Editor's note: This week, ESPN.com spotlights the "team to watch" in each division, starting with the Orlando Magic in the Atlantic.

This probably isn't the best year to pick a Team to Watch in the Atlantic Division. Unless, of course, you're picking one that will tumble and fall.

Last year saw the remarkable resurrections of New Jersey and Boston coupled with the unprecedented collapses of New York and Miami. This year, the Nets could be even better, the Celtics might have taken a step back, the Knicks might have taken a step forward and the Heat are actually counting on a rookie to get them back into the playoffs.

	Tracy McGrady, left, and Grant Hill have spent little court time together on the Magic.

So that leaves who? Washington? The Wizards aren't going to surprise anyone whether Michael Jordan plays or not. Again, last year was their year to sneak up. The Sixers? Who knows what they'll do? As long as Larry Brown's fingernails continue to scratch the blackboard at the mention of "Allen Iverson," the Sixers will be as much theater as basketball.

Which brings us to the last of the Magnificent Seven, the Orlando Magic. They've been division preseason favorites the last two years, based on what turned out to be a faulty assumption: that Grant Hill would be able to play. Now, no matter how Hill feels (and he says he's feeling great) or how well he plays, no one is going to pick the Magic to win the division, especially with the reconfigured Nets looking stronger.

But let's go out on a long limb and say that Hill is going to play and be a reasonable facsimile of the player who prompted the Magic to part with $90-something million to secure his services. Let's also assume, as we can because it's summertime, that Tracy McGrady is going to continue to improve, which is a frightening prospect.

And then, let's make one more assumption that really could give us an inside look into the Magic's plans for this season. Let's assume that they are slowly and quietly re-thinking their plan to assault the free-agent market next summer the way they did in 2000, when they got Hill and McGrady (after striking out on Tim Duncan.) In other words, let's assume they'll try to start winning now and let the future fall where it may.

You didn't have to dig very deep to see that there was some tension brewing in Orlando last season over the long-term plans (another shot in 2003 at Duncan) and the short-term results (more losses, especially with the trade of Bo Outlaw). Coach Doc Rivers even noted how lopsided the trade with Detroit for Hill had been. The Magic gave up Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins in the sign-and-trade deal, and Wallace, in particular, is exactly the kind of player Orlando needs. GM John Gabriel quickly stepped in to remind people that no one, including Rivers, questioned the deal when it was made.

It's the quintessential conflict between the general manager and the coach. The first has to look down the road. The second wears blinders. The Magic seemed ready to make another run at Duncan (or perhaps Jermaine O'Neal) next summer until something funny happened. The new salary cap went down for the first time, which means next year's cap won't be anywhere near what Orlando and a lot of others thought it might be. And that means they probably won't have the necessary capital to lure Duncan from the Spurs, a task that might be hard for them or anyone else now that Duncan has built a home in San Antonio and plans to open a restaurant there called Tim Duncan's Island Sports Cafe.

	A healthy Hill and an improving McGrady give Orlando a 1-2 punch as good as any in the division.

Then, Orlando decided to re-sign Pat Garrity and gave him five years. That was another sign the Magic might be serious about doing something sooner rather than later. They also reached an agreement to buy out Patrick Ewing, who had one year left on his contract. That was addition by subtraction because the once estimable Ewing has been running on empty for the last three years and is the only one who doesn't think he's already retired.

A healthy Hill and an improving McGrady give Orlando a 1-2 punch as good as any in the division. The Magic also still have Mike Miller, whose name comes up in trade rumors every day. If he could bring an inside player of any repute, he'd be out of there in a nanosecond. But a lot of teams recognize that while Miller was the 2001 Rookie of the Year, he was honored in what easily was the worst rookie class in the last decade.

But maybe the Magic would be open to taking on a big man with a contract, knowing they won't be as liquid next summer as they originally hoped. They've already traded Don Reid, jettisoned Ewing and did not even bother to offer a contract to Rashard Griffith, a draft-day acquisition via trade. They still have Horace Grant for another year, but he, like Ewing, is calcifying by the day. They're interested in Brian Skinner, who could probably get the ball off the glass. (Maybe they ought to check out the Miracle's Jessie Hicks.)

If they don't, we can look forward to a year of the Hall of Fame-bound combo of Steven Hunter and Andrew DeClercq in the middle. But, like most teams in the center-bereft East, the Magic will live and die with their slashing and outside shooting. In Hill, they had one of the game's best slashers and shooters before his foot failed him. McGrady can do both; he has become one of the elite players in the game -- and he's only 23.

If for no other reason, it would be fun to see those two actually on the court together, healthy. Hill is overdue in the good luck department. McGrady's back is sore from carrying the franchise for two years. Together, they could be something special, which is what Orlando is hoping. Give them that one year together and then see what leviathan comes knocking next summer. Then they'd really be the team to watch.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.