2004 — Round 1, Pick 1
Believe it or not, there was a legitimate debate on draft night over whether the team should draft Dwight Howard.
Emeka Okafor was the established college star and Dick Vitale was screaming his head off on the ESPN broadcast that the Magic made a mistake taking the scrawny high schooler. Tracy McGrady essentially told the team that if they took the raw center from Atlanta they should prepare to trade him (they did).
All of those moves proved to pay off in the end. Howard needed time to develop and grow. He averaged a double-double off the bat and seemed to get better and better from there.
He came to define the Magic anchoring the best runs in franchise history. Probably not the most iconic in the franchise’s history, but he was the best player during the team’s longest sustained run of success.
In many ways, Dwight Howard was the second coming of Shaquille O’Neal. Even down to taking the Superman moniker.
But he was different from O’Neal. He was a defensive force and clearly the best defensive player in a Magic uniform. Howard won three Defensive Player of the Year awards. He was the one guy who seemed able to repel LeBron James and Derrick Rose at the rim. It is hard to understate just how much of an impact he had on the defensive end.
The Magic’s surprise 2009 Finals run brought new attention and brought new scrutiny to him. His somewhat immature, fun-loving ways became a knock rather than a charm. And that ultimately unwound the team. The pressure to win was too great for him and for the team.
His ugly exit overshadowed eight amazing years in a Magic uniform. One that clearly puts him in the Mt. Rushmore of Magic greats.