Jameer Nelson has won the Rich and Helen DeVos Community Enrichment Award, the Magic and the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation announced at tonight's 23rd Annual Black Tie and Tennies Charity Gala.

The award recognizes the community efforts of players off the court to "enhance others' lives." The past award winners are a who's who of Magic greats and include Nick Anderson, Anfernee Hardaway, Darrell Armstrong, Dwight Howard and J.J. Redick. This was Nelson's first time winning the award. The award is in the form of a $50,000 donation from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation a charity of the recipient's choice.

Nelson has long been active in the Orlando community as so many other Magic players are.

Of note (and mentioned in the Magic's release), Nelson has been a constant presence at the Magic's yearly trip to the Coalition for the Homeless around Thanksgiving where the team provides more than 600 meals to needy families during the holiday season. Nelson's work on that front continued where he provided holiday gifts to two families associated with Orange County Public Schools Homeless Division.

Nelson has very much been a part of memorable holidays for families in need.

Family is a big part of Nelson's life. And his charitable work extends well beyond Orlando.

Arron Afflalo will miss the final 12 games of the season with a strained hamstring, the Orlando Magic announced Saturday.

Afflalo injured his hamstring when he pulled up a little lame going after a loose ball in the second quarter of Friday's loss to Oklahoma City. He stayed on the floor for an extended period of time, holding his right hamstring before Doron Lamb and Al Harrington helped him off the floor. Jameer Nelson told the Orlando Sentinel after the game that he knew Afflalo was in a lot of pain, although he did not immediately know the extent of the injury.

Afflalo officially has a strained right hamstring. The Magic have decided the best way to heal it is through rest and rehabilitation. and with so few games remaining in the season and very little to play for in the way of wins, there does not seem much reason to try and rush him back.

It was an interesting season for Afflalo.

He welcomed the opportunity to come to Orlando and be a bigger part of the offense after the team acquired him in the Dwight Howard trade. Afflalo had some growing pains in that role but turned in a solid offensive season. Afflalo averaged 16.5 points per game, a career high, although his field goal percentage predictably went down to 43.9 percent with the increased shooting and usage rate -- a career-high 22.6 percent this year.

Afflalo though took on a different role in the locker room. With so many young players, he kept the mood in the locker room professional and determined to win. Often after games, he would be the one expressing frustration that the team was struggling but the calm to understand that the young team was growing and getting better every game.

Even after wins, Afflalo was the calm voice of reason, pointing out the positives but recognizing that the learning was just beginning for this squad.

Afflalo is one of the few players on this roster who can consistently get his own shot and was not afraid to assert himself. That was needed for this young roster, particularly at the beginning of the season.

Now though, it is definitely time to let the young players play and get experience. There is no reason to rush Afflalo back for 10 games that will not have much meaning as far as the Magic's record goes.

In a season bereft of much motivation to win except pride and youth development, this is the game and this is the moment the Magic likely want their young players to see and feel.

It was not so long ago that Kevin Durant was going through these growing pains -- and Orlando certainly does not have a Kevin Durant on the roster right now -- and suffering losses to teams that were already title contenders while his team was making the long climb up.

The Magic are making the long climb up and got another positive sign that the future is bright with the way Maurice Harkless took over the game.

Even with Harkless spinning his way around Kevin Durant and dicing the Thunder defense for long stretches of the game, there is still a lot to learn. Orlando and Oklahoma City were tied at 86 when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook took over the game offensively and closed the game on an 11-3 run to end the game.

Serge Ibaka started blocking shots and repealing the Magic from the rim. There was, of course, no chance the Magic were going to get to the foul line -- and Harkless and Harris are still learning how to draw fouls against a skilled shot blocker like Ibaka.

Execution mattered and the Thunder, the more experienced and more talented side, won out in the end with a 97-89 win at Amway Center on Friday. Durant scored 25 points and Russell Westbrook scored 19 points. Serge Ibaka had 13 rebounds and five blocks and made himself known defensively, particularly at the end of the game.

This game though largely belonged to rookie Maurice Harkless.

The NCAA Tournament started Thursday and already some of the top players expected to be drafted in this year's upcoming NBA Draft have been eliminated.

Marcus Smart scored 13 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists in Oklahoma State's 68-55 upset loss to Oregon. Smart shot only 5 for 13 from the floor and committed five turnovers. It was not an impressive performance for the freshman.

Similarly, UNLV's Anthony Bennett struggled with 15 points and 11 rebounds on 4-for-11 shooting in the 64-61 loss to California. He had moments where he looked like he dominated, and then he had moments where he hovered around the 3-point line too much.

There will be plenty more action tonight with Kansas' Ben McLemore, Indiana's Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo and UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad take the court.

With that in mind, I reached out to Ed Isaacson of NBA Draft Blog to take a look at some of the top prospects and the questions we want to have answered about the top prospects entering this draft. As Ed said yesterday on my post on the depth on display in the NCAA Tournament, the draft may not be top heavy but there are still several players who can be big contributors. Just remember, these questions were asked before the Tournament began.

Philip Rossman-Reich, Orlando Magic Daily:  What top prospect can help himself the most in the NCAA Tournament? Who could fall if he does not have a good Tournament?

Ed Isaacson, NBA Draft Blog: Again, I hate to say that a quick loss or a deep Tournament run can significantly affect a player's Draft position, but this would apply most to the young players, freshmen and sophomores. Guys like Anthony Bennett, Marcus Smart, Cody Zeller, where there have been clear issues that people have been concerned about, a deep tourney run can help put some people at ease if they show improvement.

PRR: It is starting to sound like Ben McLemore is gaining some separation as the top pick in this Draft class. What does he do well that would fit with an NBA roster? What areas does he still need to work on?

Isaacson: McLemore is an explosive athlete and a great perimeter shooter. What makes him a popular prospect is that he would fit seamlessly into any offensive plan, and he is still improving. He's not a great defender, and there have been concerns about him stepping up in big situations. He has had some very quiet games when Kansas could have used him to make some plays.

Ask the NBA Draft "experts" about this year's NBA Draft and there might be a little bit of a sigh. The going thought is that this year's draft class is not the strongest.

No one is enamoerd or willing to build a franchise around the top prospects such as Ben McLemore, Marcus Smart and Nerlens Noel. They all might end up being very fine players, but they are not franchise builders. So maybe that has something to do with coloring the excitement over this upcoming draft.

Really, this year's NBA Draft is a reflection of the NCAA.

That is what the Draft experts really should be saying when they assess the class of 2013:

"This is a deep class at almost every position," Ed Isaacson of NBA Draft Blog said. "While there isn't that one or two guys who are expected to become top-level players, there are players who are going to make teams better. In the end, that's what the Draft is really about. Figure there are 20 or so teams that aren't in the running for a top name every year. So 2/3 of the league is just focused on improving, and this draft has depth and NBA-ready players to do that."

Ask anyone while they were filing out their brackets and they will tell you that this was one of the most wide open and difficult NCAA Tournaments to figure out. There are numerous teams that could win the national championship and could lay a claim to not only a Number One seed, but the top overall seed in the tournament. Louisville could easily be a 2-seed.

That is how wide open this whole tournament seems to be. It is an exciting time to be a college basketball fan and the drama that will unfold in the next three weeks is going to be thrilling.

Al Harrington was here in a flash. He contributed in some key wins and was the toy Magic fans could not wait to see.

And then in a blink his season appears to be over.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel asked Jacque Vaughn following Wednesday's loss to the Knicks whether Al Harrington's troublesome injury kept him out of the game. After all, Harrington had spent time this season as the team's backup center and Nikola Vucevic missed the game with an illness.

Vaughn told the assembled media that it was a coach's decision that has seen Harrington go to the bench the last three games.

It’s really nothing to do with his knees.

It’s a coach’s decision. I’ve talked to Al just about the remaining games that we have. He’s helped us in the wins at Philly and New Orleans. He’s proven that he can still play this game at a high level, and I’m going to give the opportunity to play to some of our young guys and give them some experience. I think he has experience at this game a little bit already.

It definitely is understandable that Vaughn and the Magic want to get young players like Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O'Quinn more playing time as the season winds down. This whole season has been about in many ways about getting young players experience and mix them in with the veterans.

Undoubtedly, Harrington has contributed in the 10 games he has played this season. His 5.1 points per game really do not display his impact that much. He was key in hitting shots that sparked wins against Philadelphia and New Orleans. He did indeed contribute to Magic wins.

However, Vaughn is also right that he needs to give Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris, Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O'Quinn the opportunity to put their work in practice to good use in games so they can learn and help the organization moving forward.

As Vaughn noted, Harrington has shown he can still play. The Magic likely hope it was enough to convince someone to make a reach and trade for him this offseason. His two remaining years on his contract are only partially guaranteed.

If Harrington is not likely to see the floor again for the Magic, he really has been a true professional for this team, working to get back from his injury and showing himself and the league he can still play.

It was the first possession of the game.

New York had the floor spread with all the shooters that make the team so dangerous and the team's most dangerous weapon in the lineup after missing six of the previous eight games. Orlando's defense knew it was going to have a difficult night.

Anthony gave a preview of that difficulty as the ball whipped all the way around the horn to him and with a hand in his face, he drained a 3-pointer. The 3-point shooting proved to be a theme throughout the game. New York is a team built to make 3-pointers and has the veteran wiles to make those little plays.

The Magic? They can get hot. But they have a lot of learning to do.

Orlando put in another nice effort. There was nothing to take away from it as the young players came into the game in very difficult situations down by double digits and fought their way back each time. The deficit just proved to be a little too much.

New York hit 15 3-pointers, four off the team's season high, and got great play from Anthony (21 points, eight rebounds). But more importantly, the Knicks made the little plays good teams do to win games. They found themselves in the right spot for 50/50 balls. And every time, it seemed New York made Orlando pay for being caught even slightly out of position defensively.

The Magic hung around, cutting the deficit to five at halftime and fighting back to make the Knicks perspire a little bit. However, New York was never really threatened in the second half, finding the offense easy with a struggling Orlando defense and finding the ability to keep Orlando's primary offensive weapons on the perimeter.

The Knicks sent the Magic home from this week-long road trip with a 106-94 loss at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

For the Magic's starters, whom Jacque Vaughn relied on for the first and third quarters where the Magic scored a total of 34 points, offense was a struggle.

Even with Tyson Chandler out of the game Orlando found it difficult to get into the paint. The Knicks' interior defense was still strong and the perimeter defenders did a good job keeping Orlando to the perimeter. It did not help that Nikola Vucevic came down with an illness and missed his first game of the year.

We are less than 24 hours away from the beginning of the NCAA Tournament. For the first time in quite a while, the Magic will have their eyes very squarely on the college game for the next three weeks. For many fans, this will be their first look at the players at the top of the draft.

You are forgiven if you do not watch Friday's game against the Thunder to watch college basketball (I will have coverage of that game anyway for you).

You are also forgiven if you missed Tuesday's loss to the Pacers. I bet Dante Marchitelli missed a good chunk of it watching his Liberty Flames nearly pull off the upset of North Carolina A&T in the First Four's first game.

With that in mind, we will have plenty of content on the NCAA Tournament in the coming weeks. For now though, let's prepare for the Tournament by having a little competition.

I have set up an official Orlando Magic Daily group on ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge and I am challenging you to beat me (should be pretty easy to do). If the link does not work, go to ESPN.com and search "Orlando Magic Daily."

The prize for winning the entire pool?

If you win, I will give away a set of 1989-90 Orlando Magic trading cards, including the original Gooding's case they came in when they were given out 24 years ago. They should be in pretty condition (and if they are not, I will give out a replacement prize).

So who do you think will win the Tournament? Will we see lots of Ben McLemore, Marcus Smart and Otto Porter?

You get to decide and let the madness ensue during the next few weeks.

Good luck!

Indiana is the kind of team that can get under any opponent's skin. Even the typically cool and even-handed Jacque Vaughn.

The physical play and the lack of whistles finally got to the mild-mannered Vaughn. After referees called a double technical foul on Kyle O'Quinn and Roy Hibbert while they battled for a post-free throw rebound, Vaughn asked for an explanation. He did not get one and kept pressing. And so was Vaughn's first technical foul as a head coach.

It clearly riled the coach up as he hoped to find some spark for a Magic team stuck in the mud offensively. He picked up his second technical foul and was ejected from the game.

It was that kind of odd, frustrating game.

The Pacers were simply a better team in many, many ways. Tyler Hansbrough's boundless energy helped Indiana overcome its own shooting woes. The Pacers made their shots first and were better at executing their offense than the Magic.

In other words, Indiana looked like the second best team in the East and Orlando looked like the 14th as Indiana defeated Orlando 95-73 at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

There really may not be more to say. The Pacers defense was crisp and in strong form going up against a Magic team struggling to get anything going offensively. Orlando shot 31.8 percent and 3 for 15 from beyond the arc. Shots were not going in.

The Magic had the right mindset though. They looked to attack the basket and challenge Roy Hibbert. Hibbert though was up to the challenge and changed numerous shots at the rim, even though he had just one block. Orlando were missing a variety of floaters and lay ins trying to get around the size inside.

As the shots did not fall, the frustration offensively grew it seemed. Indiana turned Orlando into a largely 1 on 1 team and Orlando could not crack the safe with any dribble penetration. The Magic had only 12 assists on 28 made field goals.

The Magic's signing of E'Twaun Moore this summer signaled a desire to add a little more versatility to the roster. Moore had never really played point guard before this year and he was always more of a scorer than a distributor. There were questions about how he could lead the team. With Ish Smith behind him, the Magic had a backstop of sorts.

Moore though is a shooting guard and perhaps some of the plan might have been to groom Moore into a point guard capable of playing alongside Jameer Nelson.

Nelson too came into the league much like Moore, although with much more point guard experience. Nelson played at St. Joseph's next to Delonte West. The two, more or less, split time at point guard and were both capable ball handlers. Nelson though was destined to be more of a point guard thanks to his height. But the lingering criticism of Nelson is that he is not much of a passer.

The acquisition of Beno Udrih and the flexibility Moore provides the Magic changed a lot of that. Really for the first time in Nelson's career, the Magic can use him the same way that St. Joseph's did nearly a decade ago. And Nelson can become more of a scorer.

"It takes the pressure off us," Beno Udrih said following Orlando's win over Philadelphia two weeks ago, the first game the teams used Udrih and Nelson together. "Usually teams deny one guard. It's the point guard that is supposed to get the team in sets.

"When they were denying me, so [Jameer] was playing the point guard. When they were denying him, I was playing the point guard. We can both shoot the ball. We can both cut to the basket, get our teammates open. It worked well today so hopefully we can keep it going."

Yes, Orlando is experimenting with Nelson off the ball with Udrih or Moore as the primary point guard. Late in several games since the trade, Jacque Vaughn has used a lineup that features Jameer Nelson and Beno Udrih together. This enables Nelson to get the ball while still having his dribble alive. That makes him a much more dangerous offensive weapon.