Some Love for Jameer

Jameer Nelson is my second favorite player on the Magic behind Dwight. He's the leader of the team, and a guy who is not afraid of the big moment. But I keep hearing more and more people saying we should trade Jameer, or bench him for Arenas. Now this is not about Gilbert, I was thrilled when we got him, and immediately pictured him as our Jamaal Crawford. This is about Magic fans not appreciating Jameer Nelson for what he brings to the team. People are quick to forget the All-Star season, when he was the best 2-pt shooter from medium distance. OR even last season in the playoffs where he torched Raynond Felton for a four game sweep. If it wasn't for 'Meer, Orlando would have easily lost in round one. No, people remember Jameer for his lackluster play in the Finals a few years back. And because he was clearly injured, he underperformed, but still logged more minutes than Rafer Alston. I agree he shouldn't have played that many minutes, but you had to think he gave us the best shot, (He averaged 23pts against the Lakers that season). So now that we have this new, high-scoring point guard, people are ready to say bye to Jameer. Well not me. Jameer is still more than capable of running this team. He hits 3's, pull up jumpers, can get into the paint and dish to the open man, he's even capable of playing defense time to time (he took a key charge in Orlando's most recent game to the Knicks). So people, please stop taking Nelson for granted. Next time you watch a Magic game, pay attention to all the things Jameer Nelson does for his team.