1993–94 Orlando Magic season

The 1993–94 Orlando Magic season was the fifth season for the Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association.

Season summary

Off-season Despite narrowly missing the NBA playoffs with a 41–41 record the previous season, the Magic received unexpected good fortune by winning the NBA draft lottery for the second consecutive year, despite having the worst odds. In the 1993 NBA draft, the Magic selected power forward Chris Webber from the University of Michigan with the first overall pick, but soon traded him to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for rookie shooting guard, and first-round draft pick Penny Hardaway from the University of Memphis, and three future first-round draft picks; Hardaway was selected by the Warriors as the third overall pick in the draft. During the off-season, the team signed free agent Larry Krystkowiak, and hired assistant coach Brian Hill as their new head coach.

Regular season Under Hill and with the addition of Hardaway, the Magic got off to a 16–12 start to the regular season, and later on held a 27–20 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the team signed assistant coach Tree Rollins to a player contract, and acquired second-year forward Anthony Avent from the Milwaukee Bucks. The Magic posted a seven-game winning streak in February, and finished in second place in the Atlantic Division with a solid 50–32 record, earning the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference; the team qualified for their first ever NBA playoff appearance in franchise history.

Shaquille O'Neal averaged 29.3 points, 13.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team, while Hardaway had a stellar rookie season, averaging 16.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.3 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. In addition, Nick Anderson provided the team with 15.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game, along with 101 three-point field goals, while three-point specialist Dennis Scott contributed 12.8 points per game, and led the Magic with 155 three-point field goals, and Scott Skiles provided with 9.9 points and 6.1 assists per game. Meanwhile, Donald Royal contributed 7.4 points per game, Jeff Turner averaged 6.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, Krystkowiak provided with 5.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, but only appeared in just 34 games, and Anthony Bowie contributed 4.6 points per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, O'Neal was selected for the 1994 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team, while Hardaway was selected for the inaugural NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Sensations team. Hardaway scored 22 points along with 3 assists, and was named the Rookie Game's Most Valuable Player, despite the Sensations losing to the Phenoms team, 74–68. O'Neal also finished in fourth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Hardaway finished in second place in Rookie of the Year voting behind Webber.

The Magic finished 14th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 626,931 at the Orlando Arena during the regular season.

NBA playoffs In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1994 NBA playoffs, the Magic faced off against the 5th–seeded Indiana Pacers, who were led by Reggie Miller, Rik Smits and Derrick McKey. The Magic lost the first two games to the Pacers at home at the Orlando Arena by a total of three points, before losing Game 3 on the road, 99–86 at the Market Square Arena, thus losing the series in a three-game sweep; it was also O'Neal's first ever NBA playoff appearance.

Aftermath Following the season, Skiles was traded to the Washington Bullets after five seasons with the Magic, and Krystkowiak signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bulls.

Offseason Chris Webber was selected by the Orlando Magic with the first pick of the 1993 NBA draft, becoming the first sophomore since Magic Johnson to be a #1 overall draft pick. The Magic immediately traded him to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Penny Hardaway and three future first round draft picks.

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 1 Chris Webber PF/C Michigan 1 26 Geert Hammink C LSU

Roster

Roster notes Center Tree Rollins was a player-coach during the regular season.

Regular season Penny Hardaway started out the season at the shooting guard position while he learned the point guard position from veteran Scott Skiles. By mid-season he took over point guard duties from Skiles. He immediately made an impact on the league, winning the MVP award at the inaugural Schick Rookie Game. Hardaway helped the Magic to their first playoff berth and first fifty-win season. He averaged 16 points, 6.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds per game while his 190 steals ranked 6th in the league. He recorded his first career triple double on April 15 when he registered 14 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds against the Boston Celtics. For his efforts he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year to the aforementioned Webber.

Season standings

1993-94 NBA Season Summary - Basketball-Reference.com

z – clinched division title y – clinched division title x – clinched playoff spot

Game log

Playoffs

Player statistics

Regular season PlayerPG82 82 3,015 439 544 190 51 1,313 36.8 5.4 6.6 2.3 .6 16.0PG82 46 2,303 189 503 47 2 815 28.1 2.3 6.1 .6 .0 9.9SF82 37 2,283 218 216 81 32 1,046 27.8 2.7 2.6 1.0 .4 12.8C 81 81 3,224 1,072 195 76 231 2,377 39.8 13.2 2.4 .9 2.9 29.3SG 81 81 2,811 476 294 134 33 1,277 34.7 5.9 3.6 1.7 .4 15.8SF 74 0 1,357 248 61 50 16 547 18.3 3.4 .8 .7 .2 7.4SG 70 0 948 120 102 32 12 320 13.5 1.7 1.5 .5 .2 4.6PF 68 51 1,536 271 60 23 11 451 22.6 4.0 .9 .3 .2 6.6C 45 1 384 96 9 7 35 76 8.5 2.1 .2 .2 .8 1.7†PF 41 20 676 184 32 17 11 144 16.5 4.5 .8 .4 .3 3.5PF 34 11 682 123 35 14 4 173 20.1 3.6 1.0 .4 .1 5.1C 29 0 309 70 4 2 12 34 10.7 2.4 .1 .1 .4 1.2PG 29 0 126 12 9 6 1 73 4.3 .4 .3 .2 .0 2.5C 11 0 32 6 1 0 0 8 2.9 .5 .1 .0 .0 .7†SG 4 0 20 4 2 2 0 8 5.0 1.0 .5 .5 .0 2.0†PF 3 0 19 4 2 2 3 2 6.3 1.3 .7 .7 1.0 .7†PF 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 1.0 .0 .0 .0 1.0 .0C 1 0 3 1 1 0 0 2 3.0 1.0 1.0 .0 .0 2.0

Playoffs PlayerPG3 3 133 20 21 5 6 56 44.3 6.7 7.0 1.7 2.0 18.7C3 3 126 40 7 2 9 62 42.0 13.3 2.3 .7 3.0 20.7SG3 3 120 10 10 5 2 43 40.0 3.3 3.3 1.7 .7 14.3SF3 3 99 6 3 2 3 43 33.0 2.0 1.0 .7 1.0 14.3PF3 3 92 25 9 3 2 18 30.7 8.3 3.0 1.0 .7 6.0SF3 0 45 4 5 1 0 21 15.0 1.3 1.7 .3 .0 7.0C3 0 29 3 0 1 1 4 9.7 1.0 .0 .3 .3 1.3PF 2 0 40 11 1 0 0 19 20.0 5.5 .5 .0 .0 9.5PG 2 0 23 1 3 0 0 9 11.5 .5 1.5 .0 .0 4.5SG 2 0 13 0 0 0 0 0 6.5 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0

Awards and honors Shaquille O'Neal – All-NBA 3rd team, Field goal percentage leader, All-Star Penny Hardaway – All-Rookie 1st Team, Schick Rookie Challenge MVP

References

Orlando Magic on Basketball Reference

1993–94 Orlando Magic season

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