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Orlando Magic Top 30: The Most Under-Appreciated Player in Orlando Magic History

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Everyone remembers the Orlando Magic's superstars like Dwight Howard. What about players we don't talk about much like Jason Richardson? (Gary W. Green/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Everyone remembers the Orlando Magic's superstars like Dwight Howard. What about players we don't talk about much like Jason Richardson? (Gary W. Green/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) /
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Juwan Howard, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks
The Orlando Magic hoped to sign Juwan Howard and take the next step. They hit rock bottom instead. (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /

25. Juwan Howard (2004)

The Orlando Magic had grand visions when they signed veteran forward Juwan Howard to a five-year, $29.5 million deal. He was a mobile floor-spacing center (playing up from power forward) that they could pair with another somewhat mobile big in Drew Gooden and space the floor for Tracy McGrady.

After taking the top-seeded Detroit Pistons to seven games — in a series the Orlando Magic should have won after taking a 3-1 series lead — the Magic thought they could make a move and take a leap. They still had Grant Hill waiting in the wings if he could ever get healthy.

To call the move a disaster would be putting it lightly.

The Magic in 2004 bottomed out at 21-61. McGrady put up insane individual numbers but defenses focused on him and made his life difficult. He would ask for a trade at the end of the season.

The rest of the roster never came together. Tyronn Lue struggled to handle starting point guard duties after being the primary reserve for the Los Angeles Lakers title runs. There were no other guards or wings worth mentioning outside of McGrady. And the proposed duo of Juwan Howard and Drew Gooden flamed out completely.

Michigan Wolverines
Michigan Wolverines /

Michigan Wolverines

The two never meshed and Gooden bristled at playing center, coming off the bench and even playing some small forward. He too would be gone by the end of the year.

Through it all though, there was something to admire in Howard. It was not his fault the team flamed out — except for perhaps the idea of playing him at center in the first place which after not working forced the team to turn back to Andrew DeClercq.

Howard still put in consistent work every night for a team that clearly was in chaos and limping to the end of the season.

In Howard’s lone year with the Orlando Magic (he was traded with McGrady to the Houston Rockets in the offseason), he averaged 17.0 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. When other players were shutting down because the season did not matter after a franchise-record 19-game losing streak following a season-opening win, he played 81 games.

Howard may not have been much of a defensive ace. But he could score. And he was always reliable for that. There is something you have to respect for consistency.

He may not have been able to accomplish what the Magic hoped when they signed him. But he was at least the violinist playing until the ship finally sank.