from the Magic fans paled in comparison to the unexpected, unintentional personal sting of betrayal directed his way from his friend and teammate for the past seven seasons. Still, he never complained when All Star center Dwight Howard publicly coveted other point guards, like All Stars Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo and Deron Williams, over him.

Now, a week after the NBA All Star break and a week before the NBA trade deadline, Jameer Nelson is still the Orlando Magic's starting point guard. And the six footer from St. Joseph's should remain in that position for the rest of the season.

In spite of a less than stellar year statistically and the media circus stemming from the Dwight Howard trade distractions and in spite of a limiting left knee strain, Jameer Nelson is still the Magic's best choice to guide the 25-14 Magic into the 2012 NBA playoffs.

The price of trading Nelson is too steep for the team to even consider. Not only will the Magic need to part with much more talent than Nelson to obtain an elite point guard, but they would also lose a pillar of the Central Florida NBA franchise, who was having a break out year until he tore his labrum during the season the Magic advanced to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009.

Nelson must remain in Orlando as the Magic's man at point. History supports my claim.

As a ball handler, Nelson has turned the ball over only 2.1 times per game during his career.

A deft penetrator and willing distributor of the ball, Nelson has averaged 5.5 assists per game during his career and will continue finding open teammates on the best three point shooting squad in the NBA.

Though a nagging knee injury this season has impacted his long range shooting, Nelson is a capable 39% career three point shooter. He forces teams to think twice about doubling down on Dwight Howard with Nelson and other excellent long range shooters like Hedo Turkoglu, J.J. Reddick, Jason Richardson and Ryan Anderson on the floor.

Most importantly, Nelson is the quality leader that Coach Stan Van Gundy and GM Otis Smith had hoped Dwight Howard would become. The Magic cannot afford to lose this veteran's maturity, grit, solid defense, ball protection and ability to knock down big shots during critical times in an NBA playoff game.

Expect Nelson's knee to hold up in the second half of the season. Then, as the trade rumors are quickly forgotten, the murmurings of the Magic fans will be muted by the sneaker squeaking footsteps of Jameer Nelson as he leads the Magic past the first round of the NBA playoffs into an Eastern Conference showdown with the Miami Heat or Chicago Bulls.

Straight talk. No static.

MIKE - aka Mike Raffone - the ultimate talking head on sports!