Jameer Nelson played beside Delonte West for three years at St. Joseph's and never once did he know or suspect that Delonte West was dealing with mood disorders or depression.

"People don?t look at us as having problems because we are professional athletes," Nelson said Wednesday after practicing with the Orlando Magic. "They look at us as the guys that go out there on the basketball court. We have outside life as well, and things can go on in your life that would trigger you to act a certain way. We?re human just like anybody else."

Nelson said he spoke on the phone with West several times during the summer, and nothing seemed wrong.

"He seemed well," Nelson said. "But you can never tell over the phone how somebody is doing.

"He's in my prayers," Nelson said. "I know this about Delonte: He?s a strong person and he's a great person. I don?t want anybody to think because of what?s going on and what happened to him that he?s a bad person. He?s a great person, and people need to understand that."

The Orlando Magic have extended the contracts of general manager Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy, according to a source.

The person says the team picked up options that extend Van Gundy through the 2010-11 season and Smith through 2011-12.

The Magic reached the Finals during the 2009 NBA Playoffs.

Magic general manager Otis Smith defended his decision make some significant moves this offseason.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Smith said it would have been very hard to simply bring the same team back after losing to the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

"You can punt around and say our goal is to get back to the Finals, but we want to win championships. And we want to win a championship today. The pieces we added were the pieces we thought we needed to add to win," Smith told the Sentinel.

"I thought it would be virtually impossible to bring back 10 guys and get back to the Finals. It will be equally as difficult to even bring back different guys and win a championship. So the task is equally as great."

The team acquired Vince Carter from the Nets and lost Hedo Turkoglu to free agency, dealing him to Toronto in a three-way, sign-and-trade that also involved Dallas.

As far as the immediate future, the Magic don't plan on trading Marcin Gortat.

"You'd only trade him because you're looking to get better or you have a need; you don't trade him because you are looking to get out from under the money.

"We think with Marcin it's like, 'Break glass in case of emergency.' We didn't know if we needed a Rafer Alston last year, but we had a need [after Nelson's injury] and we were able to fill a need [with a trade].

The Orlando Magic have signed free agents Morris Almond and Linton Johnson III.  

Their roster currently stands at 15 players.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy recently touched on how he will use Vince Carter on offense this season.

"My guess going into the season is that at the end of the game, he's the guy you go to most of the time because of his ability to create a shot either for himself or for the team," Van Gundy told the Orlando Sentinel.

Van Gundy added that he'll run pick-and-rolls with Carter as he did with Hedo Turkoglu last season.

Marcin Gortat was surprised when the Magic matched the lucrative offer sheet he signed with the Mavericks, but wasn't disappointed.

"It wasn't any disappointment," Gortat told the Orlando Sentinel. "It just isn't normal for the team to match the offer for a backup center who is playing 10 minutes a game. It was just a huge surprise for me. But I'm really happy that I'm going to have this opportunity to play for this team [the Magic] again. Obviously, we're going to have a good team, and our goal is going to be to win the championship."

Gortat is now playing under a five-year, $34 million contract.