Magic swingman Keith Bogans has beaten out DeShawn Stevenson for the backup minutes at shooting guard behind starter Cutino Mobley.

Because of this, the Magic are looking to deal Stevenson rather than have come on and off the injured list all season long.

However, no deal can be made until december 15 because Stevenson signed a new contract this past summer.

Under the Collective-Bargaining Agreement, any player who signed a new contract during the offseason cannot be traded until either december 15 or three months (whichever is longer) after the deal was signed.

Since Stevenson signed his new three-year, $8.5 million deal on August 12, three months from then would be November 15 so the Dec 15 date applies here.

The Magic hope to get a draft picks for him but if anything, when the time comes, they will likely only be able to get filler and probably a second-round pick if they deal him straight up.

Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal said he had "a few discussions" with the Magic this summer but ultimately didn't want to be traded to a rebuilding situation.

"We had a few discussions, but my salary was too high, and I'd have to come here with a brand-new team and start over, and that's not something I really wanted to do," said O'Neal, noting Tracy McGrady already had been traded to the Houston Rockets. "I wanted to come to a team that had an exciting player, and Miami has that exciting player in Dwyane Wade. Just shows you how smart Mitch Kupchak is."

Kupchak, the Los Angeles Lakers' general manager, dealt O'Neal to the Heat.

The Cavaliers are expected to pick up the 2005-06 option for Drew Gooden and decline it on Dajuan Wagner.

Gooden has been outstanding since the start of training camp and has carried fierce practice habits into the preseason games, where he's already piled up four double-doubles in limited minutes. After his 25-point, 10-rebound effort in Monday's victory over the Boston Celtics, Gooden is averaging 13 points, 11.4 rebounds and shooting 52 percent from the floor in an average of 26.7 minutes in the preseason.

Now with his third team in just his third season but with a starting job for the first time, Gooden and his camp are making no secret of their intentions. Which is why the option pickup might just be a start.

"Drew thinks he's in a very positive situation and he thinks the Cavaliers are a great fit for him right now," said Calvin Andrews, Gooden's agent. "The Cavaliers are in Drew's long-term plans."

The No. 4 overall pick in the 2004 draft, Gooden will make $3.2 million this season and the option year is worth $4.06 million.

After picking up Gooden's option, the Cavaliers will have about $22 million in salary committed for next season with two starters -- Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Jeff McInnis -- becoming free agents. The salary cap is projected to be about $45 million, which would leave the Cavaliers room to be a major player in the free-agent game.

Wagner's option is worth $3.35 million next season, but the Cavaliers already have young players such as Luke Jackson and Sasha Pavlovic under cheaper long-term contracts and they both play Wagner's shooting guard position. In what is shaping up to be a deep year for shooting guards with Michael Redd, Joe Johnson and Ray Allen among those available, that money could be more valuable if freed up.

Tracy McGrady said he has no concerns that he will sign a contract extension to be with the Rockets for three seasons beyond the three he has remaining on his contract, rather than opting out after the conclusion of this season.

Beyond that though is in serious doubt.

"We're going to get it done," McGrady said. "We're going to get it done. But I can't see myself playing past 35. That's 10 more years, man. I'll probably be hurting then.

"To me, I probably play five, six years. I'll be done. I've said for a few years I won't play past 35. That will be 14, 15 years in the league. I'll be done."

McGrady, a player that went directly to the NBA out of high school, would be the equivalent of a 39 year-old at the age of 35, in NBA years.  Players like McGrady, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are put in a unique situation where the record books are more accessible, as they begin their assualt upon them at the age of 18, rather than 22 when players used to go to college for four years.

John Weisbrod earlier this week revealed that although Tracy McGrady requested to be traded from Orlando earlier this offseason, his departure from the Magic was far from one-sided.

Weisbrod implied that the Magic were never going to be able to win with McGrady on the roster because the players had become accustomed to losing.  McGrady could score 35 points a night and feel he did all he could and the other Magic players felt that they were not the leader of the team so the blame for the team's major struggles last season was not their fault according to Weisbrod, and everyone went home and slept without guilt.

While the implication was that McGrady could not lead a winning team, McGrady himself is saying that faults from the season past should not lie with him and his ex-teammates alone.

"When you say things like [Weisbrod] said, that's just covering [yourself]," McGrady said. "I hated losing, but it just got to the point where we were losing so much, you kind of get used to it.

"Going into games, it was like 'Oh, we're going to lose, so let's just get it over with.' That's how the mentality was with a lot of guys, not just me."

McGrady, how in Houston as a member of the Rockets, was due to face his old ballclub last night but coach Jeff Van Gundy chose to rest him, saying he wanted to look at other shooting guards and small forwards.

T-Mac understood why he wasn't playing Saturday and joked he probably would've hurt himself because he was so amped up.

"I had a high going," McGrady said. "(Van Gundy) ruined my high."

Added Van Gundy: "I know the timing isn't great for the Orlando fans. I do feel for them."

Another Rocket feeling the wrath of Weisbrod's comments was forward Juwan Howard, who joined McGrady in Houston as part of the trade which saw Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato head to Florida.

Howard, who also sat out the exhibition game, said he did not appreciate Weisbrod's comments about last year's team.

"What he said was a slap in the face to all of us," Howard said. "I respect his opinion, but I disagree with it. Johnny Davis was with me at training camp, during the exhibition season and all 82 games, and he knows I cared big time."

Davis became head coach after Doc Rivers was fired three weeks into the season.

"Last year was last year, and it doesn't do anyone any good to revisit it," Davis said. "You learn from it and move on. I think fondly of Tracy. I hope he's happy, and I wish him the best."

The Magic need a new arena to ensure their viability in central Florida, according to NBA Commissioner David Stern.

Stern, who spoke at the team's tip-off luncheon Friday, said if the 15-year-old TD Waterhouse Centre isn't replaced soon, "then I think we'd have a problem."

The Magic's ownership has wanted a new home court for years, claiming their 17,248-seat arena lacks moneymaking amenities such as club seats and midlevel luxury boxes. But the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, hurt the region's tourism-dependent economy, and negotiations with local officials were shelved.

Magic president Bob Vander Weide said his office recently fielded calls from Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer and preliminary talks have begun.

"This is the year," Vander Weide said. "This is the year to start talking. We've been quiet. There's going to be time to have dialogue and get the process started."

If an arena isn't built, the Magic might move. Both Kansas City and St. Louis, which are building or already have built new downtown arenas, are trying to land an NBA team.

If you're glad to see good people prevail, then you're delighted to see Grant Hill's line from Orlando's exhibition game against Dallas this week -- 26 minutes, 20 points, six rebounds, five assists, one steal, zero ankle pain.

It was a liberating summer in many respects for the star-crossed NBA player. A fourth operation in four years on his injured left ankle may finally have healed the wound that dropped him from the game's megastar stratosphere. And the Pistons' stunning drive to the NBA championship may have taken care of any residual self-inflicted emotional scars from his unceremonious free-agency exit.

There won't be a championship ring awaiting Hill when the Magic comes to town this season -- nor should there be. Yet in Hill's mind, he deserves a small measure of ownership in the Pistons' return to the NBA penthouse after a 14-year absence.

Hill credits his departure for giving newly ordained team president Joe Dumars "more power" in righting a rudderless organization four years ago.

Based on a ratings system developed by Jeff Sagarin and Wayne Winston, the NBA equivalent of Bill James and Rob Neyer, Hedo Turkoglu was the highest rated player last season.

Factored in are stuff such as chasing loose balls, taking charges and playing off-ball defense, intangibles overlooked by most traditional stats.

Sagarin is known as the father of USA Today's computer college-football ratings. Winston is an Indiana University professor and a past Jeopardy! champ. They were math whizzes years ago at MIT and combined their love of computers, statistics and sports.

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and star of the telvision show 'The Benefactor,' was a student in Winston's math class at Indiana. When they ran into each other at a Mavs' game four years ago, Cuban asked Winston how his team could be improved.

Winston had an epiphany while lounging at his Dallas hotel pool, and the "Winval" rankings system was born. It is modeled after hockey's plus-minus system, in which players are evaluated on how their team performs when they are on the ice.

It's not surprising that Turkoglu admired the all-around game of the recently retired Scottie Pippen, "because he can do so many things and hurt you in many ways. He did more things for his team than just score."

Finishing behind Turkoglu on this list were Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Brad Miller and Manu Ginobili.

John Gabriel was working in the yard at his Winter Park home last Sunday when he was stung by a wasp. Gabriel was found on the ground gasping for air and sweating, and was rushed to a nearby Hospital.

"It was a very scary two days," Gabriel said. "Not scary for me, because I was out. But it was scary for everyone else."

Gabriel was unaware that he was allergic to wasps.

Dallas Mavericks All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki went down a minute into the third after colliding with rookie Magic guard Jameer Nelson.

Nowitzki stayed down for over a minute, then limped to the locker room with a mild left ankle sprain and did not return. He finished with nine points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes.

Grant Hill had 20 points and six rebounds, and the Orlando Magic snapped a three-game preseason losing streak with a 114-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night.

Hill, who missed all of last season with an injured ankle and hit only three of 13 shots from the field in his first two appearances of the preseason, shot 6-for-9 against the Mavericks and made all eight free-throw attempts.