By John Denton FLORIDA TODAY ORLANDO -- Orlando Magic head coach Doc Rivers thinks so little of the NBA preseason that he plans to put his team through full-scale workouts on the mornings of game nights. But there is one thing that Rivers will use the preseason games for: lots and lots of lineup tinkering. For example, when the Magic open the preseason tonight in Dallas, Rivers plans to start his small lineup against the run-and-gun Mavericks. The starting group will consist of Tracy McGrady and Tyronn Lue at the guards, Gordan Giricek at small forward, Drew Gooden at power forward and Juwan Howard at center. Then, when the Magic face New Orleans on Wednesday, Rivers is expected to experiment with a bigger lineup consisting of 7-footer Steven Hunter at center, Gooden and Howard at the forward slots and McGrady and Lue in the backcourt. If either the Mavericks or Hornets go small, Rivers likely will stick with his taller lineup to see if it can defend quicker players. And at times, when foes put tall lineups on the floor, he plans to go just the opposite to see if his smaller group can hold its own under the glass. "If Dallas goes big, I'm going small just to see how our guys handle it," Rivers said. "New Orleans is always big, so that will be easy for me. I just want to see how other teams handle playing our quicker lineup. I know the small unit can play and will be fine offensively, but I don't know about defensively. I also wonder if we can go big and guard smalls on other teams. If we can get away with that, that puts us in a great position." The Magic feel they are in a better position to open the preseason this year with the additions of Donnell Harvey, Howard and Lue this offseason. Harvey will be one of the Magic's designated defensive stoppers off the bench, while part of the reason Lue was signed was his ability to pressure the ball in the backcourt. The moves all were made with the goal of making the Magic a much better defensive team and one that can rebound better than it has in the past. Orlando was 24th out of 29 teams in points allowed last season and 22nd in rebounding. That was just a slight improvement over the 2001-02 season, when the Magic ranked 27th in points allowed and 28th in rebounding. The easiest way to make a quantum leap this season, Rivers said, is by becoming a better defensive team. Any team with McGrady is going to score enough points; whether the Magic can slow teams down enough will likely decide whether or not they are going to become serious contenders this season. "I know we can be better defensively and this time we have the material to be better," Rivers said. "In the past, I'm not sure we had the material to be better defensively. Now, we have the ability to be a good defensive team. We just have to commit to it and young guys tend to not want to commit to defense. Defense is all about sense of urgency and anyone out there with teenagers knows that teaching them a sense of urgency is an impossible task. But we have to do that." Rivers has more flexibility with his lineups than he ever has had in his four previous seasons in Orlando. Because Howard has the ability to play center against certain teams, Rivers can get away with starting Giricek at small forward. Giricek, acquired by the Magic last February, reported to training camp in excellent shape and torched foes with his shooting from afar. The primary question, however, is whether that group is big and physical enough to rebound on the inside. That's something that already worries McGrady, who has stated openly that he hopes to become a more complete player this season now that he has some help offensively. "I don't know if it will work or not," McGrady admitted. "It depends on which teams we're playing and who they have out on the court. It might work to our advantage if we go small because we can outrun them. We could have trouble on the boards, but we just have to have all five hitting the glass and not leaking out." Rivers' dream lineup would be the inclusion of a true center in the lineup. Hunter, a disappointment his first two seasons, is the favorite at that position because of the severely sprained ankle suffered by rookie Zaza Pachulia. If Hunter can play center with Andrew DeClercq and Pachulia backing him up, it would allow the Magic to play Gooden at his natural position of power forward and shift Howard to small forward. "In some ways, it really works to your advantage because teams never know what's coming from you every night," Howard said.
hopefully hunter can play well, i would rather have howard playing at sf then c. it shows our versatility.
