As a team, Coach Doc Rivers likes to say, the Orlando Magic are worthy of attention. As individuals, it's easy to ignore most of them.

This is not the greatest thing if you would like to shake up your club with a trade.

Three weeks from the NBA draft and four weeks from the start of the free-agency period, Magic officials will descend upon Chicago beginning Tuesday for the final NBA pre-draft camp. Their mission: make a playoff team into an elite team.

Judging by their draft position -- No. 18 -- and a less-than-exciting free-agent crop, the Magic might need to be awfully creative to improve, specifically by acquiring help in the frontcourt and at point guard.

The Magic are a team with two stars -- one of whom is untouchable (Tracy McGrady), the other of whom can't shake an ankle injury (Grant Hill) -- and a cast of role players whose individual trade values are, well, easy to ignore.

Mike Miller is the team's most tradable commodity, but he is also, at 22, a young talent on a team getting older. His departure could be devastating if Hill doesn't play again. Plus, Miller is great friends with McGrady, one of the NBA's true superstars. Finally, the Magic also have the feeling they can draw even more talent from Miller, the 2001 rookie of the year.

Scanning the rest of the Magic's roster for tradable players, you have sweet-shooting Pat Garrity, a restricted free agent who really isn't a small forward or a power forward. You have energetic point guard Darrell Armstrong, 34, a fan favorite and the identity of the team for most of the past four or so years. And you have an athletic second-year 7-footer, Steven Hunter, who still must prove he can play in this league.

The Magic aren't playing "Let's Make A Deal." They're hoping for "Let's Try To Steal."

"If you take our team apart individually and look at them, you don't like that team on the outside," Rivers has said. "But if you put them together, I think it's one hell of a team."

Still, the Magic have been mentioned in trade rumors for two big-time players -- Denver power forward Antonio McDyess and Cleveland point guard Andre Miller -- although there is a question as to whether either is on the trading block.

The Magic will be mentioned in a number of trade rumors because of their desire to win big next season, but, in all likelihood, management is going to tweak the roster instead of overhauling it.

"That concept of finishing a club off is a challenge," General Manager John Gabriel said. "It's the final step. It's harder to sneak up on anybody with an acquisition. Teams see it. They see you coming. They have an idea of where you'd like to go. Your plan is out there. Couple that with the fact that -- especially in the Eastern Conference -- lots of teams think they are close, and it gets difficult. Therefore, more trades than not take place across conference lines."

When it comes to personnel moves to improve the team, the key word for the Magic is "impact." Last season, they used first-round picks on raw players who saw little court time this season. Hunter was the 15th pick, and guard Jeryl Sasser went 22nd.

That the Magic have two raw players with guaranteed contracts leads one to believe they will not want to add another player like that next season, unless they think he has superstar upside.

Gabriel said he still considers the draft to be the "lifeline" of improving a team. When asked if he had a good idea of who he'd take in this year's draft, he said, "I don't know if we've seen our guy yet."

That could be gamesmanship, but, if true, it speaks volumes to what the Magic think of the talent that is expected to be around at No. 18. As is their normal practice, the Magic -- who don't have a second-round pick -- are exploring ways to move up in the draft, but trading the pick and moving out of the draft altogether is a possibility.

The one ace the Magic have when it comes to a potential deal is that, over the next four years, they have seven first-round draft picks at their disposal. The reality is this: If the team stays at this level or continues to improve, most of those picks will fall late in the first round, thus decreasing their value to an extent.

"The draft is still the lifeline of the league," Gabriel said. "It's still the way to get better. It would be value-added to get a player more prepared than less, particularly considering the state the team is in. We want to win now. But if there is a player with a tremendous upside, we'll still look at him."

Jerry Brewer