The Magic announced the schedule for the Southwest Airlines Orlando Pro Summer League on Thursday, a five-game, six-day slate that will take place on the practice court at Amway Center in early July. The Magic will be joined by Celtics, Nets, Pistons, Rockets, Pacers, Heat, Thunder and Jazz for the week-long event.

This year's league, which will take place from July 7-12, is bigger than ever as the league will have a final "championship day" added to the schedule of events. The league in the past has been a five games in five days marathon, but with the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas adding a championship round to its festivities, the league in Orlando has followed suit.

Standings will be determined based on a seven-point system. Winning teams will get three points and then the team that wins each quarter will receive a point. The first and second place team will play each other on the final day of the league, July 12, at 12 p.m.

As it has been in the past, the Southwest Airlines Orlando Pro Summer League is closed to the public due to the space limitations inside the Amway Center's practice court.  The games will air on NBATV during the week. Games will start at 11 a.m. on every day but July 7 when there will be five games beginning at 9 a.m. The typical summer league rules -- four, 10-minute quarters, no foul outs, etc. -- will be in effect.

Rosters will be announced shortly after the Draft.

Paul George, welcome to the club.

Despite your incredible game in Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals, like Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis and Craig Ehlo before you, you have been reduced to the bystander to history. No one will recall that you hit the game-tying 3-pointer to send the game to overtime or even that you won the series -- anyone outside of Orlando remember what happened in 2009?

It is completely unfair Paul George. We know how you feel.

Four years ago to the day -- May 22, 2009 -- LeBron James made the Magic a footnote of a series they won when he drained a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer of Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals. The shot became a testament to LeBron's "clutchness" and was played on a constant loop for all of eternity.

Misery loves company, so we are happy to welcome the Pacers and George into the club. The meetings take place at the Local Y every other Thursday.

As I watched LeBron James' game-winner Wednesday night, I saw a play that was very similar to the one James made against the Magic four years ago. There was James popping up to the top of the key. The difference is how the two teams approached it. Watch the game winners again (if you can bear to):

The first thing you notice from the game-winner against the Magic is that they are playing to defend the drive. Rashard Lewis is playing off the inbounder and there is a considerable amount of space between Hedo Turkoglu and James. James gains separation by first trying to cut to the basket where Turkoglu gives him a sort of forecheck to impede his progress.

James then bounces back up to the top of the key and the rest is (irrelevant) history.

One question has been answered now that the NBA Draft Lottery has passed. The Magic will have the second selection in the NBA Draft. That means one player is off the board. It does not change much of Orlando's preparations. Just about every player on their Draft board is still going to be around. Unless the Magic plan on honing in on one player and hope that the Cavaliers do not draft him, nothing has changed.

That kind of honing does not seem in Rob Hennigan's persona.

Orlando's reported interest in Ben McLemore or Trey Burke or Victor Oladipo or any other player in the Draft they might be targeting. Prospects will begin making their way into Orlando for workouts and interviews as the Magic complete their scouting and Draft preparations.

The Magic should be weighing all options with the pick. And there are plenty of options. Here is a brief review of where the Magic should go:

Keep the Pick and Draft Best Player Available

This is the position that I strongly advocate for the Magic right now.

Orlando is not quite in a position to build a team that is capable of winning now. Right now, the Magic appear still to be in collecting assets that they can use in building the team of the future. That could mean a whole lot of different things. Ultimately it means judging what you think of Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris and Maurice Harkless, as well as veterans like Jameer Nelson, Glen Davis and Arron Afflalo, as future building blocks for this team.

The Magic will pick second in the NBA Draft after the Cleveland Cavaliers drew the winning combination in the NBA Draft Lottery.

Orlando entered the Lottery with the best odds at winning the first overall pick. However, that has actually not been a lock for the top pick. Only three teams -- including the Magic in 2004 -- have won the lottery with the best odds.

That followed suit this year as the Cavaliers won the lottery for the second time in three years, this time with the third best Lottery odds. The Washington Wizards climbed into the top three to win the third selection.

So the Magic will have to wait five minutes into the NBA Draft before it is their turn to make a selection. This hardly changes their approach however. All the top prospects -- from Nerlens Noel to Ben McLemore to Victor Oladipo to Trey Burke -- are still squarely in play for the Magic. Even though this is considered a weak draft at the top, there are still several players that could be long-term contributors for the Magic or any team.

The Draft preparations will still be about research and figuring out which player fits what the Magic are trying to build. That could be just about anyone. After a 20-win season, Orlando is likely thinking not about immediate roster needs but who would make a good building block for the long-term future.

The next month of research, workouts and interviews will be vital.

That research will also include looking into any trades that might occur and potential deals. Orlando will surely be keeping its ear to the ground and remain open to making deals if they become available. A month is a long time to wait. A lot is still left to do.

Magic fans will patiently be waiting the results of the NBA Draft Lottery when it airs tonight from 8-8:30 p.m. on ESPN. The program starts at 8 p.m. with the full lottery results getting unveiled closer to teh bottom of the hour in the never-ending stretch to fill TV time.

Orlando will be represented in the room the Lottery actually takes place by Magic senior vice president of communications Joel Glass. The public will not see him as the ping pong balls are actually drawn and the lottery winner is officially decided.

The Magic's public face in the NBA Draft Lottery tonight will be none other than Magic senior vice president Pat Williams, the man who has brought home the No. 1 pick three times on Lottery night.  Williams will be sitting on the stage waiting for the NBA to announce the Draft order for the first 14 picks.

"It's always exciting," Williams told David Baumann on the David Baumann Show on Sports Talk 1080 in Orlando on Tuesday morning. "There is always a lot of tension and pressure in that Lottery room. We'll ride it out and see how it all comes together tonight. It is an exciting time. It has a lot of consequences of course for all the teams in the Lottery."

In that interview, Williams talked about the memory of Williams being the only one to unveil a Shaquille O'Neal jersey at the 1992 show. Williams fondly remembers hearing the rustling of 12 other Shaquille O'Neal jerseys going back into paper bags after the Magic were announced to have the No. 1 pick.

This year, Williams always has a trick up his sleeve for sure. He told Mike Bianchi on his Open Mike Radio Show that he went down to Disney and had a ping pong ball sprinkled with "pixie dust" for good luck in tonight's drawing.

He has had plenty of luck over the years. He was present when the Magic won Shaquille O'Neal in the 1992 Draft Lottery, Chris Webber (soon-to-be Anfernee Hardaway) in 1993 and Dwight Howard in 2004. The three ping pong balls from winning those lotteries are still on display at RDV Sportsplex outside the Magic's corporate offices.

We will find out tonight when the NBA Draft Lottery takes place.

Over the next few weeks Orlando Magic Daily will be taking a look at the things that went right and wrong this season as Orlando ended its season with its first Lottery season in six years.

The future for Orlando is bright. There are young players who have developed much quicker than expected and could form the backbone of the Magic's franchise. Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless and Andrew Nicholson are all players that have a future in this league. And considering they are all entering no later than their third year, they likely have the better part of a decade of good basketball left in them.

Orlando hopes to be able to take advantage of that and have these players be a major part of the team when it returns to contention. The Oklahoma City model Rob Hennigan is bringing with him includes having young players grow together as the center of the team.

That is where the rub is. Oklahoma City caught lightning in a bottle. Portland had to select Greg Oden ahead of Kevin Durant. The Celtics had to be willing to forego the draft mode and look for a star like Ray Allen to help the Thunder lay that foundation through the Draft. There had to be sufficient questions about Russell Westbrook and James Harden for other teams to pass them.

And there had to be losing. Lots of losing for at least three years.

It is hard to tell if this is Year One of that process or Year Zero. How many Draft will it take for the Magic to build back up? Can any organization really bank on the Draft Lottery for their franchise's future?

Yes, good scouting and preparations will limit those mistakes in drafting and make sure each pick counts. But the bottom line is that except in very rare instances (the 2004 Pistons, for instance), championship teams need superstar players. No matter how bad his supporting cast, a healthy Dwight Howard made the Magic title threats and kept them in the conversation.

Over the next few weeks Orlando Magic Daily will be taking a look at the things that went right and wrong this season as Orlando ended its season with its first Lottery season in six years.

I have already highlighted Rob Hennigan and the positivity surrounding the Magic after a 20-win season and even the youth on the roster. In fact, those are most of the things that went right for the Magic this season. It is hard to find positives in the immediate of the season. The Magic finished with the worst record in the league after all.

It was expected that the Magic would finish at the bottom or near the bottom of the standings. Wins were going to be a struggle. Grasping for something positive would have to come from something intangible.

That intangible might have been the youth on the roster and the hope for the future. It might have been the emergence of young players or the improved decision making that management seemed to be using. It might have been the work and effort that the veterans put in, buying into the message of a team destined to lose and develop many of the players' replacements.

It was an awkward spot for them to be in. But they made the best of it and have added to the future of the franchise.

That was what this season was all about to a large extent. Building the foundations for the future of the franchise. Or at least clearing the underbrush to put down those foundations with this year's upcoming draft.

Pleasant surprises though made the 20-win journey a lot more enjoyable than previously expected. It made the Magic's job of selling the future all the easy.

The Magic made Andrew Nicholson the 19th pick in the NBA Draft nearly a year ago.

It seems like Nicholson has been playing longer, since his refined post game made him an immediate impact player for the Magic. Moreso than any of the other rookies on the Magic's roster.

He still has a lot to improve on -- specifically on the defensive end. But Nicholson's post game and mid-range shooting make him a player that is clearly apart of the Magic's future rotation -- at the very least coming off the bench. Orlando is hoping Nicholson continues to improve and build upon a strong rookie season.

Nicholson though has a strong following and a lot of support to get there. From the vocal St. Bonaventure fans that made the trek to Cleveland twice for Nicholson's games or flood Twitter with support for Andrew Nicholson or his fans in his native Canada and Mississauga outside Toronto.

There are a lot of people very proud of this rookie.

Nicholson brought his experience and expertise to the Five To Watch Conference, honoring five young sports business leaders in Canada, as a keynote speaker at the conference. Knowing how some of his interviews go, that should have been a very interesting talk. But Nicholson has a lot of experience to impart. He came to basketball late after playing baseball most of his youth life. He took to the sport pretty quickly and obviously made the NBA.

The NBA Draft Combine wrapped up in Chicago on Friday, and Rob Hennigan told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel that the two day event was "very productive."

Many of the top prospects did not participate in the Drills portion, but that is not the point of the event for many general managers. For many of those players, the teams have done their research and their scouting. They know what these players will do and what they need to improve on. The next four-plus weeks are about learning who these players are as people and figuring out how they fit into the team's future plans.

That is why the interview process is often the most important part of the two-day event. Teams are allowed to interview up to 18 players for no more than 30 minutes during the two days. More interviews and individual workouts will follow leading up to the NBA Draft on June 28.

Hennigan told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel:

It's been very productive. We got a chance to talk to a lot of guys who we've been following throughout the year, and anytime you get a chance to spend half an hour with them, you glean some valuable things.

The way the rules are set up, you're observing these players from a distance for such a long period of time. Then, you actually have a chance to have an interpersonal exchange. So that just adds another layer of information that you put into the cauldron, and you stir it around and then it will help you to try to make a decision.

The Magic interviewed several draft prospects during the two-day event. That included the favorites for the top pick such as Ben McLemore and Nerlens Noel. Otto Porter also interviewed with the Magic. Trey Burke did not, but he is expected to be in Orlando for a workout in the very near future.

The Magic will find out where they will select in the 2013 NBA Draft on Tuesday night when the Lottery teams gather in New York for the annual Draft Lottery. Until then, all the organization can do is its homework.

At the NBA Draft Combine on Thursday and Friday, the Magic began the next phase of their homework getting the opportunity to interview and talk with the Draft prospects for the first time.

The Magic took advantage of that to its fullest extent early on. Yes, they talked to the top prospects as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported. Both Ben McLemore and Nerlens Noel were on their Thursday night interview schedule. Both are confident that they will be the top pick in the Draft and that they can sell themselves to whatever team gets the number one pick.

The real meat of Rob Hennigan's work comes from interviewing the players lower down in the Draft. And here, we at least get a look at the Magic's early draft strategy.

At Thursday's Draft Combine, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reported the Magic had already interviewed Lehigh point guard C.J. McCollum and Texas point guard Myck Kabongo. Both are very skilled scoring point guards with lots of talent. Kabongo played only 11 games at Texas because of NCAA rules violations. McCollum missed most of his senior season at Lehigh with a broken leg (that he is fully healed from, he opted not to participate in the combine), but he was a prolific scorer for the Mountain Hawks.

Both of these players project to get drafted in the late lottery at the earliest. They are clearly not in the Magic's draft range.

However, the fact the Magic are interviewing these prospects suggests that they recognize a need at point guard. Jameer Nelson is getting older and Beno Udrih is not likely to get re-signed this offseason. Magic fans seem to favor Trey Burke for that top draft pick, but that may be a bit of a reach unless Orlando ends up with the fourth pick. There is still time for him to climb up draft boards though.

And it is still a very real possibility the Magic trade down. Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel wrote that the Magic's Draft plans likely have not been completely hashed out. Tuesday's Draft Lottery should clear up the picture some.

Orlando is simply doing its homework. If the team opts to trade down, drafting a point guard like McCollum or Kabongo is a real possibility.

That is still a long way off though.