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 three.
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 three with Nos. 11-15 of our Top 25 list. You can read part one of our list with Nos. 21-25 and part two of our list with Nos. 16-20.
15. Grant Hill (2001-07)
High/Low: 12/19
By Dar-Wei Chen
If everything went according to plan with Grant Hill, he likely would have landed somewhere in the top five of this list.
When the Orlando Magic paired him up with Tracy McGrady in the summer of 2000, they envisioned a high-flying duo of do-it-all wing players that, along with Mike Miller, would create major height and athleticism mismatches when Hill manned the “point forward” role.
At his best, Hill was a legitimate challenger to Michael Jordan’s throne as the dominant star of the league. He was supposed to lead Magic teams that would battle the Los Angeles Lakers in multiple Finals for post-Jordan supremacy (I get sad thinking about the epic Finals series we were all robbed of with Hill’s injuries and Tim Duncan not coming to Orlando).
It is not much of a stretch to say that during his Pistons years, he was some combination of LeBron James‘ versatility (dribbling, court vision, size, defense, rebounding, finishing around the rim, basketball IQ) and Russell Westbrook’s athletic explosiveness – he was that good.
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We all know what happened instead. Various injuries plagued his time with the Magic, causing him to miss hundreds of games and limiting his effectiveness in many of the games he did play.
His popularity remained high with fans, as evidenced by his being voted an All-Star starter in 2005 at the first sign of “old Grant Hill” coming back. But he never played at a level even close to what he was in Detroit.
For the Magic, perhaps the only silver lining of Hill’s repeated injuries is that McGrady broke out as a superstar because of the heavy responsibilities thrown his way.
It is difficult to properly rate Hill among the Magic’s all-time players because his time in Orlando was so unfulfilling relative to expectations. That he was injured for so much of his Magic career was not necessarily his fault – by all accounts, he was someone who worked very hard on getting his body right and no one wanted to come back and return to domination as much as he did.
But performance on the court has to be the dominant factor in any list like this one, and his leaving town in 2007 left a bad taste in the Magic fans’ mouths (some were unhappy he did not give the Magic a “hometown discount” for his services after all of the unfulfilling years — although the Magic were interested in moving on from Hill), especially after he started playing relatively healthy seasons for the Phoenix Suns in his mid-to-late 30s.
Perhaps the largest indictment of his Magic tenure is that no on-court moments stand out in particular. It just seemed like a constant slog of waiting for him to return to the court. And, when he did, he often was not totally right.
Therefore, ranking him at No. 15 all time on the Magic seems about right.
Grant Hill was so good that even him playing about one-third of possible games (and most of them at somewhere from 50-80 percent effectiveness) is enough for him to beat out other players on a franchise’s all-time list. But there is still so much more that could have been achieved.
It is not necessarily his fault those achievements were not realized. But for the purposes of this list, he can only be graded by what he actually did. And that gets him to this spot.
14. Bo Outlaw (1998-2002, 2006-08)
High/Low: 12/24
By Philip Rossman-Reich
You always know when Bo Outlaw is in the room. It is hard not to notice his infectious energy and his gregarious smile.
That does not necessarily help a team win basketball games or to fill up a stat sheet. There are certainly better basketball players lower on this list. Outlaw is not a statistical maven at all.
Yet, he is still completely loved. Still adored with the franchise. He did the things that did not show up on the stat sheet. Outlaw was just pure hustle and energy. He did everything with enthusiasm.
It is rare when a player who is not a star is considered the franchise’s face. If Darrell Armstrong was the heart, Outlaw was the hustle. It was going to be difficult to take that kind of a player away while he still could provide something.
Outlaw was versatile as a defender and a strong player. What stood out though was truly his energy. He played harder and better than his talent level. He was not the best scorer or the best player, but no one was going to outwork him. And that energy was infectious whenever he was on the floor.
That made him valuable and beloved. Outlaw did not put up crazy numbers, but he never left anything on the floor.
13. Horace Grant (1995-99, 2002-03)
High/Low: 8/UR
By Vincent McMillan
As any true Orlando Magic fan knows, the acquisition of Horace Grant as a free agent put the team over the hump and got them to the Finals in 1995. Grant freely signing with the Magic rather than returning to the Michael Jordan-less Chicago Bulls signaled Orlando was officially a free agent destination and a team on the rise.
Grant brought along with him a championship pedigree from his years with Bulls. His leadership helped to steer a talented young team in the right direction which ultimately led to a Finals appearance.
Not only was Horace Grant a great contributor to the team’s culture, but his efforts on the court paired very well with Shaquille O’Neal. Grant battled hard on the defensive end, worked for rebounds and could also sink mid range shots on offense.
Prior to Grant’s arrival, the Magic were swept out of the first round of the playoffs which was the franchise’s first year in the postseason. Going from a first-round sweep to the Finals largely stems from Horace Grant’s professionalism and work ethic that was shared with his teammates.
Not to say that the Finals appearance was solely due to the addition of Grant, but he obviously brought something to the table Orlando was missing.
12. Nikola Vucevic (2013-Present)
High/Low: 12/UR
By Philip Rossman-Reich
A lot of time on this site this summer and offseason has been spent breaking down a lot of Nikola Vucevic’s flaws. With serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo putting pressure on him on the roster, it is unclear what his future with the team is.
Vucevic has certainly played for the Magic at a weird time. He is the best, most consistent player during one of the lowest points in the franchise’s 27-year history. He has produced, plain and simple.
That gets him more than simple consideration. Vucevic has established himself as a clear part of Magic history and part of the story the franchise will tell. He has made an imprint on the team.
Vucevic has averaged a very consistent 16.2 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game. That makes him one of the few players in Magic history to average a double double. Barring a disaster this season, Vucevic should remain in that club for however long he remains with the Magic.
There is no denying Vucevic has done some things no other Magic player has done. His 29 rebounds against the Miami Heat on New Years Eve made him the single game rebound leader for a franchise that had Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard in its annals.
Vucevic is one of the most skilled offensive post players the Magic have ever had. He has a strong inside and outside game, giving him the kind of versatility on offense that a player needs.
The defense remains a question. Ultimately his legacy may be determined on whether he remains with the team when they finally start winning — and what role he has with that team.
For now, Vucevic is a solid player and a good addition to the list based on what he has already accomplished.
11. Scott Skiles (1990-94)
High/Low: 9/UR
By Ryan Doyle
Scott Skiles may have been a controversial figure during his short coaching tenure with the Orlando Magic, but in his playing days back in the 1990s, he was a more of a fan favorite. Skiles was part of the inaugural Orlando Magic team back in 1990 and he played a big role in putting the team on the map.
With a team filled with what many to consider cast-offs, Skiles became a leader. Using his pass-first mindset to make the right play and find the open man, Skiles was a steady hand in the Magic lineup for five seasons until Anfernee Hardaway eventually replaced him.
Skiles was not a flashy player by any stretch, but he put it all on the line every night on the floor.
But Skiles’ competitiveness may have gotten him in trouble a few times. Skiles admitted to getting into a scuffle with Shaquille O’Neal when O’Neal was just entering the league. Skiles pushed his teammates and his no-nonsense personality was something a young team like the Magic needed at the time.
Skiles has put his name in not only Orlando’s record books, but in the NBA record books too. Skiles set the record for most assists in a game with 30 as the Magic defeated the Nuggets back in December 1990. The record still stands and I do not see anyone breaking that any time soon. A tremendous performance that highlighted Skiles’ court vision and selflessness on the court.
Part 4 will publish Thursday morning with Nos. 6-10 with the top five revealed Friday.