No. 4 Orlando Magic

Although it won 45 games last year, the Magic was a team divided. After coach Brian Hill was fired midway through the season, many blamed his dismissal on a mutiny by the players, who had clamored for a more high-profile leader. Orlando fans, incensed at the notion that spoiled young athletes were calling the shots, booed their ball club vociferously in the following days, with one exception—center Rony Seikaly , a newcomer whose exemption from the crowd's wrath immediately caused him problems with his besieged teammates. "I want this to be the last team I play for," Seikaly said. "All I want to do is fit in."

In the midst of that furor, three-point specialist Dennis Scott , a close friend of the departed Shaquille O'Neal , knocked heads with Penny Hardaway and his trusted sidekick, swingman Nick Anderson , over who played what role in the now Shaq -less lineup. As the playoffs neared, power forward Horace Grant hurt his right wrist, then criticized Orlando 's medical staff for calling the injury a sprain instead of what he believed it was, a hairline fracture. "It was a war zone in there almost every night," says one Orlando player of the strife and backbiting in the locker room. "The atmosphere was terrible."

Anderson , in particular, seemed shell-shocked. A sprained right wrist forced him to miss 19 games and stripped him of the aggressiveness that had made him an effective penetrator. After six consecutive seasons of scoring 14 or more points per game, including 19.9 in 1991-92 and '92-93, Anderson averaged 12.0 last season, shooting a career-low 39.7% from the field and an execrable 40.4% from the line.

It was against this backdrop that Orlando pursued coach Chuck Daly , the players' choice. Daly had repeatedly said he was retired, but after the Magic waved a three-year, $15 million package at him, the 67-year-old Hall of Fame coach finally relented last June.

By then the Magic had been eliminated in five games by the Heat in the opening round of the playoffs, a series highlighted by the rousing performance of Hardaway in the final two games. Playing at the shooting guard spot instead of at the point, he scored 74 points and was the most dynamic—and dangerous—force on the floor. Afterward, Hardaway echoed what many in the league have said for years: His best position is the two, where he is free to create and score without the added duty of setting up his teammates.

No wonder, then, that one of Daly 's first official acts was to endorse the trade of Scott to Dallas for Derek Harper , who, along with newly acquired Mark Price , will man the point and allow Hardaway to shift to off-guard. Entering the final season of his 15-year career, Harper will provide wisdom and leadership to a team that was devoid of both last season. The deal should also defuse some of the locker-room tension by removing Scott , whose displeasure with the franchise bubbled over last summer in a heated tirade at, of all places, his summer basketball camp.

While the Harper trade received the most fanfare in Orlando , general manager John Gabriel made perhaps an even more significant transaction by signing free agent Charles (Bo) Outlaw . Outlaw is only 6'8", but he's a shot blocker who gives the Magic added depth and size at small forward and was one of the better secrets in the NBA with the Clippers last year. Orlando also re-upped Derek Strong, an underrated power forward who filled in admirably for the injured Seikaly in the postseason.

If Grant, who says he's healthy and "excited as hell" to play for Daly , can recommit himself to the Magic , Orlando has a chance to make some noise in the Atlantic Division . The team's success will also hinge on whether Anderson , now the starting small forward, can shake himself out of the doldrums. To reward him for aggressiveness, the Magic inserted a bonus clause that pays him more for his trips to the foul line. (He made only 94 last season, which, given his woeful percentage there, may have been a blessing.) The early signs weren't good. In eight preseason games Anderson did not attempt a single free throw.

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