A Pleasant Surprise: The Story of the 1999-00 Orlando Magic

During the summer of 1999, the direction of the Orlando Magic franchise changed dramatically.

Several key players from the previous season had been shipped out of town including All-Star Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway.

General manager John Gabriel decided it was time to dismantle the team and clear up cap space for the following summer when free agents like Tim Duncan and Grant Hill would be available.

Not a bad plan. Adding Duncan or Hill would surely help Magic fans get over losing Shaquille O'Neal to the Lakers for nothing a few years back.

The Magic were quickly picked to finish the 1999-00 campaign with one of the NBA's worst records.

There was no way they could win more than 15 games with a bunch of young, relatively unknown players.

I'm sure fans wondered, "Who in the world were Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins?"

Not only did the Magic have a bunch of no-name players, they also employed a rookie head coach in Glenn "Doc" Rivers.

Rivers was known as a solid point guard during his 13-year NBA career, but could he coach? The league would later find out the answer to that question.

The Magic opened the regular season on the road in Charlotte against the Hornets (before they moved to New Orleans).

Their starting lineup consisted of Bo Outlaw and Wallace at forward, Michael Doleac at center, and Darrell Armstrong and Tariq Abdul-Wahad at the guard spots. That resembled an expansion team's lineup.

And the Magic played like an expansion team that night losing the game 100-86.

However, they won four of their next five ball games.

Later in the season, the wheels fell off. They lost 13 out of 14 games from late December to late January and owned a 16-24 record after their first 40 games. 

In addition, things got better once again as the Magic went on a couple of winning streaks. They won five straight games in February and an even better seven straight in April. 

How was this team staying in the playoff hunt? Two words: heart and hustle. That was the team's model.

No, there weren't any superstars on the roster, but these guys played as a unit with high intensity.

And almost everybody on the team got a chance to contribute as Rivers would usually play most of his bench. Players like Atkins, Doleac, Monty Williams, Corey Maggette, and Pat Garrity received the most minutes off the pine.

Armstrong, who had been accustomed to coming off he bench as Hardaway's backup, became the teams' new leader. The 6'0" speedy point guard led the Magic in scoring (16.2 ppg), assists (6.1 apg), and steals (2.1 spg).   

Ultimately, the Magic wound up finishing the season with a 41-41 record and missing the playoffs by only one game. Yeah, one measly game. 

Oh well, the Magic overachieved a great deal that season even if they failed to reach the postseason.

And Doc proved to the league that he could indeed coach as he was named Coach of the Year at season's end.

In closing, it just goes to show you that you don't need superstars to have a competitive basketball team. 

All you need is a roster full of hardworking players who have heart and play as a team.