As the Magic made their way to the court for practice, the little silver-haired assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets was walking out.

Darrell Armstrong yelled, "Hey, B!" and laughed with him. Horace Grant made a beeline over to chat. John Gabriel leaned in to grab his arm.

It is always a bittersweet family reunion when Brian Hill sees the few remaining Magic holdovers from the old days. More sweet than bitter as time passes.

Actually, their relationship is like a couple who has divorced, moved on and stayed friends.

Hill wears a gray T-shirt with HORNETS on the front, but he'll always have a soft spot for the Magic.

He represents the best of times for the young franchise and the very worst. He remains the winningest coach in Magic history, the beneficiary of a championship-caliber team -- and the victim of a player-led palace coup.

"I still feel an attachment to the Magic," Hill said. "These guys, over the years, come up to me before every game, talk and joke with me. Every guy."

Every guy?

Hill pauses and grimaces. "Well," he said, "I have to qualify that."

One guy who has not spoken to Hill on the NBA circuit since 1997 -- never even "makes eye contact," says Hill -- is Penny Hardaway.

Hardaway orchestrated the overthrow of Hill. He decided he couldn't play anymore for Brian, whom he deemed inflexible. In truth, Hardaway had become as unmanageable as colic after Shaquille O'Neal left for L.A.

Hardaway pressured spineless teammates to quit on Hill and tank five straight games in February 1997. Orlando's gutless management -- reeling from the marquee loss of Shaq -- backed Penny and fired Hill.

Hill coached his last game for the Magic on Feb. 17, 1997 -- at Charlotte Coliseum, of all places.

His dream job ended in a nightmare. Hill had won the NBA coaching lottery in '93 after Matt Guokas resigned. He had Shaq and Penny. They reached the NBA Finals in '95 and were swept by Houston, but titles were in their horoscope.

"I would have loved for it to work out that way, but it's not a perfect world," Hill said. "I feel very comfortable with what we did in Orlando. I still feel horrible that we did not win a game in The Finals. It just wasn't our time."

Hill is still bitter toward Hardaway. Ever classy, he sees no benefit to dig up the remains. But one can note that it wasn't a coincidence that Scott Skiles -- Penny's former Magic teammate -- didn't last long as Phoenix's coach after Orlando traded the Penny Virus to the Suns.

Hill wants to be a head coach again, and a GM some day. Reopening old wounds won't help his campaign.

"I don't begrudge anybody -- not that I agreed with what happened.-- but Gabe came to my daughter's wedding. I'm great friends with the DeVos family. Our home is still in Orlando," he said.

Hill became a head coach again, but the Grizzlies were a no-win situation in Vancouver. He was dismissed and regrets having made the move.

Horace Grant has a regret he'd like to finally make public, too, one he wanted to discuss after seeing his old Orlando coach again in the playoffs.

"I was a leader on that team. I tried to talk to the guys, to Penny, but . . . I should have put my foot down completely. I should have stopped the coup," Grant said.

"That is definitely the one regret of my career. It was the wrong thing to do. If there's one guy on this planet who got a raw deal, it's Brian Hill."