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.