Magic will honor McGrady
Tracy McGrady can add another honor to his résumé.
McGrady will be inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame next month, team officials announced Thursday.
During his four seasons with the Magic, McGrady won the NBA scoring title twice, made the All-NBA First Team twice and earned four All-Star nods. He averaged 28.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game over his tenure in Orlando, which spanned from 2000 to 2004.
The Magic created their hall of fame in 2014 and named franchise co-founder Pat Williams and former player Nick Anderson the inaugural inductees. Shaquille O’Neal, owner Rich DeVos, Penny Hardaway and franchise cofounder Jimmy Hewitt have been inducted since then.
This past fall, the Magic named McGrady a special assistant to the CEO, in part because McGrady grew up in Polk County and the Magic recently placed their G-League affiliate in Lakeland.
In addition to the enshrinement ceremony on March 20, the Magic will honor McGrady during their home game that night against the Toronto Raptors. Magic coach Frank Vogel understands McGrady’s abilities firsthand. Vogel worked as a Boston Celtics assistant coach during three of McGrady’s four seasons in Orlando. During the 2003-04 season, McGrady averaged 31.3 points per game against the Celtics.
“He’s one of those guys that on any given night could go for 40 or 50 points,” Vogel said. “[He was] one of the best scorers that I’ve ever coached against.”
Back in action
Two familiar faces returned from injury when the Magic hosted the New York Knicks on Thursday night at Amway Center.
Nikola Vucevic played for the first time since he fractured the metacarpal of his left index finger on Dec. 23. The Magic posted a 7-16 record in the 23 consecutive games Vucevic missed.
Aaron Gordon played for the first time since he strained his left hip flexor on Jan. 27. The Magic went 4-5 in the nine consecutive games Gordon sat out.
Vogel employed a starting lineup of D.J. Augustin, Jonathon Simmons, Evan
Fournier, Gordon and Vucevic. It was the Magic’s 19th different starting lineup this season.
Birch’s role
With Vucevic returning and Bismack Biyombo set to come off the bench, Vogel will have to decide how much he plays rookie center
Khem Birch and veteran center Marreese Speights.
It likely would be in the Magic’s long-term interests to keep allocating minutes to Birch, who impressed with his energy and his shotblocking during Vucevic’s absence. At the same time, however, Speights has given the Magic a lift with his long-range shooting.
Asked whether Birch will continue to play, Vogel answered, “We’ll see. I’m going to see if I can continue to try to find him minutes. We’re not going to burn out Vooch right away [with Vooch] having been out for a long time. So there’s a chance we play three centers.
“It depends what we need. If we need 3-point shooting, it’ll be Mo,” Vogel added. “If we need activity and energy, it’ll be Khem.”
Layups
All five Magic starters scored within the game’s first 4 minutes, 5 seconds.
The Magic made 11 of their first 12 shots, including all of their first five 3-point attempts.
Vucevic scored 10 of the Magic’s first 27 points. Rookie forward Jonathan Isaac practiced with the Magic’s G-League team in Lakeland on Thursday in preparation for his game with Lakeland on tonight.