The NBA’s all-time starting five: Orlando Magic

You’re in your second semester of AP Basketball History, you love really good teams, and you love lists. With precious little drama left in the NBA’s 2015 offseason, why don’t we hit the barroom and/or barbershop, pour ourselves a frosty mug of Barbicide, and get to arguin’ over each franchise’s most formidable starting five-man lineup.

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Because we don’t like making tough decisions, the lineups will reflect the All-NBA line of thinking. There will be no differentiation between separate forward and guard positions, and the squads will be chosen after careful consideration of individual merits only – we don’t really care if your team’s top shooting guard and point guard don’t get along.

These rankings will roll out based on when each franchise began its NBA life. We continue with the Orlando Magic, a star and pinstripe-crossed outfit if we ever saw one.

C: Dwight Howard. He may have acted a duplicitous goof during his final season with Orlando, but his have-it-both-ways exit from Florida doesn’t take away from all Howard accomplished in eight seasons with the team. Dwight made six All-Star teams with the Magic, he should have won Rookie of the Year in 2005, he probably should have won the MVP in 2011, and he led the team to the 2009 NBA Finals. He managed averages of 18.4 points and over 13 rebounds a game with the team, with 2.2 blocks per contest. He twice led the NBA in that category, while leading the league four times in Defensive Win Shares.

F: Rashard Lewis. Derided from the outset as an overpaid free agent, Lewis nevertheless acted as a needed force as a floor-spacing for several good-to-great Magic teams. Lewis averaged over 16 points and five rebounds in 257 games with Orlando, shooting 40 percent from behind the three-point arc while battling power forwards up front. His presence as a stretch four basically sealed Orlando’s 2009 Eastern Conference finals win.

F: Tracy McGrady. A startling swingman scorer for several lacking Magic teams, McGrady twice led the NBA in scoring while shouldering a massive load down in Florida. T-Mac just about had to go it alone on a top-heavy team that was burdened by both Grant Hill’s contract and ankle injuries. He averaged over 28 points per game while with the Magic alongside 12.2 combined assists/rebounds and 2.5 blocks/steals.

G: Nick Anderson. The go-to scorer prior to Shaquille O’Neal’s arrival, Anderson never made an All-Star team with the Magic yet still was an important presence on several very good Orlando teams. His stats diminished once he had to give the ball up to both O’Neal and Anfernee Hardaway, but Anderson still averaged over 15 points and five rebounds per game in ten seasons with the club.

G: Penny Hardaway. A disappointment in the end, due to crippling knee injuries, Hardaway still turned in a pair of MVP-caliber years while leading the Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals and a series of playoff berths. Hardaway was a four-time All-Star in Orlando and averaged 19 points, a combined 11 rebounds/assists and 1.9 steals with the Magic.

Shaquille O’Neal led the NBA in scoring while with the Magic and he offered up an astounding 27.2 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game overall, but his four seasons just did not match up with Dwight Howard’s eight with the club.

Another near-miss was Dennis Scott, who remains the team’s all-time leader in three-pointers made despite counting 4-19-97 as his last game with the club. Jameer Nelson and Darrell Armstrong were two gutty, versatile score-first point guards that led the team admirably during their years with the franchise, as was Scott Skiles. Skiles, now the team’s head coach, averaged 7.2 assists per game during his time with Orlando.

Horace Grant and Hedo Turkoglu also performed well during their time as Magic forwards.

That’s our five. Who are you going with?

Previous entries: Golden State. Boston. New York. Detroit. Sacramento. Los Angeles Lakers. Atlanta. Philadelphia. Washington. Chicago. Houston. Seattle/Oklahoma City. Phoenix. Milwaukee. Los Angeles Clippers. Cleveland. Portland. Utah. Brooklyn. Indiana. San Antonio. Denver. Dallas. Charlotte. Miami. Minnesota.