Help on the way?

Magic General Manager John Gabriel huddled Friday with player-personnel director Gary Brokaw and Coach Doc Rivers to go over the options for a team without Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady.

The probable result is that some tinkering will be done with the roster soon, although it won't be anything major.

"At this point, there's nothing on the horizon," Gabriel said. "We'll do some extra work now on the minor leagues, look at guys who are unsigned, see if there is anything out there that can help us. We keep a next-best-available list, and maybe we need to zero in on that."

The Magic, who are over the salary cap, will get no relief from Hill's season-ending surgery to his left ankle. "Nothing was gained that would allow you to make another move. No additional dollars are out there. And there wasn't a lot going on before," Gabriel said.

Kwame's choice

Kwame Brown, who came to the Wizards directly from high school as the No. 1 pick in the draft last summer, sounded as if he might be regretting his decision to bypass college.

He entered the game averaging 13.9 minutes and 3.9 points. Brown had signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Florida, but he opted instead to make himself available for the draft. And after he signed his first professional contract, he even bought a home in Gainesville because he liked the town so much. He is from Brunswick, Ga.

"I could have been a Gator, maybe I should have been a Gator, but now I'm with the Wizards," he said. "I've had my ups and downs, taken my lumps. When we were losing, it's harder to come to work. When we're winning like we are now, everyone wants to work. It's a lot more fun."

Rookie return

This was the first return to Orlando for Wizards rookie Brendan Haywood, who spent the summer on the Magic's roster, but was later traded for Laron Profit (long gone) and a future first-round pick. Haywood said several times that he was hurt by the trade. "I always thought Doc wanted me here," Haywood said. "But it just didn't work out that way. I could have helped them." Rivers shakes his head at the success Haywood has had this year. He is averaging 8.3 points and 7.4 rebounds in a mostly reserve role. "Every time he has a good game, one of my assistants always reads me his stats as a reminder," Rivers said.

Among friends

Michael Jordan had a chance to renew some old friendships with guys he played with and against for many years. He and Horace Grant played on three championship teams with the Chicago Bulls. Jordan and Patrick Ewing were Eastern Conference rivals for many years. "Horace and I shared a lot of foxholes in Chicago and came out on top. It's fun to play against him," Jordan said. "Patrick is a friend from high school days. He's still in search of a championship. I'm sure he had high expectations when he came to Orlando, but injuries have changed that. I've joked with him that I'm glad he's still around, because then I'm not the oldest guy in the league."

Tickets, please

Although Jordan was responsible for the Magic's second sellout of the season, that doesn't mean it was a tough ticket to find.

Stewart Thompson, a local businessman, bought 1,000 tickets to this game a month ago in hopes of reselling them to raise money for The September 11th Fund. He never did resell them all. According to his office manager, he still had 120 tickets as of 5 p.m. Friday.