5 worst starters of the Orlando Magic’s Tracy McGrady era

5 worst Orlando Magic starters of the Tracy McGrady era

Britton Johnsen (2004)

4 starts, 2.1 PPG, 2.3 RPG

I do not mean to throw shade on Britton Johnsen at all here. He was a great guy who provided Orlando Magic fans with a really fun Summer League highlight in the video above (I name him only to share that video once again).

We have been through our share of rebuilding and tanking seasons. And the lowlight of those tanking seasons is usually when the roster is full of G-League players and guys fighting to make the NBA who are not going to last long.

Indeed, Johnsen played only one more year in the NBA and played in only 20 games for the Magic in that woeful 2004 season.

My biggest Johnsen memory from the 2004 season though was at halftime of the Orlando Magic’s nationally televised game against the Phoenix Suns on Nov. 20, 2003. The Magic had just fired Doc Rivers and were on a 10-game losing streak that would extend to 19 games.

The TNT broadcast put the Magic’s starting lineup and roster on the screen — the starters were Tracy McGrady, Tyronn Lue, Drew Gooden, Keith Bogans and Steven Hunter. Britton Johnsen did not even play this game showing how bad my memory can be.

But I do remember Charles Barkley ripping the Magic for putting such a poor supporting cast around Tracy McGrady. How was a player even as great as McGrady supposed to carry this team?

That was the reality of playing on this team and a team that was destined to tank and get the No. 1 pick.

Johnsen was not the problem, he was a symptom of the bigger problems that led the team to bottoming out in this way. The Magic could not attract or get talented players and eventually the team would hit rock bottom.

Every player on this list is a symptom of the problems with the Magic’s front office and team building plan that ultimately wasted McGrady’s prime years in Orlando.