Danny Schayes ($690,000): Schayes surprised almost everyone with the level of his play after the Seikaly trade. He finished the season averaging 5.6 ppg and 3.3 rpg. More importantly, his outside skills made it possible for Daly to install a high post offense, opening room underneath for Nick Anderson (and next season, Penny Hardaway). In addition he plays solid, if unspectacular position defense. In short, he's a valuable role player. But, at 39 he is nobody's starting center. Schayes is a free agent, but it's not likely that any other team will be willing to pay him what the Magic would have to in order to retain him (the minimum 20% raise over his current salary). The Magic would like to re-sign him, but not at the expense of being outbid for a quality free agent. At best, he will play one more season, though, so now is not too early to begin planning for his replacement.

Jason Lawson ($242,500): The biggest indicator of Lawson's future in Orlando was his role after the Seikaly trade. The Magic front office might say they like his work ethic, but let's look at the game time he earned. Despite the fact that our only other legitimate center was Danny Schayes, Lawson could only manage to get garbage time, and only in a few games. To me this indicates that (unless a miracle occurs) he is at least two more seasons away from being able to command anything more than minimal back-up minutes. He finished the season averaging 1.4 ppg and 1.6 rpg, and is a free agent. He's gone if the magic need to maximize cap room, otherwise he might be back as practice fodder.

POWER FORWARD: Orlando's most solid position. Horace Grant and Derek Strong are one of the strongest PF duos in the NBA (combined 25 pts/16 rbs per game). Both are willing to do the dirty work, both focus on defense, and both are content to get their points in the general flow of the offense (although both forced things this season, shooting career low percentages, in an attempt to ignite the magic's sputtering offense):

Horace Grant ($14,285,714): Grant finally got healthy! He played in 76 games this season, a big improvement over the past two years. And this despite again being asked to play significant minutes at center. This season he (OK, Chuck Daly helped) finally convinced the rest of the team to focus on team defense. He averaged 12.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, and 2.3 apg. Next season he needs to concentrate on teaching them to hate losing (he and Daly were the only ones to express disappointment at not making the playoffs). He has three years remaining on his contract (the last season at the club's option), which is front loaded.

Derek Strong ($326,700): Despite injuries which cost him 24 games, Strong established career highs in scoring and rebounding. Unfortunately , his career high scoring came at the expense of forcing his offense, so he also established a career low in shooting percentage. He averaged 12.5 ppg and 7.3 rpg. With any luck, next season he can return to a back-up role. He is a free agent. Orlando wants to retain him, but will need to wait to finalize his contract until after they pursue any outside free-agents. We hope Strong is willing to wait.

SMALL FORWARD: At the start of the preseason, this position looked fairly strong. The team expected big things from Johnny Taylor and hoped Gerald Wilkins would repeat his fine play from last season. This would have left Bo Outlaw available to provide an off-the-bench spark at all three frontcourt positions. It didn't happen. Bo Outlaw was pressed into the starter's role. Johnny Taylor spent most of the season on IR, and a parade of bodies provided time at back-up:

Bo Outlaw ($1,000,000): The energizer bunny! He loves defense, lives for floor burns, and thrives on rebounding. And he even proved he could provide some scoring when necessary. Win or lose, his intensity makes him a joy to watch. He averaged 9.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg, and 2.7 apg. He is signed through 1999.

Johnny Taylor ($901,880): This was a very disappointing season for Taylor. He came to camp unprepared for NBA-level intensity and suffered an early injury. He never caught up. He did manage to use a couple of late season opportunities to show us the physical skills and athletic ability that led Orlando to draft him. In only 12 appearances, he averaged 2.0 ppg and 0.8 rpg. If he decides he is willing to put out the effort it takes to succeed and works hard this summer, he could command a lot of playing time (perhaps even the starting assignment by the end of next season - a la Alan Henderson in Atlanta). The big question is: Is he willing to work? A lock-out this summer won't help matters any, if it comes. He is signed through 2000; it may take that long to find out what kind of player he really is.

Gerald Wilkins ($326,700): With another season like last season, Wilkins would have been in line for a multi-year contract to end his career. Unfortunately he was only able to duplicate last season's play on the defensive end of the court. On offense, he fg% plummeted to 32%, much to low for an offense-starved team. He is a free agent,and likely will finish his career in Europe.

David Benoit ($609,096): Obtained in the Seikaly trade, Benoit played well enough to attract some attention (5.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg), if not from Orlando from someone. We expect the Magic to waive him to free up cap space, but he should catch on somewhere.

SHOOTING GUARD: After back-to-back 40 point performances against Miami, Penny Hardaway was supposed to move to SG full time this season. Instead, his injury problems forced Chuck Daly to improvise, trying both Gerald Wilkins and Derek Harper without notable success. Finally at mid-season, Nick Anderson persuaded Daly to move him back to the 2 spot. Anderson's play during the remainder of the season settled the issue. Penny will be moving back to PG, moving to the 2 position when Anderson takes a breather. Harper will be retiring and we expect Wilkins, as noted above, to sign with a team in Europe,. so Orlando will be looking for a back-up SG this summer:

Penny Hardaway ($7,580,000): Penny missed 63 games this season with a second knee injury and related calf problem, leading pundits to label him as "injury prone." They forget how durable he was prior to the past two seasons. What he does need to do is work smarter, not harder, in the weight room. It was two summers ago that Penny really started hitting the weights. He added a lot of muscle mass, but it was mostly upper body muscle. The extra weight put more strain on his knees but the lack of lower body work left them unable to cope with that extra strain. Hardaway now knows he has to concentrate on his legs too, and as long as he does, we anticipate a long string of healthy seasons.

Nick Anderson ($4,000,000): Let's forget the first half of the season. At midseason, Anderson convinced Daly to try him as the starting SG slot. He made the best of his opportunity, showing us an offensive game that matched his still strong defensive skills. He averaged almost 22 points and 6 rebounds per game over the last 41 games, and shot 46%. His FT touch returned too, soaring from 30% to 68%. The big difference - Anderson started posting opposing SG's up on isolation plays and slashing inside instead of forcing up jumpers from near the 3 pt. line. welcome back, Nick! Anderson is signed through 2003, but the team has the option for the last two years.

Kevin Edwards ($2,640,000): We had to take him to make the Seikaly trade work under the cap. He's a free agent and won't be back.

POINT GUARD: This was a season of point guard by committee. A rash of injuries to both Derek Harper and Mark Price kept either man from being able to take the starting slot on a regular basis. In addition, an torn rotator cuff kept the formerly indestructible Darrell Armstrong (will he now be tagged as Injury prone?) out of 34 games this season:

Darrell Armstrong ($350,000): Until his injury, he was the perfect complement to Bo Outlaw. He plays full tilt all the time, and loves to mix it up on defense. Whenever Armstrong and Outlaw were on the floor together, you could feel the energy crackle. He also gives the Magic a totally different look than Hardaway when he comes in, which makes things tough on the Magic opponents, and is continuing to develop his shooting skills (he shot 41% last season, a career high). He averaged 9.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, and 4.9 apg before he was lost for the season. While there's no telling how the torn rotator cuff will affect him, Armstrong is a gym rat and we expect him to be raring to go and in top shape when camp opens. He is a free agent. As with Derek Strong, the Magic want to retain him, but will need to wait to finalize his contract until after they pursue any outside free-agents. We hope Armstrong too is willing to wait.

Derek Harper ($1,560,000): Harper was a wonderful one-year acquisition for the Magic. Although his statistical contributions were limited by injury (he averaged 8.7 ppg, 1.6 rpg, and 3.5 apg in 66 games), his locker room contributions were invaluable. With Daly, Grant, and Price, he set a tone of professionalism and pride that we hope we see more of next season. Unless he changes his mind, he will retire. Whoever ends up hiring him (he is rumored to be headed to Dallas' front office) will be lucky indeed.

Mark Price ($4,090,920): Although on the downside of his career, Price was a better than average offensive performer for Orlando. Had he not been limited by nagging injuries, he might have done even better (he averaged 9.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg, and 4.7 apg while shooting 43%). Unfortunately, his $4M contract takes up a lot of cap space for a team that wants to be active in the free agent market this summer. Orlando might trade Price, if they can find a team looking for the veteran leadership he can provide. If not, they will exercise their option to buy out the final year of his contract.

Kevin Ollie ($242,250): With Armstrong out for the season, and both Harper and Price fighting recurring injuries, the Magic found themselves in the middle of the season needing PG help. They dipped into the CBA to find Kevin Ollie. He is still raw. He is a fearless penetrator, a pest on defense, and a gym rat who works hard on his game. He needs to work on his shot selection (he shot only 38%) and needs to focus on making better decisions with the ball (he committed 44 turnovers in 35 games). We expect him to mature into a solid NBA back-up. It may take several years for that to happen

COACHING/FRONT OFFICE: The Magic players and front office were brutalized for the way Brian Hill was ousted, but it needed to happen. Hill could not see beyond a low post, center oriented offense. This was terrific for Rony Seikaly, but it was hurting the rest of the team. Chuck Daly saw the need and made the change. Beyond that, he showed us he still knows how to motivate players (the one notable exception being Hardaway - and we think Penny will come around now that he's not distracted by injuries). One problem area - who takes over when Daly steps down? We don't see Orlando giving the job to Brendan Suhr, and Dr. J hasn't shown interest in moving out of the front office. We hope Daly will consider this. Although Suhr is a long time friend and assistant, now might be the time to bring in someone as top assistant/heir apparent. We had concerns about Scott Skiles' ability to motivate players as a coach. those have been answered by his performances in Greece and Phoenix. Bring back Scott Skiles.