In the first big shock of the NBA Draft season, Oklahoma State point guard Marcus Smart is reportedly preparing to announce he will return to college for his sophomore season.

Smart averaged 15.4 points and 5.8 assists per game on his way to winning Big 12 Player of the Year and the Wayman Tisdale Award given to the best freshman in the country. Smart is a big point guard who many saw as very capable NBA point guard prospect. He had very good size and helped carry an Oklahoma State team into the NCAA Tournament.

Many though questioned whether he could be an efficient enough distributor and pointed to his turnover numbers as a sign that he still needed some growing. Another year in college should provide that and he should remain a top prospect for a loaded 2014 Draft.

Smart was considered as someone the Magic should consider taking with their first round pick. A lot of people saw him as someone Jameer Nelson could mentor for a year before turning over the starting point guard role to the rookie as the team begins to really dig into its rebuild.

Chad Ford of ESPN.com had Marcus Smart as the guy the Magic would pick with the No. 1 pick.

Like most prospects, you are free to disagree with that analysis. It is moot now with Smart heading back to school.

Orlando could receive the best lottery odds for the NBA Draft Lottery with a loss tonight to Miami and a Charlotte win over Cleveland. The Magic can receive no worse than the second best lottery odds which means they can receive no worse than the fifth pick in the draft.

The top prospects in this year's draft include Nerlens Noel from Kentucky, Ben McLemore of Kansas, Trey Burke of Michigan, Otto Porter of Georgetown and Victor Oladipo of Indiana.

Noel was on with Dan Patrick and the Dan Patrick Show this morning to discuss his process of returning from a torn ACL and the upcoming Draft -- as well as the Boston Marathon tragedy as Noel is from the Boston area. Noel said he is ahead of schedule on his recovery.

The NBA Draft Lottery is on May 21.

Two former Magic players who have been out of the NBA all season have found homes and will play in the Playoffs this year.

The Spurs signed Tracy McGrady for the remainder of the season after the former all star spent the season in the Chinese Basketball Association, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. The Knicks also added Quentin Richardson, whom the Magic waived in training camp last October.

Both players will be eligible for the postseason as they have not played in the NBA at all this season and are thus not restricted by the March 1 roster deadline for the Playoffs.

With San Antonio waiving Stephen Jackson last week, the Spurs needed a small forward to fill in some of those minutes. San Antonio has had various injuries too with Manu Ginobili sitting out some time and now Boris Diaw missing time too. McGrady figures to be a big contributor for the Spurs this postseason.

He spent the year in China in the CBA where he averaged 25.0 points per game, 5.1 assists per game and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Qingdao Tigers. They failed to make the Playoffs, however McGrady was named to the league's All-Star team.

Richardson was set to be a member of the Magic this year as he had two years remaining on a $10.1 million, 4-year deal.  DeQuan Jones had a big preseason and the Magic had to make the difficult decision to waive Richardson and bight the bullet of the remaining two years and $5.4 million on his contract. Orlando will still be paying that.

Richardson did not play basketball anywhere before signing with the Knicks this year. He will be an instigator for New York as the team goes up against Boston in the first round and hopes to meet up with Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals. Richardson has a history with both Paul Pierce and LeBron James. He will not be afraid to mix things up. That appears to be what the Knicks want from him.

It is hard to tell what else he can bring.

The Magic will be happy to have these alums playing in the Playoffs this year.

With the season coming to a close, the NBA's awards season is picking up full steam.

Magic fans will be paying close attention this year even with a 20-61 record and possibly the worst record in the league. Nikola Vucevic is one of the major candidates for the Most Improved Player award. His candidacy has been picking up steam as he continues to pour in double doubles and rack up incredible statistics.

In the eight games since returning from his concussion, Vucevic is averaging 18.1 points and 15.5 rebounds per game. That includes more than five offensive rebounds per game. He has stepped his game up, recording two of his four 20-20 games in that stretch.

These performances are just part of the reasons why Vucevic is considered one of the favorites, along with Paul George and Jrue Holiday (two All Stars, mind you), for the award. For David Aldridge of NBA.com, Vucevic is the choice:

But Vucevic gets the nod for doubling his points and rebounds over his rookie season in Philadelphia. Traded south as part of the Dwight Howard-Andrew Bynum-Andre Iguodala four-team deal, Vucevic is second in the league in rebounding (11.9 rpg, behind only Howard) and is shooting 51.7 percent for the otherwise woeful Magic. Vucevic grabbed a season-high 29 boards with 20 points for the Magic against Miami in December, and has 44 double-doubles, tied for third in the league.

Vucevic is averaging 13.0 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game. Numbers are clearly not as gaudy as his numbers of late. But considering he averaged 5.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in nearly half the playing time last year, Vucevic's jump this year is pretty astounding.

The Magic's home finale mirrored their season in so many ways.

There was the hot start led by surprising energy from players no one expected to do anything. There was Nikola Vucevic slipping by Carlos Boozer for an offensive rebound and put back. There was Tobias Harris splitting the double team and going in for an emphatic dunk. There was Maurice Harkless driving to the rim and finishing with authority.

Things seemed so nice.

Then reality kicked in. The Bulls adjusted. The defense tightened. The young Magic could not figure them out. As young teams are likely to do against a dialing in Chicago team. The Bulls were prepping for the Playoffs and going through their paces with deliberateness and focus.

Orlando is not at that level yet. Not in experience and not in skill.

So with the Bulls hitting five of their first seven 3-pointers, they opened up a double digit lead entering the half and expanded it out to 20 for much of the second half. Chicago, always leaning on its defense, never let Orlando make a serious run at the lead and won 102-84 in the season finale at Amway Center on Monday.

Orlando got 20 points from Tobias Harris, 17 points and 14 rebounds (seven offensive boards) from Nikola Vucevic and 16 points from Maurice Harkless. They all did their part. But the Bulls defense closed them off from getting into the lane and getting the easy baskets that gave the Magic the lead in the first quarter.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports that Jameer Nelson will not play tonight in the Magic's home finale against the Bulls. And with just one more game reamining, the sprained ankle he suffered on March 29 appears to have claimed the remainder of his season.

This is not so surprising since the Magic have devoted the latter half of this season to developing young players. If the Playoffs were still a possibility, it is likely that Arron Afflalo and Glen Davis would be working through their rehabs much quicker to try and contribute. That is obviously not the case.

So what do we make of Jameer Nelson's ninth season in the NBA?

Nelson was perhaps haunted somewhat by a three-year $25.2 million contract he signed in the offseason. After the Dwight Howard mess, the Magic opted for some continuity and kept the veteran point guard who has been part of the Magic organization for nearly a decade.

The move was motivated perhaps more by the desire to have a veteran leader on the roster and as a sign of some gratitude. Fans have shown support for Nelson for showing a desire to stay in Orlando through all the pain and issues that was the 2012 season. Those may not be great basketball reasons, but they were an important message the franchise wanted to send in one form or another.

The Magic have relied on his veteran leadership in helping young players like Maurice Harkless, Nikola Vucevic, Andrew Nicholson and Tobias Harris navigate the NBA season.

The Magic will close their 24th home season Monday night against the Bulls with the usual pomp and circumstance that comes with the final game of the season. Well, maybe not the usual as the Magic will miss the Playoffs for the first time since 2007.

It was a difficult season as Orlando cratered to the bottom of the standings, but there was a lot for fans to still be excited about. Several young players stepped up and showed off their potential. It feels like the Magic have created a solid base to begin rebuilding from.

For what it is worth, the fans have stuck by the Magic. Orlando is averaging 17,602 fans per game, 14th best in the league, according to Basketball-Reference. Considering the Magic have the second worst record in the league, that is quite an accomplishment. Fans have stuck by the team.

And so Monday is going to be a celebration of the fan as the Magic often do for the final home regular season game.

The Magic announced the festivities for Fan Appreciation Night and it should be a fun time at the Amway Center.

Jameer Nelson will address the crowd before the game and the team will offer 40 percent off all merchandise at the game. In addition there will be concession specials and a clapper giveaway for the first 7,500 fans. The Magic will also unveil the top 10 plays of the year.

The Magic will do their traditional jersey presentation to season ticket holders and representatives from the Magic community partners. They are also hosting a text-to-win contest for a 2012-13 team autographed basketball.

They should have called the fight almost from the moment the game started.

Boston came in with the mentality that this was a must-win game to lock up the seventh seed and a date with New York in next week's Playoffs. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce sat out last night's game against Miami to rest for the Playoffs, perhaps anticipating that this one might be an easy win. That is usually not a guarantee against the Magic.

Tonight... Orlando was sluggish and Boston was focused. The Celtics stepped on the Magic's throat and did not let up.

Boston scored the first nine points of the game, and held off Orlando's lone rally to get back into it. Then the Celtics unleashed hell with an offensive onslaught in the second and third quarters. They forced turnovers, they suffocated the Magic's shooters and completely dominated the game. A 20-point halftime lead would have been enough for Orlando, but it ballooned out to 30-plus in a 120-88 Boston win at Amway Center on Saturday.

The Celtics were extremely dialed in on this one and had their defense rolling at a playoff level. They held the Magic to less than 40 percent shooting for most of the game and had the Magic at 42.2 percent for the game. Orlando could not find any rhythm offensively and could not get to the basket. When they did, Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass were there to change shots at the rim and make life difficult for the Magic on the inside.

Orlando got things going too little too late. They were already down big when they tried to make a run. And when they did, Boston made the plays to stem the tide quickly. If the Magic made a big play, Avery Bradley or Courtney Lee came back with a big 3-pointer.

The Magic have only three games remaining in their season and are locked into one of the two worst records in the league. Wednesday's win over the Bucks gave the Magic a two-game lead over the Bobcats for the coveted 29th spot in the NBA standings.

It is looking more and more like the standings are going to remain what they are and Orlando will end up with about a 20 percent chance at taking the top overall pick in this June's draft. There is still time for some jockeying.

As we all know, a bad record does not necessarily lead to the top pick. It is a lottery after all. The "tanking" and losing is all for a better chance at the No. 1 pick. The team with the worst record has not won the lottery since the Magic did so in 2004, and that actually came a year after the Cavaliers won the lottery with the worst record in the league in 2003.

Those really were lottery winners as Cleveland took LeBron James and Orlando took Dwight Howard. Unfortunately, it does not seem as though Ben McLemore and Nerlens Noel are quite on those players' level.

Once the season ends and as players begin coming to Orlando for their individual workouts, there will be time to break down the players the Magic will consider for whatever pick the lottery gives them on May 21.

The question posed here is going to be an existential one: How important is the No. 1 pick to the Magic for their development and rebuild this year? Does picking between Noel or McLemore, or wheover else the Magic are considering at this point, really that important?

Glen Davis. Remember him?

He was the hulking wrecking ball of a power forward that was the emotional leader on the floor for the Magic early in the season. His championship experience and his expectation to compete for a Playoff spot -- and his frankness -- was something the team needed early on in the season to set the tone for the building and developing to come.

Davis was in the process of putting in a career year before a shoulder injury on Dec. 19 derailed his season and derailed the Magic's season. He came back in January only to break his foot and be forced to sit out the remainder of the season.

Glen Davis has remained a presence with the team at home games and he still chats with young players like Andrew Nicholson and Tobias Harris during games to mentor them. Davis though still wants to play and his rehab from his broken foot is going to end up being a big part of how he remakes himself.

Davis told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, among other media members, after practice Thursday that the broken bone is almost completely healed and he should be able to begin running again in May. That will be a welcome release for Davis who showed ample amount of passion when he was playing this year.

We are less than a week from the end of the year and so several blogs have begun their yearly retrospectives before the preparations for the Playoffs begin. It is not quite yet time to dissect the season seeing as three games still remain for the Magic and the Playoffs do not begin until next weekend.

However, for a team with 20 wins, you take any accolade or positive recognition you can get.

The Magic might be hurdling toward the second worst record in the NBA, but many around the league and many observers of the league feel the Magic have begun building in the right direction.

Rob Mahoney of Point Forward listed the Magic as one of the season's surprises. Again, that is saying something for a 20-win team with the second worst record in the league:

Magic GM Rob Hennigan is way ahead of the game. Orlando’s trade return for Dwight Howard may have seemed meager at the time, but Nikola Vucevic has blossomed into the NBA’s No. 2 rebounder (11.9 per game to go with 12.9 points), Maurice Harkless is already a useful player with plenty of room to grow and Arron Afflalo has used his new circumstances to expand his offensive game. Orlando still doesn’t have a centerpiece player on a rookie-scale deal, but that’s nonetheless a really solid haul and the Magic have three first-round picks from the deal and plenty of developmental opportunities to come.

The Magic are not going to win many awards, so you take the praise where you can get it in this difficult season.