The Knicks in 1999. The Pacers last season. The Sixers this year. Next year's Eastern Conference champ could be coming out of ... Orlando?

	Darrell Armstrong could be used as bait to acquire a big man this summer.

Why not?

In this post-Bulls age where there are no dominant teams east of Hollywood, and where a new champ comes out of the East every spring, the Magic could make the leap to the top if they can just procure some quality big players in the offseason.

A year after coming up short for Tim Duncan, Plan A is to reduce their salary cap and make a run at Chris Webber. Plan B is to land Antonio Davis in a sign-and-trade with Toronto. Other options include bringing back Horace Grant, another free agent this summer. With the No. 14 pick, they're hoping that Arizona's 7-1 Loren Woods falls their way.

You might have noticed a trend with all the aforementioned players.

"They're definitely thinking big," said one GM familiar with the Magic's plans.

The Magic has one of the top perimeter players in the game in Tracy McGrady. They also expect Grant Hill to return from a serious ankle injury and surgery. With Darrell Armstrong turning 33 this week, they'd love to land Alvin Williams, the Toronto free agent whose stock rose in the post-season.

But it's up front, at the power forward and center spots, where they see the biggest need to upgrade their team.

If they can, they could challenge for the title, just as they did when Shaquille O'Neal manned the middle in the '90's. Look at the East now. The Sixers could be the latest one-year wonders. Everyone expects Larry Brown to call it quits. Who knows what Allen Iverson will do in the off-season, now that he is the MVP. He didn't do much in the way of conditioning in the past. All told, the Sixers are no locks to hold their No. 1 spot.

	Wallace

So it's not that far-fetched to picture the Magic advancing from first-round victims this spring to the Eastern Conference finals and beyond. As long as Orlando can get some size. As this team reached the playoffs last season for the first time under Doc Rivers, they were outrebounded in 50 of 82 games. And in those games were only 20-30. Throughout the season, Rivers lamented the loss of Ben Wallace, their best rebounder and toughest interior defender, who went to Detroit in the sign-and-trade for Hill.

Those rebounding issues would have been easily solved if Duncan had accepted their offer, or perhaps, had Hill come to Orlando with two healthy ankles. Hill is working out now, so maybe his ankle troubles are finally behind him. The Magic certainly are counting on it.

"There is the Grant factor there, which should help us, but we do have to get bigger," said VP John Gabriel. "Now in terms of getting one of those free agents, I'd rate our chances as minimal for all of those players. We just don't have the cap room."

Gabriel, however, has been trying to get his players with an option year this summer to opt out, in order to get more cap room.

	Jones

Webber came out recently saying he might go home to Detroit, which will have enough room under its salary cap to sign him outright as a free agent. But that is widely seen as Webber's way of flashing his trump card to Kings VP Geoff Petrie. Just as Eddie Jones did with Charlotte last summer, threatening to go to Chicago and leaving Charlotte with nothing to show for him. That tactic forced the Hornets to deal Jones to the team he really wanted to play for, the Heat. And, by the way, the Hornets did pretty well for themselves by getting something in return.

"They'd love to get Webber, first and foremost," said the exec about Orlando. "He's at the top of their list."

The Magic has the assets to get Webber, as long as you don't ask for McGrady or Hill. But if they can't convince the Kings to take a package of players and draft picks, they'll try to pull off another sign-and-trade with Toronto for Davis. Although some in the Magic camp say that it's impossible, since the Raptors view them as mortal enemies for stealing McGrady last summer, the Magic have the kind of assets the Raptors might not be able to pass up.

For one thing, they can offer rookie of the year Mike Miller and Bo Outlaw, but they also have been proficient at collecting future No. 1 picks. Besides its own No. 1 picks, Orlando has future No. 1's that once belonged to Sacramento, Dallas and the Clippers. Those start anywhere from next season through 2006.

If the Magic can get Davis, they still would like Grant, who turns 36 on July 4. Although he's told friends he'll take less than the $6 mil he made last season to stay with the Lakers, they might want to get younger at power forward. On that front, Webber's name, along with Davis', also have been tied to the two-time defending champs. Plus, Grant was turned off more than any other Laker veteran by the Shaq-Kobe feud. Since that's a major migraine that could happen again, Grant might have no trouble taking the Magic's $4.5 million exception and returning to Orlando.

After a post-season of banging with Rasheed Wallace, Webber and Tim Duncan, Grant would greatly benefit from the easier competition the Eastern Conference has to offer in the way of power forwards. In case he's forgotten, he can always pop a tape of the Lakers-Sixers Finals into his VCR.

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.