Who has next for the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame?
Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis
It is hard to separate Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis in Orlando Magic history.
They were the two players who made the Magic devastatingly unique in the late 2000s. Their size at the forward position and their ability to stretch the floor was not anything the league had seen from elite players at that point.
Hedo Turkoglu was a ball-handling, 6-foot-9 forward well before his time. Stan Van Gundy unlocked Hedo Turkoglu by playing him in a way no one was even conceiving of at that point. Who lets their 6-foot-9 forward initiate the offense, let alone give him the green light to shoot from beyond the arc.
Rashard Lewis was much the same. He was taken in the second round originally as a high schooler who seemed destined to be a tweener. He proved himself a capable shooter and an underrated (and under-used) post-up player.
By the time he reached Orlando, Lewis had established himself as a solid player. But persuading him to stay at power forward and trust this new vision for playing basketball was a big part of Lewis’ ethos. He was all about the team. Never mind his max contract, he was happy to help the team win.
Having two players who could switch seamlessly between the forward positions and drain shots from the outside was revolutionary. It changed the NBA. The 2009 Magic proved a 3-point shooting team could win a NBA title. Even though they ultimately fell short.
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Turkoglu averaged 14.5 points per game, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in eight seasons with the Magic. He shot 37.9 percent from beyond the arc. In his two years with Van Gundy (the first stint, at least), Turkoglu averaged 18.2 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
Not to mention all the big shots Turkoglu hit along the way in the 2009 playoff run. He is cemented deeply in Magic lore.
Lewis was much quieter, even if his salary was much bigger. He was the one that made the whole thing work with his sacrifice to move to power forward.
In four seasons with the Magic, he averaged 16.3 points per game and shot 39.9 percent from beyond the arc. His ability to defend both bigger forwards like Kevin Garnett and stay versatile enough to stay on the perimeter. He was truly revolutionary and the Magic deployed him that way.
Lewis and Turkoglu should both be in the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame now that their NBA careers are over. It is a matter of timing for them.
The timing might be Dwight Howard. It is hard to imagine the Magic starting to go through players and figures from that 2009 team without putting the heart and soul of that team — Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson and Stan Van Gundy — in the Hall of Fame first.
A lot of the exercise for the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame is figuring out the order to put players and figures into the hall since the team is playing catch up. The 2009 group will get their turn to go into the Hall of Fame very soon.