19. 2004-05 (36-46)
High/Low: 17/20
By Jonathan Treadway (@JTMagic1989)
After getting the number one overall pick twice, much less in back to back years, no one thought the Magic would ever get the number one pick again. But with a team name like “Magic” anything is possible.
And lightning struck three times.
After finishing the 2004 Season with a 21-61 record, the Magic won the number one pick in the draft lottery for the third time in team history. With that pick, the Magic drafted Dwight Howard.
Many were skeptical and believed the Magic should have taken Emeka Okafor but they instead went for the project pick in Howard. With Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, the Magic began their rebuild.
They moved on from Tracy McGrady, trading him to the Houston Rockets for Steve Francis, Kelvin Cato and Cuttino Mobley. The roster was, at least, slightly improved roster. The Magic finished the 2005 season with a 36-46 record earning this team number 19 on our list.
Most of the season was spent getting Howard a feel for the NBA without overloading him in his first year. Steve Francis and Grant Hill were the big name veterans. They were expected and for the most part carried this team averaging 21.3 and 19.7 points per game respectively. Hill was finally healthy, playing in 67 games.
Related Story: Watch Highlights from the 2005 season
The Magic knew this season was more of a rebuild year than anything else but tried to get as much out of it with a strong mix of veterans like Grant Hill, Steve Francis, Doug Christie and , Hedo Turkoglu, and younger players like Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, and DeShawn Stevenson.
There were some memorable moments such as a dunk Dwight Howard had at home against the Boston Celtics where it seemed his arm reached as far back as it could before bringing it down on the rim. Steve Francis also hit a buzzer-beating layup in the season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks.
But there were also some forgettable moments, like when Kobe Bryant put Dwight Howard in a poster (literally) with a monster dunk over him in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. And Francis got himself suspended for an altercation with a cameraman in Seattle. Johnny Davis went 31-33 but got fired and the team never righted the ship.
The 2005 season will be remembered as the first glimpses the team had of Howard and Nelson and what the Magic’s future could and did look like later in their careers.