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Tuesday, October 31, 2000
Magic: Hill, McGrady, but who rebounds?
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Team page/schedule | Stats: Preseason / 1999 | Roster
Last year: 41-41, fourth in Atlantic, ninth in conference
Coach/GM: Doc Rivers/John Gabriel
Arena, first game: TD Waterhouse Centre (17,248); Nov. 4, 1989
All-time franchise record/NBA titles: 438-432/0
Notable: Doc was first coach of year to miss playoffs
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THE TOP EIGHT
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Pos
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Player
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Key Stat
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Skinny
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PG
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Darrell Armstrong
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2.06 spg
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Watch assists climb now that he has help
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SG
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Tracy McGrady
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1.9 bpg
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He's just taking off; 20 ppg this season
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SF
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Grant Hill
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25.8 ppg
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Scoring will drop, but he wants to win
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PF
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Bo Outlaw
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1.8 bpg
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Team guy will rebound, block, steal
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C
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John Amaechi
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10.5 ppg
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Chose here over backing up Shaq
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6th
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Andrew DeClercq
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5.4 rpg
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He and Doleac are solid backups
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7th
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Mike Miller
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--
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Rookie can drain the three, has good size
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8th
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Pat Garrity
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8.2 ppg
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Steady, plays every night, has nice range
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The Magic must get Grant Hill at or near full strength so he can contribute on the floor. If that happens, the Magic should be pretty good. They can contend in the East. Their lineup of Darrell Armstrong, Bo Outlaw, Tracy McGrady, John Amaechi and Hill is solid. Armstrong and Outlaw are all-out hustle players. They helped themselves with some good pickups for their bench, like Andrew DeClercq and Don Reid. They also got Troy Hudson, whom I like to back up Armstrong and play the same kind of game. They can come in and get the job done.
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By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com
The Good
There's been a major upgrade in talent after the Magic
surprised everyone by winning 41 games last year, basically using smoke
and mirrors. Taking advantage of their enormous cap room, totaling about
$20 million, they lured Grant Hill out of Detroit and got Tracy McGrady
to leave Toronto and return to his native state of Florida. So they've
gone from no stars on the roster to one certifiable star (Hill) and
another potential star (McGrady, although he thinks he's a star right
now). That's a vast improvement over the departed Ron Mercer and Tariq
Abdul-Wahad. Translated into victories, it should mean 50 wins, at the
minimum, especially in the East. Doc Rivers won Coach of the Year honors
right out of the box with a bunch of overachievers who used hustle to
surprise the rest of the NBA. Now, with Hill and McGrady, he'll be
expected to take this team to the playoffs.
The Bad
The one free agent they really needed to make themselves
instant championship contenders -- Tim Duncan -- turned them down. Call
that a crushing blow to their rebuilding plans. They still haven't made
up for the loss of Shaquille O'Neal to the Lakers. When you consider the
lack of quality big men in the conference, Duncan's presence in Orlando
would have made the Magic the team to beat in the East. Now, they've
redone their team and locked up their salary cap without a franchise
talent at center or power forward. Meaning, they can only go so far.
Hill and McGrady will no doubt help them get back to the postseason.
But in the areas of toughness and rebounding -- where Duncan would have
fit in perfectly -- they've got significant holes. They lost their No. 1
board man Ben Wallace, who went to Detroit after averaging 8.2 per game
last season. They're going to have to depend again on journeymen types --
Bo Outlaw and John Amaechi to do the dirty work. They'd both be backups
on good playoff teams.
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THE BIG QUESTION |
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After a surprisingly strong year on the glass, they
lost Ben Wallace, by no means a front-line talent, but their best board
man and a high-energy hustle player. Now, where do they get critical
rebounds and how do they stop big front lines. In the East, that might
not matter. But this is a big potential weakness. Hill and McGrady could
help on the glass. They both averaged six-plus boards a game last
season.
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Whose team is this?
It's Grant Hill's, which might come as a surprise to
McGrady. After six seasons in Detroit, where he signed off on a lot of
free agent moves that didn't pan out, Hill threw in the towel and went
looking for a fresh start. The mystery is why he went to Orlando and
didn't go to San Antonio to play with Tim Duncan. As in Detroit, he's
going to have to carry this club himself. So with this move, you can
question his championship aspirations. He broke his ankle in last year's
playoffs, and had five screws inserted in surgery. How he responds at
age 28 will be closely scrutinized.
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| Hill |
How they'll play
It's true that Darrell Armstrong is still on the team,
but more than a few NBA scouts and GMs figure the Magic will give Hill
the ball and have him run the offense. Why? Hill's greatest success in
Detroit came when Doug Collins ran the offense through him. True, it did
tend to wear him out at the end of the season. But both he and McGrady
play the same position, which is why some GMs questioned why the Magic
went after two 6-8 small forwards to begin with. McGrady needs to pick
up his field goal (45 percent) and free throw (70 percent) figures and accept being
the No. 2 man, as he was in Toronto. The Magic were ranked fourth in
offensive rebounding last season and figure to pound the glass just as
much this season, with Outlaw leading the way. Defensively, the Magic
forced more turnovers (18 per game) than any other team last season with
pressure defense. Armstrong ranked third in steals (2.06 spg) But it's
hard to see them pressing as much with Hill.
Projection
Fifty wins not at all out of the question. Maybe 55. If they don't
make the playoffs, it'll be a major disappointment. Last season they won
as many home games as Minnesota and Toronto, both of whom made the
playoffs, and had more home wins than Seattle. They should be able to
maintain their new homecourt edge. But they need to pick it up on the
road, where they were only 15-26 last season. |
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