Who are the top trios in Orlando Magic history?

6 of 7

2) Dwight Howard / Rashard Lewis / Stan Van Gundy (2008-11)

When the Golden State Warriors won the NBA title this year with a small-ball lineup and a spread-the-floor mentality, they could point to their forerunners for showing the way. The Seven Seconds or Less Suns certainly revolutionized NBA thinking on the 3-pointer and positions in the NBA. The 2009 Orlando Magic proved it can succeed in the NBA. The Warriors proved it can win.

Stan Van Gundy took the Magic job in the summer of 2007 knowing he would have Dwight Howard as a defensive anchor. In his two years coaching the Heat, he built them into a defensive juggernaut to try to rival the Pistons. Defense was always going to be the key.

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To make Orlando unique, he needed to be innovative.

When the Magic decided to use the cap room that came from Grant Hill’s contract freeing up on Rashard Lewis it created a collective “Huh?”

Lewis for what his stats were was overpaid. It is still a sore spot among Magic fans for what could have been had they not paid him that much.

Lewis though was a transformational player for the way Van Gundy used him and the way Lewis bought in. The Magic would never have been as successful as they were in this era without Van Gundy’s decision to move Lewis to the power forward and Lewis’ acceptance of that role. It made the team unique and tough to defend.

To me, the big three of the Magic’s second championship era was the union of their coach, star player and unique strategy player.

Howard obviously did what he did defensively. There is no championship contention without Howard dominating defensively the way he did.

Van Gundy did his job putting players in the best position to succeed and maximizing the talent he had on his roster.

Lewis was really the cog that made it all work and work well. Despite his modest numbers — 16.3 points per game on a 54.1 percent effective field goal percentage — he was the guy who sacrificed to make it all work. Teams could not figure him out. The contenders of that age either had to accept the matchup or acquire someone specifically to deal with Lewis.

He may not ever get his just desserts for the performance he put in.

Next: The originals