The Orlando Magic have had a celebrated history with fantastic players. The Orlando Magic Daily staff got together to vote the top 25. Here is part one.
The Orlando Magic’s 27-year history has been full of many, many highs. Some of the best players the league has seen at various times have worn a Magic uniform.
It has not delivered a championship yet, but the Magic have a history they can be proud of. The team has reached the Playoffs 14 times in its history with a gap no longer than four years. The franchise has had 22 All-Star selections in its short history.
The Magic are entering a season that has a lot riding on it. They are hungering to return to the Playoffs. And there is a lot of uncertainty about the roster.
The Magic’s history though is still one to celebrate. There are some truly great players that have walked through the hallways of the old Orlando Arena and the new Amway Center wearing Magic jerseys.
Magic history is full of some truly great players. And some memorable role players. Magic fans have a good selection of players to pick from when looking back at history.
The Orlando Magic have recently finished their offseason fan poll to name the top 25 players in franchise history. They selected 25 players and had fans vote for one, the winner would advance to the next vote.
Shaquille O’Neal won the day, coming in at No. 1 with Anfernee Hardaway at No. 2 and Dwight Howard at No. 3.
https://twitter.com/OrlandoMagic/status/768941900850204672
As you can see in the video from FanSided above, they picked a different trio. There seems to be a bunch of different ways to go — so long as the top four are set as Howard, O’Neal, Hardaway and Tracy McGrady.
The list though was a little bit unsatisfactory. Vince Carter cracked the top 10, beating Dennis Scott, Scott Skiles and Darrell Armstrong among his six straight wins, before the team stopped him from advancing any further.
It was certainly part of the risk of having a fan vote.
It inspired us at Orlando Magic Daily to come up with our own list. Orlando Magic Daily contributors Philip Rossman-Reich, Zach Palmer, David Iwanowski, Ryan Doyle, Carson Ingle, Dar-Wei Chen, Vincent McMillan and Spencer Henderson submitted their list of the top-25 players of all time. We put our lists together and came up with this ranking of the top 25 players in Magic history.
This is part one with Nos. 21-25 of our Top 25 list.
25. Terry Catledge (1990-93)
High/Low: 15/UR
By Spencer Henderson
Terry Catledge nearly missed the list, but he is clearly a candidate for the Magic’s best 25 players. He is in the top 10 in scoring average while playing for Orlando. Catledge averaged 19.4 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game during his first season wearing Orlando on his chest, the inaugural 1990 season.
Only an older diehard Magic fan would know about Catledge’s career or his effectiveness while in Orlando, largely because he was one of the organization’s first players, along with Nick Anderson.
Catledge was the leading scorer on the expansion Magic team that featured Anderson, Scott Skiles, Reggie Theus, Jerry Reynolds, Otis Smith, Sidney Green and Jeff Turner.
Catledge’s best statistical season came while in Orlando. He developed the nickname “Cat Man” because of his last name and stellar play on the court. Catledge scored 25 points and snatched 16 rebounds in the Orlando’s historic first regular season game. That stat line is reminiscent of Dwight Howard’s stats.
Catledge’s veteran presence help mold young players like Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott to become eventual franchise cornerstones. He was not part of the glory days as other players replaced him, but Catledge was a big boost to a team growing from the ground up.
Although he was clearly the best option during the 1990 season, his contributions only netted the Magic a 18-64 record.
24. Ryan Anderson (2010-12)
High/Low: 13/UR
By David Iwanowski
Once seen as a throw-in for a big swap of shooting guards between the Orlando Magic and New Jersey Nets, Ryan Anderson quickly became one of the most underrated players in the league.
By the time the coaching staff developed him and figured out how to use him properly, it was too late. Dwight Howard forced his way out and the Magic wanted to bottom out.
Anderson was seen as the ideal stretch-4 and a great complement to Dwight Howard. He allowed the team to play the four-out style that allowed them to achieve so much success just a couple of years earlier. Although he had some defensive limitations with rim protection and mobility (the latter of which is a bigger deal now, with more teams going with smaller and quicker “power forwards”), he had a few strengths that allowed him to be an incredibly effective player.
During the 2012 season (which saw his minutes rise from 22 to 32 per game), Anderson averaged 16.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and shot 39.3 percent from three with high volume. Those box score numbers were the main reason he won the Most Improved Player Award.
And when looking back, he is considered one of many examples of a player who was always good and won the award mostly due to increased role rather than huge improvement. Evidence of that is the fact that his per-36 numbers were similar through all three seasons, and when his minutes increased, his per-game numbers increased accordingly with little drop in efficiency.
In three seasons with the Magic, Anderson averaged a PER of 19.8, a Box Plus Minus of 3.8 and 18.4 Win Shares.
That 2012 season, his PER was 21.2, he had a 4.6 Box Plus Minus, and 8.9 Win Shares. As a comparison, Paul Millsap was named an all-star his first season with Atlanta with a 19.8 PER, 6.7 Win Shares, and a 3.1 Box Plus Minus. Blake Griffin finished his incredible 2014-2015 season with a 22.8 PER, 9 Win Shares, and a 4.1 Box Plus Minus.
His most underrated skill was his rebounding ability, specifically on the offensive end. Overall, his rebounding percentage was 13.8 and his offensive rebounding percentage was 11.5. Playing with another great rebounder in Dwight Howard likely inhibited his conversions on rebounding opportunities, especially on the defensive side.
In 2012, those numbers were 13.8 percent overall and 13 percent on offense. As a comparison, superstar DeMarcus Cousins has collected more than 13 percent of available offensive rebounding opportunities only once in his six-year career.
Anderson’s combination of offensive abilities and rebounding made him such an effective player, and playing next to Dwight Howard allowed him to thrive offensively and not be punished on the defensive end.
His overall effect was very large, and he likely would have been higher on this list if he had logged more years with the franchise.
23. Tobias Harris (2013-16)
High/Low: 19/UR
By Vincent McMillan
When Orlando traded fan favorite J.J. Redick (along with others) to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for a few players including Tobias Harris, Magic fans were not happy. But after his first few games, it was obvious Harris had some skills that just needed time on the court to develop. Once given the opportunity, Tobias Harris showed he could be a go-to scorer for a Magic team in need of a scoring punch.
Harris’ versatility allowed him to play both forward positions and at times create a mismatch for opponents.
During his development with the Magic, Harris was compared to Carmelo Anthony due to his size and ability to score. He could take smaller small forwards into the post and have his way or get around slower power forwards with ease.
Tobias Harris was a key part of the Orlando Magic rebuild after the Dwight Howard era.
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Harris increased his production in his second full season with the Magic going from 14.6 points per game to 17.1 points per game. Harris was rewarded for his improvement with a large contract that would potentially place him as a core member of the Magic for the coming years.
But, after being reunited with Scott Skiles who was his former coach from his time in Milwaukee, Harris seemed to hit a plateau or even regress. The change in system affected the entire team. Harris somehow became a tradable asset.
During his time in Orlando you could see what Harris could potentially become as a player in the NBA. At only 24 years old he has not reached his peak yet.
Magic fans will remember Harris for what could have been if he was not traded to the Detroit Pistons. But his trade did make room for Aaron Gordon to blossom, but I believe they could have functioned well beside each other under a different coach.
22. Reggie Theus (1990)
High/Low: 6/UR
By Philip Rossman-Reich
If the Orlando Magic’s inaugural team had a star, it had to be Reggie Theus.
No, Theus did not average the most points on the team. And yes, the expansion Magic won just 18 games. Theus though was undoubtedly the star attraction — for a number of reasons, some of which are not worth getting into.
Theus was a two-time All Star with the Chicago Bulls before finally landing in Orlando. He would go on to a television career before becoming a coach. He had charisma and personality. Something that the expansion Magic probably lacked outside of the fact they were just scrappy.
He was not terrible in his lone season with the Magic, although certainly not part of the team’s long-term plans. He averaged 18.9 points per game and a little more than five assists per game for that expansion team.
Theus was a very good player for the Magic, albeit an inefficient one. He was the Magic’s first (failed) attempt at finding a star.
21. Mike Miller (2001-03)
High/Low: 16/25
By Philip Rossman-Reich
Mike Miller was a surprise Rookie of the Year player when he took the award home from the No. 5 overall pick. He became an important contributor to a Playoff team immediately. That helped propel him to great heights initially.
Miller was a perfect counterpart for Tracy McGrady and Darrell Armstrong at the time. Miller could spread the floor with superb marksmanship while McGrady attacked. And Miller was able to drive on his own too.
He was much more than a spread-the-floor role player though. Miller averaged 14.1 points per game in his three seasons with the Magic. He was adept at making shots, becoming a big difference for those McGrady Playoff teams.
Miller and McGrady were literally inseparable. They were great teammates. And even though the Magic briefly became better after trading Miller, that was the beginning of the end for McGrady. Losing both Miller and Armstrong toward the end of the 2003 season made things difficult for McGrady. At least since he was not a natural leader — he struggled in that role in 2004.
Mike Miller continued to be a superb 3-point shooter and eventually a key role player on a championship Heat team. He was one of the best shooters in Magic history.
The Magic perhaps gave up on him too soon.
Part 2 will publish Tuesday morning with Nos. 16-20 with the next five revealed every morning the rest of this week.