This week, ESPN's Dr. Jack Ramsay gives advice to teams who are aching to turn things around. This week, he examines the Orlando Magic, ESPN.com's team to watch in the Atlantic Division.

The Symptoms
The Magic finished the 2001-02 season with a 44-38 record, in third place in the Atlantic Division, and were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by Charlotte (now New Orleans) three games to one. It marked the second consecutive year that the Magic were ousted in the opening series.

	Tracy McGrady and the Magic must improve defensively.

Last year's version of the Magic was a high-scoring team that disappeared on defense. Coach Doc Rivers' gang put 100.5 points on the board (fourth-best in the league) and was led by Tracy McGrady's 25.6 points per game. Only three other teams (Lakers, Kings and Mavericks) scored over a hundred points a game. They were also three of the league's strongest teams. Orlando scored enough points to be a candidate for that group. They played an up-tempo pace with Darrell Armstrong pushing the ball, Mike Miller and Pat Garrity bombing away from 3-point land, and McGrady, a great go-to guy, coming through in crunch time. There was enough scoring for the Magic to be 50-game winners, even though they had no inside game with their big men and ranked in the bottom third in offensive rebounding.

It was at the other end of the floor that the Magic's major weakness was exposed. They ranked 27th in points allowed and 22nd in field-goal percentage defense -- a bad combination of numbers. The Magic used a porous zone defense for segments of most games that was riddled by penetrations and open shots and also seemed to have a negative effect on their man-to-man coverage. Factor in their weakness in rebounding (28th in total rebounds), and it's easy to see why the Magic didn't get out of the first round of the playoffs.

The Diagnosis
Orlando has been without a big-man presence since Shaquille O'Neal left them to sign on with the Lakers after the 1995-96 season. Last season, the Patrick Ewing experiment went up in smoke and Horace Grant, although yet giving a workman-like effort at big forward (eight points and six rebounds), was 36 years old and unable to play at his once-effective level. Rivers used a combination of Andrew DeClercq, Don Reid, Ewing, and rookie Steven Hunter at the center position, and the foursome just didn't get the job done. That group lacked scoring ability and rebounded inconsistently. McGrady was the team's second-leading rebounder at 7.8 per game after Grant Hill's 8.9 (obtained in only 14 games played).

Much has been made of Hill's inability to play more games as the reason for the Magic's lack of dominance. There's no question that a healthy Hill would have boosted the Magic's overall game. He's a great floor leader who can energize a team by his complete game and gritty style of play. But even when Hill played, the Magic lacked good defense and strength in the middle. There was also the problem of getting Hill and McGrady, who have similar skills, to work in harmony.

In the offseason, the Magic severed its ties with Ewing and sent Reid to Denver. They picked up Olumide Oyedeji, a 6-foot-10 power forward/center who averaged six minutes of playing time at Seattle last season and posted miniscule numbers in points, rebounds and blocked shots. If the Magic hope that Oyedeji and Hunter will jump-start their interior game on either offense or defense, they're in for the same kind of season they had last year -- even if Hill plays full-time. Rivers is hoping to get good minutes from 6-8 draftee Ryan Humphrey, who is Notre Dame's career-leading shot blocker. Humphrey will get a chance to play due to the thin makeup of the Magic's front line.

Orlando's perimeter game remains strong. Garrity is among the league's best 3-point shooters (.427), and Miller (.383) and McGrady (.364) are both dangerous threats. The point guard position is in good hands with the irrepressible Armstrong, but the Magic elected to not sign free agent Troy Hudson, signing Jacque Vaughn in his stead. They'll miss Hudson's scoring.

Another reserve player lost is 6-7 small forward Monty Williams, who played hard and averaged about seven points a game off the bench. Williams signed on with Philadelphia as a free agent. He'll also be missed.

The Cure
The Magic need big-man strength in the worst way. They need to bolster the center and big forward positions or they'll be tilting at windmills again. Some of their deals (like trading Bo Outlaw to Phoenix) have been done to free up cap money for next year -- when Tim Duncan, the reigning MVP, will become a free agent. But even if they got Duncan -- and that is certainly a risky quest -- the Magic would need another "big" to go with him.

The best free agent big man available right now is Michael Olowokandi, who came alive last year after three indifferent seasons. He's developed a pretty good low-post game (11 points per game), rebounds (8.9) and blocks shots (1.8) acceptably, and he appears to be disenchanted with the Clippers' organization. The Kandi Man could make life sweet for Doc Rivers and his squad right now.

Whether the Magic add Olowokandi or someone else, the presence of a shot-blocking, rebounding big man would do wonders for Orlando's team defense and accelerate the offense as well. The old Boston Celtics of the early 1950s were scoring a hundred points a game but going nowhere until Bill Russell stepped on the scene. Once Russell applied his defensive magic, Boston won 11 or the next 13 NBA championships.

Dr. Jack Ramsay, a Hall of Fame coach who won an NBA title with Portland in 1977, is an NBA analyst for ESPN.