What we learned about the 1995 Orlando Magic from “Blue Chips” oral history

The Butler Chain of Lakes kept everything connected

"Brian Shaw: We had so much fun because we were all at the same point of our lives. None of us was married. Shaq, Penny, and I and Dennis Scott all lived in the same development and we lived on lakes. Nick Anderson lived on a different lake that was up a little ways from us, but all our lakes were connected. After practice, we had boats and we had WaveRunners and we would ride to one another’s house. This week, I may barbecue at my house and have everybody over, and Shaq would do it the next week."

What is probably most amazing about those 90s Magic teams was just how young they were.

The 1995 team had an average age of 27.6 years old at the end of the regular season. Their two biggest stars were 23 years old and 24 years old. With the exception of Tree Rollins, Anthony Bowie and Donald Royal, all the key players on the team were younger than 30 years old.

This was a young group really coming of age and coming into their own. You could not help but understand how it remained a college atmosphere — there is a story about Nick Anderson buying a sports car while in Houston during the 1995 NBA Finals, even though he could not drive stick. This team had a lot of growing up to do.

But part of what made them great was how close they were.

Yes, I lived on the Butler Chain of Lakes. I remember driving my grandfather’s boat around and seeing the Shaq logo on the side of a boat with Dennis Scott’s jet ski parked next to it. These guys were 20-somethings living the life with unlimited potential and no seriousness about time.

Maybe that is what was among their greatest strengths, along with their greatest weakness in the end. Particularly when the Problem of More came into play during the 1996 season and simply dominating was not enough.

Next: The idea of cap room, yeah the 1995 Magic did that too