The Magic appear to be in the throes of deconstructing a team that won 33 of 50 games last season and tied Miami and Indiana for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Using computer graphics, the magazine superimposed Hardaway in pictures throughout the magazine, including a centerfold poster of the Magic guard in a Phoenix uniform. In a matter of months, Orlando has gone from one of the NBA's oldest teams to one of the youngest. Eight of the 16 players under contract are younger than 25 years old and the team has an average age of 26.5. We've got some good picks coming up, we've got two or three really nice young players and we want to ride that momentum.
Some clubs just continue to add free agents to keep up with everyone.
We don't want to just keep up. We want to re-tool. It's been 10 years. Anderson, the Magic's first-ever collegiate draft pick, was the cornerstone of the franchise in the formative years. Strong enough to post up on the low block and graceful enough to play on the wing, Anderson established himself as one of the NBA's premier forwards during his first seven seasons.