That First Magical Season
Players from the inaugural team remember the good times as Orlando celebrates 20 FANtastic Seasons
By Tim Povtak
It usually takes a championship in the NBA to hold a celebratory parade.
Not this time.
The Orlando Magic held one before their first season even started -- still proof of how anticipated it really was 20 years ago.
What started with that well-hyped parade down Orange Avenue -- complete with confetti flying, a marching band playing and players riding atop convertibles -- finished to become the most beloved season in Magic history.
No, they didn't win many games that year -- only 18 to be exact -- but they won everyone's heart with their hustle and bustle, branding memories in Central Florida that will last a lifetime. This town still hasn't forgotten its first Magic team.
"Most franchises wait until they win a title to have that big parade," said Morlon Wiley, a reserve guard on that first team and now the Magic's director of player development. "But it was amazing back then, so typical of that first season. People were so hungry for a team to embrace. I still have people today telling me how much they enjoyed that first season."
That 1989-90 season was the culmination of years of hard work throughout the community, of funding and building a downtown arena, of securing an NBA franchise, of turning hope and anticipation into 10,000 season tickets holders.
And when it started in an almost too-good-to-be-true fashion, turning a roster of castoffs -- all dumped by previous teams -- into a surprisingly competitive bunch, the excitement multiplied. They were misfits who fit well, endearing themselves to a city ripe for its first taste of NBA basketball.
They became -- at least for one season -- the toast of the town.
Reggie Theus, with his Hollywood looks, was smooth as silk. Terry Catledge, the Cat Man, prowled late night all around town. Scott Skiles strutted like a bantam rooster. Jerry Reynolds played as cool as ice. Sidney Green became the enforcer. Sam Vincent rubbed shoulders with the politicians. Rookie Nick Anderson became the future.
They opened the inaugural season at Orlando Arena with an emotional exhibition victory over the Detroit Pistons, the famed Bad Boys who were fresh off an NBA championship season.
The Pistons thought they were coming for a typical, half-speed exhibition game, but they discovered a rowdy, sold-out crowd of 15,077 and a Magic team that was yearning to prove they belonged, competing like it was playoff time.
A 118-109 Magic victory finished to a standing ovation, fans literally jumping for joy, and a celebration outside the arena that was startling.
When they lost their regular-season home opener, they responded by beating the proud New York Knicks the next game. They won their first road game, too, torching the Cavaliers in Cleveland. When that first November ended, they were 7-7, in the thick of a tight division race.
"We all had something to prove because we were unwanted by our previous teams," said Green, who now lives in Las Vegas. "With that kind of motivation, we had an edge. Unfortunately, it didn't last the whole season."
After winning seven of those first 14 games, they managed to win only 11 more in an 82-game season. Yet there were memorable highlights along the way. They won only two games in December, but they were stunners, over the Showtime Lakers and the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan. Both were at Orlando Arena.
Catledge had 28 points and 12 rebounds against the defending Western Conference champions, and they smothered Magic Johnson into a poor performance. Against the Bulls, Otis Smith capped a season-high 28 points with a winning basket in the closing seconds.
In the spring, they beat the Knicks again, in vaunted Madison Square Garden, when rookie Nick Anderson scored his season-high 29 points and Skiles recorded the first triple-double of his career, getting 23 points, 17 assists and 12 rebounds.
They closed the season with a victory against the New Jersey Nets after losing 15 consecutive games. They won only once in March and once in April, enduring loss after painful loss. Like everyone else, Coach Matt Guokas grew weary as they struggled to win.
"There were times I had to talk Matty off the ledge," said Pat Williams, Magic senior vice president who was the team's general manager during that first season. "There were some harsh realities during that first season, but nothing but good memories now. The tendency is to remember only the good times."
Like any team that struggles on the court, there was finger pointing behind closed doors. There was the point guard controversy -- Vincent or Skiles. Theus talked too much about his points. Catledge never passed out of the post. No one was defending. The rebounding was weak.
Yet every home game was a sellout. You could feel the love. They averaged an entertaining 110.2 points, but they allowed an incredible 119 points per game. Fans like watching them, but opponents liked playing them, too, which was not a good sign.
"Guys would go at each other in practice. Sometimes the practices were more fun than the games. Everyone thought they knew how to fix it," said Smith, now the team's general manager. "A lot of stuff behind the scenes really made it memorable for me. We hung pretty close."
There was no team plane back then, so every flight was commercial, which meant road trips with 5:30 a.m. wake up calls, and long walks through airport concourses, which meant more interaction with the fans than there is today.
Catledge pump-faked his way to a team-best, 19.4-point scoring average, the best season of his career. Anderson, the quiet rookie from Chicago, proved his toughness.
"The rookies got tested all the time. The game was a lot more physical back then," said Anderson, still Orlando's all-time leading scorer and now a community ambassador for the Magic. "I just remember the veterans flying in first class, I was always on the wing a lot. I also remember Cat Man telling me, 'Rookie, I want my coffee and my newspaper at 6 a.m.' It was a fun time."
Most of that team was back at the arena for the opening of the 2008-09 season as part of the 20-year anniversary celebration.
Smith, Wiley and Anderson still work for the Magic today. Jeff Turner still lives here and coaches at Lake Highland Prep. Mark Acres came from California, where he teaches and coaches high school.
Green is living and working in Las Vegas. Vincent is coaching for Anaheim in the NBA Development League. Reynolds is coaching in the ABA in New Jersey.
Theus and Skiles are NBA coaches in Sacramento and Milwaukee, respectively, and returned later with their respective NBA teams.
Vincent, who has coached everywhere from Europe to South Africa to the NBA, doesn't live here anymore, but he returns every summer, drawn back like a moth to the light. He still has dozens of friends here that he met that first year.
"I always come back to Orlando, always have and always will," Vincent said. "There was just such a connection with this town that first year. And it will always be there for every one of us. I think the feeling, too, goes both ways. That's what makes it so special."
|
|
By Tim Povtak
It usually takes a championship in the NBA to hold a celebratory parade.
Not this time.
The Orlando Magic held one before their first season even started -- still proof of how anticipated it really was 20 years ago.
What started with that well-hyped parade down Orange Avenue -- complete with confetti flying, a marching band playing and players riding atop convertibles -- finished to become the most beloved season in Magic history.
No, they didn't win many games that year -- only 18 to be exact -- but they won everyone's heart with their hustle and bustle, branding memories in Central Florida that will last a lifetime. This town still hasn't forgotten its first Magic team.
"Most franchises wait until they win a title to have that big parade," said Morlon Wiley, a reserve guard on that first team and now the Magic's director of player development. "But it was amazing back then, so typical of that first season. People were so hungry for a team to embrace. I still have people today telling me how much they enjoyed that first season."
That 1989-90 season was the culmination of years of hard work throughout the community, of funding and building a downtown arena, of securing an NBA franchise, of turning hope and anticipation into 10,000 season tickets holders.
And when it started in an almost too-good-to-be-true fashion, turning a roster of castoffs -- all dumped by previous teams -- into a surprisingly competitive bunch, the excitement multiplied. They were misfits who fit well, endearing themselves to a city ripe for its first taste of NBA basketball.
They became -- at least for one season -- the toast of the town.
Reggie Theus, with his Hollywood looks, was smooth as silk. Terry Catledge, the Cat Man, prowled late night all around town. Scott Skiles strutted like a bantam rooster. Jerry Reynolds played as cool as ice. Sidney Green became the enforcer. Sam Vincent rubbed shoulders with the politicians. Rookie Nick Anderson became the future.
They opened the inaugural season at Orlando Arena with an emotional exhibition victory over the Detroit Pistons, the famed Bad Boys who were fresh off an NBA championship season.
The Pistons thought they were coming for a typical, half-speed exhibition game, but they discovered a rowdy, sold-out crowd of 15,077 and a Magic team that was yearning to prove they belonged, competing like it was playoff time.
A 118-109 Magic victory finished to a standing ovation, fans literally jumping for joy, and a celebration outside the arena that was startling.
When they lost their regular-season home opener, they responded by beating the proud New York Knicks the next game. They won their first road game, too, torching the Cavaliers in Cleveland. When that first November ended, they were 7-7, in the thick of a tight division race.
"We all had something to prove because we were unwanted by our previous teams," said Green, who now lives in Las Vegas. "With that kind of motivation, we had an edge. Unfortunately, it didn't last the whole season."
After winning seven of those first 14 games, they managed to win only 11 more in an 82-game season. Yet there were memorable highlights along the way. They won only two games in December, but they were stunners, over the Showtime Lakers and the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan. Both were at Orlando Arena.
Catledge had 28 points and 12 rebounds against the defending Western Conference champions, and they smothered Magic Johnson into a poor performance. Against the Bulls, Otis Smith capped a season-high 28 points with a winning basket in the closing seconds.
In the spring, they beat the Knicks again, in vaunted Madison Square Garden, when rookie Nick Anderson scored his season-high 29 points and Skiles recorded the first triple-double of his career, getting 23 points, 17 assists and 12 rebounds.
They closed the season with a victory against the New Jersey Nets after losing 15 consecutive games. They won only once in March and once in April, enduring loss after painful loss. Like everyone else, Coach Matt Guokas grew weary as they struggled to win.
"There were times I had to talk Matty off the ledge," said Pat Williams, Magic senior vice president who was the team's general manager during that first season. "There were some harsh realities during that first season, but nothing but good memories now. The tendency is to remember only the good times."
Like any team that struggles on the court, there was finger pointing behind closed doors. There was the point guard controversy -- Vincent or Skiles. Theus talked too much about his points. Catledge never passed out of the post. No one was defending. The rebounding was weak.
Yet every home game was a sellout. You could feel the love. They averaged an entertaining 110.2 points, but they allowed an incredible 119 points per game. Fans like watching them, but opponents liked playing them, too, which was not a good sign.
"Guys would go at each other in practice. Sometimes the practices were more fun than the games. Everyone thought they knew how to fix it," said Smith, now the team's general manager. "A lot of stuff behind the scenes really made it memorable for me. We hung pretty close."
There was no team plane back then, so every flight was commercial, which meant road trips with 5:30 a.m. wake up calls, and long walks through airport concourses, which meant more interaction with the fans than there is today.
Catledge pump-faked his way to a team-best, 19.4-point scoring average, the best season of his career. Anderson, the quiet rookie from Chicago, proved his toughness.
"The rookies got tested all the time. The game was a lot more physical back then," said Anderson, still Orlando's all-time leading scorer and now a community ambassador for the Magic. "I just remember the veterans flying in first class, I was always on the wing a lot. I also remember Cat Man telling me, 'Rookie, I want my coffee and my newspaper at 6 a.m.' It was a fun time."
Most of that team was back at the arena for the opening of the 2008-09 season as part of the 20-year anniversary celebration.
Smith, Wiley and Anderson still work for the Magic today. Jeff Turner still lives here and coaches at Lake Highland Prep. Mark Acres came from California, where he teaches and coaches high school.
Green is living and working in Las Vegas. Vincent is coaching for Anaheim in the NBA Development League. Reynolds is coaching in the ABA in New Jersey.
Theus and Skiles are NBA coaches in Sacramento and Milwaukee, respectively, and returned later with their respective NBA teams.
Vincent, who has coached everywhere from Europe to South Africa to the NBA, doesn't live here anymore, but he returns every summer, drawn back like a moth to the light. He still has dozens of friends here that he met that first year.
"I always come back to Orlando, always have and always will," Vincent said. "There was just such a connection with this town that first year. And it will always be there for every one of us. I think the feeling, too, goes both ways. That's what makes it so special."
