The 2000–01 Orlando Magic season was the 12th season for the Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association.

Season summary

Off-season The Magic received the fifth overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard Mike Miller from the University of Florida; the team also selected point guard Keyon Dooling from the University of Missouri with the tenth overall pick, and selected shooting guard Courtney Alexander out of Fresno State University with the 13th overall pick. However, the Magic soon traded Dooling to the Los Angeles Clippers, and traded Alexander to the Dallas Mavericks on draft day.

During the off-season, the Magic acquired Tracy McGrady from the Toronto Raptors, and acquired All-Star forward Grant Hill from the Detroit Pistons. The Magic had nearly signed then-free agent All-Star forward Tim Duncan, offering him a six-year contract worth $67.5 million; Duncan led the San Antonio Spurs to their first championship title the year before. However, Duncan would re-sign with the Spurs. Additionally, the Magic also signed free agents Troy Hudson, Dee Brown and Don Reid, and acquired Andrew DeClercq from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For the season, the Magic redesigned their primary logo. The team also slightly redesigned their home and road uniforms, adding their new alternate logo on the right leg of their shorts. The team's new primary logo would remain in use until 2010.

Regular season However, despite the addition of McGrady, Hill and Miller, Hill re-injured his left ankle from the previous season after only playing just four games, and was out for the remainder of the regular season, as the Magic struggled losing 11 of their first 16 games in November. Meanwhile, Brown only appeared in just seven games due to a left quadricep tendon injury. Despite losing both Hill and Brown, the Magic posted a nine-game winning streak between January and February, held a 25–23 record at the All-Star break, and returned to the NBA playoffs after a one-year absence, finishing in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a 43–39 record, and earning the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

McGrady averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, and was named the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year, and was also named to the All-NBA Second Team. In addition, Hill averaged 13.8 points, and 6.3 rebounds and assists per game each during his short four-game stint, while Darrell Armstrong provided the team with 15.9 points, 7.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game, along with 143 three-point field goals, Miller contributed 11.9 points per game, led the Magic with 148 three-point field goals, and was named the NBA Rookie of the Year, and was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and Bo Outlaw averaged 7.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. Off the bench, Pat Garrity contributed 8.3 points per game, while John Amaechi provided with 7.9 points per game, and Michael Doleac averaged 6.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., McGrady and Hill were both selected for the 2001 NBA All-Star Game, as members of the Eastern Conference All-Star team, although Hill did not participate due to his ankle injury; it was McGrady's first ever All-Star appearance. In addition, McGrady also participated in the NBA 2Ball Competition, along with Nykesha Sales of the WNBA's Orlando Miracle, while Miller was selected for the NBA Rookie Challenge Game, as a member of the Rookies team, and Garrity participated in the NBA Three-Point Shootout. McGrady also finished in sixth place in Most Valuable Player voting.

The Magic finished 23rd in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 605,031 at the TD Waterhouse Centre during the regular season.

NBA playoffs In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 2001 NBA playoffs, the Magic faced off against the 2nd–seeded, and Central Division champion Milwaukee Bucks, who were led by the trio of All-Star guard Ray Allen, All-Star forward Glenn Robinson, and Sam Cassell. The Magic lost the first two games to the Bucks on the road at the Bradley Center, but managed to win Game 3 at home in overtime, 121–116 at the TD Waterhouse Centre, in which McGrady posted a double-double of 42 points and 10 assists. However, the Magic lost Game 4 to the Bucks at home, 112–104, thus losing the series in four games.

Aftermath Following the season, Amaechi signed as a free agent with the Utah Jazz, and Doleac was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers on draft day.

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 5 Mike Miller SF/SG Florida 1 10 Keyon Dooling PG Missouri 1 13 Courtney Alexander SG Fresno State

Roster

Roster notes Small forward Grant Hill played 4 games (his last game being on December 12, 2000), but missed the rest of the season and the playoffs due to having season-ending surgery on his left ankle, which involved removing a metal plate and five screws from the inside portion of Hill's ankle, and replacing the plate with a bone graft from his pelvis, then inserting new screws.

Regular season

Season standings

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

Game log

Playoffs

|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 | April 22 | @ Milwaukee | L 90–103 | Tracy McGrady (33) | McGrady, Outlaw (9) | Tracy McGrady (8) | Bradley Center18,717 | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | April 25 | @ Milwaukee | L 96–103 | Tracy McGrady (35) | Doleac, Outlaw (7) | Tracy McGrady (7) | Bradley Center18,717 | 0–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 3 | April 28 | Milwaukee | W 121–116 (OT) | Tracy McGrady (42) | Bo Outlaw (14) | Tracy McGrady (10) | TD Waterhouse Centre17,248 | 1–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | May 1 | Milwaukee | L 104–112 | Tracy McGrady (25) | Bo Outlaw (12) | Armstrong, McGrady (8) | TD Waterhouse Centre17,248 | 1–3

Player statistics

Regular season PlayerSF82 62 2,390 327 140 51 19 975 29.1 4.0 1.7 .6 .2 11.9C82 36 1,710 268 74 28 29 650 20.9 3.3 .9 .3 .4 7.9SF82 0 1,211 243 79 29 16 410 14.8 3.0 1.0 .4 .2 5.0PF 80 69 2,534 619 225 105 137 582 31.7 7.7 2.8 1.3 1.7 7.3SG 77 77 3,087 580 352 116 118 2,065 40.1 7.5 4.6 1.5 1.5 26.8C 77 21 1,398 273 65 37 41 490 18.2 3.5 .8 .5 .5 6.4SF 76 1 1,579 210 51 40 15 628 20.8 2.8 .7 .5 .2 8.3PG 75 75 2,767 343 524 135 13 1,189 36.9 4.6 7.0 1.8 .2 15.9PG 75 7 1,008 105 162 37 3 357 13.4 1.4 2.2 .5 .0 4.8C 67 51 903 236 32 41 33 261 13.5 3.5 .5 .6 .5 3.9PF 65 7 764 242 21 23 54 210 11.8 3.7 .3 .4 .8 3.2PG 26 0 227 25 36 16 0 52 8.7 1.0 1.4 .6 .0 2.0PG 7 0 155 11 12 4 0 48 22.1 1.6 1.7 .6 .0 6.9PG 6 0 50 8 0 4 1 10 8.3 1.3 .0 .7 .2 1.7†PG 6 0 39 4 5 3 0 10 6.5 .7 .8 .5 .0 1.7SF 4 4 133 25 25 5 2 55 33.3 6.3 6.3 1.3 .5 13.8

Playoffs PlayerSG4 4 178 26 33 7 5 135 44.5 6.5 8.3 1.8 1.3 33.8PG4 4 167 22 19 8 2 53 41.8 5.5 4.8 2.0 .5 13.3PF4 4 134 42 9 5 6 34 33.5 10.5 2.3 1.3 1.5 8.5SF4 4 112 18 7 0 3 48 28.0 4.5 1.8 .0 .8 12.0C4 4 54 16 1 2 2 20 13.5 4.0 .3 .5 .5 5.0SF4 0 117 5 2 0 1 48 29.3 1.3 .5 .0 .3 12.0PG4 0 56 9 9 1 0 17 14.0 2.3 2.3 .3 .0 4.3C4 0 45 14 1 3 0 12 11.3 3.5 .3 .8 .0 3.0C4 0 29 3 3 3 2 9 7.3 .8 .8 .8 .5 2.3PG 3 0 54 3 4 2 0 18 18.0 1.0 1.3 .7 .0 6.0PF 3 0 25 11 0 1 2 10 8.3 3.7 .0 .3 .7 3.3SF 3 0 14 6 0 0 2 7 4.7 2.0 .0 .0 .7 2.3

Awards and honors Tracy McGrady – Most Improved Player, All-NBA 2nd Team, All-Star Mike Miller – Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie 1st Team Grant Hill – All-Star

References