"For a team that went to the Finals, we really haven't gotten the respect teams normally do,'' Van Gundy said at the Magic's headquarters. "Based upon what we did last year, I think our players do feel a little under appreciated and under respected.''
Although the Magic beat both the Celtics and the Cavaliers last spring on the way to reaching the Finals, their draft-night trade for Vince Carter was shadowed when Boston added Rasheed Wallace and Cleveland traded for Shaquille O'Neal.
"It was a lot of little things, and in the long run they're not very important, but you feel it,'' Van Gundy said. "Like the television schedule. Normally on Christmas Day, you get a rematch of the teams that played in the Finals. But instead, we get a Christmas Day matchup of the teams that they (TV executives) wanted to see in the Finals.''
The Magic are underrated? Really? Sorry Stan, but I'm not feeling you.
The media is overrating the Magic following their horrible* off-season in which they let their best offensive player (Hedo Turkoglu) walk, and traded a budding star (Courtney Lee) for a notoriously selfish and one-dimensional player (Vince Carter).
Van Gundy makes a good point about the Christmas Day schedule, however he's slighting the Celtics by doing so.
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*Editor's Note: Upon further review, I've decided "horrible" may be too harsh of a description for the moves Orlando made in the off-season considering they bolstered their bench with Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes. Regardless, I still do not like the changes made to their starting five.