Rene Stutzman of the Orlando Sentinel reports: Basketball legend Julius Erving has filed a lawsuit against a security guard company and the developer of Alaqua Lakes, blaming them for the death of his 19-year-old son, who drove into a retention pond and drowned two years ago.

Cory Erving disappeared May 28, 2000, setting off a major manhunt and weeks of agony for his family. His body was found five weeks later a half-mile from his home when the Seminole County Sheriff's Office dragged a small irrigation pond and found his car at the bottom.

Investigators concluded he was doing the same thing he had often done before -- taking a shortcut home on a dirt road used by Alaqua Lakes construction crews. This time, though, investigators theorized, he didn't see the pond, maybe because of debris piled up beside the road, and plunged into the water.

Erving's home was in a neighboring subdivision, Alaqua.

The lawsuit, filed in state circuit court Tuesday, makes two major accusations:

U.S. Security Associates Inc., the company that provided security guards at the entrance of Alaqua Lakes, knew Erving was on the property that day, should never have let him on the property and, once he went missing, never told anyone that he had been there.

Developer Taylor Woodrow Communities GP didn't have adequate fences or other barricades to keep people out and failed to post warnings that its property was dangerous.

Keith Bass, president of Taylor Woodrow Homes of Florida Inc., a partner in the development company, would not comment Wednesday, saying he hadn't seen the lawsuit.

There was conflicting information, though, about what the security company knew.

"We never suspected he was on the property," Vincent Farrell, local operations manager for U.S. Security, said Wednesday.

However, a sheriff's investigator interviewed security guard Shantel Crosby, who was working at the guardhouse on the day Cory Erving disappeared said a black male she didn't know drove up in a black car, asked for permission to drive in, and she let him. She said she remembered him because his seat was reclined so far back.

Cory Erving's car -- a 1999 black Volkswagen Passat -- was found in the pond with its driver's seat fully extended.

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Julius Erving, a former NBA All-Star with the Philadelphia 76ers and now executive vice president of the Orlando Magic, did not return phone calls. Neither did his attorney, Madison B. McClellan of Stuart.

The suit names nearly two dozen defendants, many of them affiliates of Taylor Woodrow. It also names a land-clearing company and a lake inspection company.

The lake inspection company may have been named because its employees did not spot the car in the water, although they had checked the pond for environmental and irrigation problems several days after the accident.

The pond was in an undeveloped section of Alaqua Lakes, a wooded area where brush was pushed into piles to be burned.

Jeanette Pierre, a friend of Cory's, told investigators that Cory had once taken her on a wild ride through that undeveloped area in his mother's Mercedes Benz, spinning doughnuts and veering off the road.

An accident reconstruction expert estimated his speed the day he drowned at about 35 mph.

An autopsy found a small amount of cocaine in his blood, but officials concluded it was not a factor in the accident.

Sixers and Nets legend Julius ?Dr. J? Erving has filed a lawsuit against a security guard company and the developer of Alaqua Lakes, the Orlando Sentinel is reporting.  Erving is blaming them for the death of his 19-year-old son, who drove into a retention pond and drowned two years ago.

Cory Erving disappeared May 28, 2000 sparking a major manhunt.  He was found five weeks later a half-mile from his home when the Seminole County Sheriff's Office dragged a small irrigation pond and found his car at the bottom.

Investigators concluded he was doing the same thing he had often done before -- taking a shortcut home on a dirt road used by Alaqua Lakes construction crews. This time, though, investigators theorized, he didn't see the pond, maybe because of debris piled up beside the road, and plunged into the water.

Turning their attention toward what this draft class has to offer at point guard, the Orlando Magic worked out Gonzaga's Dan Dickau on Wednesday at RDV Sportsplex. In the past few days, they have also seen Illinois' Frank Williams and Fordham's William "Smush" Parker. All three are point guards who figure to be possibilities for the Magic when they select at No. 18 in next month's draft.

Dickau, who is 6-0 and 170 pounds, averaged 21 points and 4.7 assists last season for the Zags. He has often been compared to the best player to come out of Gonzaga, Utah point guard John Stockton. NBA teams like Dickau's shooting ability and believe he is quick, but defense remains a question.

Stojakovic still limping

Sacramento's Peja Stojakovic, whose sprained ankle forced him to miss the first four games of the Western Conference finals, won't start Game 6 Friday. "Running up and down and pushing off the ground was the hardest. Every time I did that, I received some sort of instruction from my brain: 'Stop it! That hurts!' " he said.

John Denton of the Florida Today reports: Darrell Armstrong is a month away from his 34th birthday; his replacement, Troy Hudson, is set to become a free agent; and Jeryl Sasser was a bust as a rookie.

Not only might it be a good time for the Orlando Magic to draft a point guard, but it also might be good timing as well.

Point guard looks to be the deepest position available in the June 26 NBA Draft. Duke's Jay Williams and Memphis' Dajuan Wagner, both projected as point guards in the NBA, could be two of the first three players chosen. Illinois' Frank Williams and William "Smush" Parker, both of whom worked out for Orlando on Tuesday, could be joined in the first round by Gonzaga's Dan Dickau, Michigan State's Marcus Taylor and Cincinnati's Steve Logan.

"I think it'll probably rank as one of the deeper positions in the draft," Magic general manager John Gabriel said. "It looks like there might be two summers of it because there's a good group coming up next year, too. There is a lot of experience there, and there are maybe more pure point guards than in the past. And, still, there's more scoring from the guards than we've been accustomed to."

Orlando has the 18th pick in the first round, meaning that while Jay Williams and Wagner will most certainly be out of reach, Frank Williams, Parker and Dickau should be there for the taking. Orlando has already worked out Parker twice, and will have Frank Williams back again today to face off against Dickau. Former University of Florida point guard Teddy Dupay worked out for the Magic last week and is expected back in following the pre-draft camp in Chicago next week.

There have been at least five point guards taken in the first round in each of the past five drafts. Six point guards were selected in the first round last year, but all of them were chosen in the final eight picks. Jamaal Tinsley and Tony Parker, the final two picks of the first round, proved to be the most productive.

The Magic passed on Tinsley because of off-court questions and opted not to take the 6-foot Parker because of size concerns. Sasser, a 6-foot-6 converted shooting guard, struggled mightily and played in just seven games all season.

Although the Orlando Magic's search for help in the NBA draft on June 26 has focused primarily thus far on power forwards, there was an exception to that Thursday morning at the RDV Sportsplex in Maitland.

Teddy Dupay, the 5-foot-11 guard who was declared ineligible last September for his senior season at Florida because of a gambling investigation on campus, was among four players the Magic brought in for workouts. Dupay played for Phoenix in the financially strapped ABA after leaving school and moved on from there to Venezuela, where he said it was not uncommon for him to play six games a week.

"It's been an unbelievable year for me," he said. "But I have to say right now that I couldn't be in a better position. I'm in shape. I have my mind in the right direction."

Dupay claimed his weight has dropped to 185 pounds and his body fat to 5 percent. And he shrugged off criticism that his lack of height and his offensive-minded reputation -- he's the leading scorer in Florida high-school basketball history with 3,744 points -- will be held against him.

"Physically and defensively, I'm up to par," he said.

Magic general manager John Gabriel said Dupay was comparable in toughness and style of play to Chris Corchiani, who spent two seasons with them in the early '90s and who held the state career scoring record until Dupay came along. Dupay never averaged more than 13.4 points a game in any of his three seasons with the Gators, but his ability to shoot from 3-point range could be valuable even if Pat Garrity and Troy Hudson don't sign elsewhere.

"We need players who can shoot the ball," Gabriel said. "And Dupay can do that."

MOVING OUT?

If Dupay gets a chance to be on the Magic's training-camp roster, it will likely have to be as a free agent. He is not rated as first-round draft pick material, and the Magic do not own a pick in the second round.

Gabriel is not even ruling out the chance of the Magic, who have had at least one first-round pick every year of their existence except in 1999, trading away the 18th overall selection and making no additions to their roster on draft night.

"We'll explore possibilities to move ourselves up or even move out of the draft, if we have to, to improve our team because we want to win now," he said.

Amare Stoudamire, the 6-9 forward who has attended six different high schools, is expected to be gone before the Magic are scheduled to pick. Stoudamire, 19, may be more physically mature than most draft prospects at his position who have college experience, including Dan Gadzuric of UCLA and Ryan Humphrey of Notre Dame.

NICK TO MIAMI?

Nick Anderson could be headed to his third different team in four years after spending 10 consecutive seasons with the Magic. Jerry West, who was recently hired as the general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies, is reportedly trying to work a trade that would send Anderson and Stromile Swift to the Miami Heat for Eddie Jones, whom West knows from when they were with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Anderson, who played two seasons in Sacramento before being traded to Memphis, earned more than $5.4 million despite getting in only 15 games for the Grizzlies. Of his 76 field-goal attempts, 48 of them were from 3-point range.

He is entering the final season of the six-year, $32 million contract he signed while still with the Magic.

The Orlando Magic have never been a team to stand pat and be content with what they have, especially when they were again ousted in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.  Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Magic are surveying all their options to improve the team this summer and to make a serious run at the Eastern Conference crown next year.

"What's really disappointing when I watch -- but encouraging at the same time -- is that we weren't that far away," guard Mike Miller said. "We've got to get better, but a good summer and a healthy team, and we're right there next season. I don't think we need to do anything major."

"We want to win now, and as far as personnel and maturity, we're not that far away in the East," said Magic General Manager John Gabriel last week. "I don't know if you can get everything you want in one year, but there's no reason why we can't improve at least a little bit in multiple places."

The Magic have already begun preliminary talks to move up in the draft, confirming that they had contacted the Clippers who own picks 8 and 12 in the draft.  Their major need is for a frontcourt player, and their chances are vastly improved from positions 8 to 12 than they are at 18.

"We're looking at a lot of options," Gabriel said. "We'll explore the possibility of moving up [in the draft], to stay in the draft with more picks, and even move out of the draft if we have to, to improve the team. For us, the future is now, this summer."

The Kings can run with anybody. They can shoot better than most teams in the NBA. They've got size, talent and skill at nearly every position.

And watching Sacramento in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, it would be easy to forgive the 76ers for being envious.

Considering that the Sixers haven't had a legitimate shooter, nor have they been able to field three scorers on the floor at the same time in the entire Larry Brown era, one can surmise the admiration flowing westward from Philadelphia.

But even if the locals possessed credentials similar to those of the Kings, the result would have been the same as it was for the Sixers in last year's NBA Finals.

Because of Shaquille O'Neal.

Because of Kobe Bryant.

Because of supplementary parts that mesh like smooth-running gears, the Lakers will not fall. To anyone! Despite evidence to the contrary, namely a 96-90 loss to Sacramento at Arco Arena on Monday night, the Lakers are not fazed at all by the Kings' tying this best-of-seven series at 1-1.

The closest that the Orlando Magic will come to the annual NBA Draft lottery this afternoon in Secaucus, N.J., will be having coach Doc Rivers on the other side of the Hudson River in NBC's studios.

Even if the Magic hadn't sent a first-round draft pick to the Phoenix Suns in November as part of the Bo Outlaw trade, they would not have been among the teams in the process to determine the first 13 picks of the June 26 draft. The Suns, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 1988, will draft ninth unless they overcome long mathematical odds to win one of the first three picks in the lottery.

The Magic were owed a pick by the Suns sometime through 2006 before sending that selection to Phoenix in an attempt by general manager John Gabriel to create more space under the salary cap for next summer's group of free agents.

A total of 55 college and high school players and 14 international players were on the list released Friday by the league of early entry candidates. Players can withdraw their names by notifying the NBA in writing no later than June 19.

Although that list includes Jay Williams and Mike Dunleavy of Duke and Caron Butler of Connecticut, the top pick is expected to be 7-foot-5 center Yao Ming. Gary Brokaw, the Magic's director of player personnel, was among those who attended the May 1 workout in Chicago that the league had arranged for the native of China.

Barring a trade, the Magic will choose 18th overall and won't have a pick in the second round as a result of a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies. They will begin bringing in players for workouts as early as late this week, with their list of prospects expected to include Amare Stoudamire of nearby Cypress Creek High School.

JUD AND TOM

Jud Buechler, who still has another year to go on his contract with the Magic, has twice been teammates with one-time Magic forward and current NBC studio analyst Tom Tolbert. Buechler was a sophomore at Arizona in the late '80s while Tolbert was a senior, and Buechler stayed at Tolbert's house when the two of them were members of the Golden State Warriors in 1992.

Among the memories Tolbert has of Buechler is of the latter's hair.

"You could have a category five hurricane, and it wouldn't move," Tolbert said.

Tolbert wore a perm during his one season with the Magic but is now, in his words, "follicly challenged" and trims his hair every four or five days without shaving it off completely.

"Everybody's like, Why don't you just go ahead and shave it bald?' " he said. "And I'm like, Well, I don't to shave it bald because that defeats the purpose of having high-maintenance hair.' When you shave it, that's as high of maintenance as you can be."

SO LONG, CHARLOTTE

The Magic finished with a 9-15 lifetime record in Charlotte against the Hornets, whose move to New Orleans next season became official shortly before they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the New Jersey Nets.

The Magic almost broke even on the road against the Hornets after starting out 0-5. Their first win came in April 1993, with the last one being a 111-103 overtime victory April 20 in their best-of-five first-round series.

One of the oldest ongoing rumors around the NBA continues to involve both the Orlando Magic and Tim Duncan.  It is no secret that the Magic covet the league?s premier player.  But according to David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel the uniting of the two parties is nothing more than a pipe dream, ?there's a better chance Grant Hill will enter the Olympic triple jump? according to Whitley.

While the Magic immediately moved into the Duncan Recruitment II plan after David Robinson talked the league MVP into staying with the spurs back in 2000 the Spurs were able to counter by arranging their contracts to expire at the same time as Duncan?s.  This means that Duncan will be able to attempt to woo free agents like Jason Kidd, Jermaine O?Neal and Andre Miller down into Texas.  Remember Jason Kidd has not tied himself to the Nets organization in his words so far, so anything is possible.

Duncan also married his girlfriend who Whitley reports was not high on Orlando two years ago, another thing working against the Magic.

Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel reports: Grant Hill looked impressive Wednesday afternoon at the RDV Sportsplex, flashing some of his pent-up athleticism during an hour-long workout.

"It's going to happen. I really believe it now," he said after his workout Wednesday. "I understand people will be doubtful, saying this guy has had this, this and this. And he's been gone this long. I understand that thinking. But I truly believe I'll come back, and play basketball again at a high level."

Since leaving the Detroit Pistons in August 2000 as a five-time NBA all-star, Hill has managed to play just 18 games for the Magic the past two seasons, each ending with a need for more surgery.

While admitting his third attempt to recover from surgery comes with no guarantee, Hill said this is the first time that he has been assured the bone in his troublesome ankle has healed completely.

"There is no more 'Let's keep our fingers crossed and roll the dice,' type of talk," he said. "In the past, there was always some uncertainty. Now there's a peace of mind I have with all the medical people telling me it's all healed. I'm confident that we've got some answers this time around."

The crutches, the casts, the walking boots and the limp are all gone. Hill said he could have been back on the basketball court a month ago. But at the request of the Magic and the medical staff, he has taken an ultraconservative approach in his rehabilitation, avoiding any unnecessary stress on his ankle.

"It's like riding a bike, you don't forget how to do certain things," Hill said. "Maybe we're being overly cautious, but it's also like a set of tires. There is only a certain amount of tread on them. You don't want to wear them out doing stupid things. I'm just hoping that these tires, these legs, because they haven't done much the last two years, will have plenty of tread left."

"The first time, it never healed. The second time, it partially healed, and the theory was either it will continue to heal on its own, it may never fully heal but it won't be a problem, or it won't heal and it will be a problem. And it gave me a problem."

Since the last surgery, done in Baltimore by Dr. Mark Myerson, who also performed the second surgery, Hill's progress has been monitored carefully with regular X-rays and CT scans. "Clinically, it looks great. From all different angles, the ankle looks awesome, better than it ever did before," said Dr. Joe Billings, the Magic team physician. "But there is no 100 percent guarantee. You can't tell for sure until he gets on the court and starts the pounding of an NBA game."

"Can I play all 82 games? We'll have to see. But my goal is to make it through an entire season," he said. "Whether I can be what I was in Detroit, I don't know. But I can come back and play better than I did last season. I want to get back to being a slasher, a guy who attacks the basket. I didn't get there last year."