Orlando Magic and 3 Other Teams Who Won't Be Back in the Playoffs Next Year

If you haven't heard, Dwight Howard wants out of Orlando. Also, if you haven't heard that, I don't know if I want to talk to you. You've obviously been living under a rock for the entire summer.

I don't associate with those type of rock people.

Anyways, with the impending departure of Howard, the Orlando Magic organization is in the process of hitting the reset button on their entire franchise.

With Howard out at the end of the season, the Orlando Magic struggled down the stretch and were bounced in the first round by the upstart Indiana Pacers.

Magic fans should not expect even that much success in the upcoming season.

Quite simply, you don't lose the best big man in the NBA and still cling to what little relevance you have left to sneak into the playoffs the next season.

It doesn't happen.

Here's three other teams that shouldn't expect to be dancing into the postseason for a second straight year.

New York Knicks

First off, let us be clear that I'm not saying the departure of Jeremy Lin will have a negative enough impact on the Knicks that he is the reason they will miss the playoffs next year.

With that said, the upcoming year is when the ball unravels on the Amare-Carmelo experiment. This whole thing was predicated on New York snagging some sort of floor general to be the mad scientist behind the uber-talented stars.

Well, that time has came and gone in the forms of hopeful acquisitions of Chris Paul or Steve Nash. When the dust settled, New York ended up with only a decent guard in Raymond Felton and an aging Jason Kidd.

They didn't quite get there.

The rest of the East is shaping up to have some good offseasons with the likes of Milwaukee having a great draft and filling some holes nicely and Cleveland if they can pull off the deal for Andrew Bynum.

I'm afraid this is the year that New York gets lost in the middle and the plug is pulled on the Knicks.

Dallas Mavericks

What a difference a year makes.

Last season, the defending champion Dallas Mavericks snuck into the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and were ran over by a far more talented Oklahoma City Thunder.

Now, with the departures of Jason Kidd and Jason Terry, the Mavericks are left quite leaderless and with very sad hopes of again making the playoffs in 2013.

To their credit, they have brought in some nice younger players in the likes of O.J. Mayo, Darren Collison and Jae Crowder, but it won't be enough this year.

Also, their roster boasts the names of Dirk Nowitizki, Elton Brand, Vince Carter and Shawn Marion.

That's a solid core.

In 2004.

Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round the 2012 NBA playoffs.

That's pretty much all the relevant facts about the Utah Jazz you need to know from last season.

This summer, they traded their speedy point guard Devin Harris to Atlanta for Marvin Williams. To replace Harris they went out and snatched Mo Williams.

Call me crazy, but I don't think that's going to work.

The latter Williams is a solid guard, but has done most of his damage in the NBA as a three-point sniper coming off the bench. Their other option at the point guard spot is Earl Watson.

No one—and I do mean no one— wants to see Earl Watson lead their team for an entire season.

The truth is that Utah does have some pretty good pieces in place. They have a more than capable front line and could be relevant again someday. 

It's just not enough to take a step forward next season.