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.

When Rob Hennigan took over the job as general manager of the Orlando Magic a little more than a year ago, he had a lot on his plate.

There was still a discontent superstar with an uncertain future demanding a trade as his team lost leverage with each passing minute. Hennigan put his staff in place, reorganized the Magic's front office and hired an inexperienced coach to lead what would become a development movement.

Hennigan had little time and little leverage to make a Dwight Howard deal happen. Howard was calling the shots and demanded -- more or less -- Brooklyn, Los Angeles or bust. It was seemingly clear he would not be returning to Orlando.

Then Hennigan pulled the trigger on the trade that likely will define him as a general manager and make or break his tenure with Orlando in many ways. He had to tear the whole thing down and give the Magic the best chance to build back up to create the "sustainability" the franchise wants so desperately.

The 30-year-old first-time general manager was almost universally panned for trading Dwight Howard, Earl Clark, Chris Duhon and Jason Richardson to the Lakers and Sixers for Nikola Vucevic, Arron Afflalo, Maurice Harkless and Al Harrington plus a group of future picks that have some complex protections and conditions on them.

The move, at the time, seemed like a bad one. Orlando elected not to receive either of the two All Stars involved in the trade -- Andrew Bynum went to Philadelphia while Andre Iguodala went to Denver -- and did not press for Pau Gasol from the Lakers to replace Howard in the middle. For those expecting the Magic to continue competing in the 2013 season, it was a big loss.

Bill Simmons delayed his annual trade value column which for fans has become an unofficial ranking of the best players in the NBA. The list is Simmons' attempt to take into account both a player's skill and his value in dollars and cents to determine who would be traded for whom straight up. The No. 2 player would be traded only for the No. 1 player, and so on and so forth.

It is always an entertaining read, and as with everything Simmons writes, is sure to spark debate.

The lowly Orlando Magic could not have expected to have much reference in this list. Not after a league-worst 20-62 season and a year removed from trading away a superstar player. The hope with that deal was to put the team in position to make a future free agency or draft move in a few years and collect young talent. The goal was not to have someone crack this list until deals started getting made.

A deal got made. And someone cracked the list.

Bill Simmons of Grantland joined the chorus in praising Tobias Harris' late run with the Magic and taking advantage of the opportunity given to him. Harris finished 42nd on the list, a pretty impressive feat for a guy that was not a rotation player for the Bucks before the trade. Orlando gave Harris a chance and he turned heads.

Harris has been a revelation: 6-foot-8, plays inside and outside, shoots 3s, rebounds … I mean, how in the f*ing f* of f*s did Milwaukee not know what it had here? He didn't show ANY flashes in practice? I'm profoundly confused by that trade. He's been a 20-10 guy for the past month and he's only 20 years old. Are you kidding me?????

Harris averaged 17.3 points per game, shot 45.3 percent from the floor and grabbed 8.5 rebounds per game in 27 games with the Magic. Harris posted a 17.0 PER with Orlandoo. This was a case of more playing time leading to more confidence leading to some really great play.

And he IS only 20 years old.

On Monday, the Orlando Magic unveiled to the city of Orlando the outlines of its plans to build an entertainment complex across the street from Amway Center. The plan would build additional hotel, retail and business space in downtown Orlando on the location where Orlando's Police Department is currently headquartered.

Alex Martins told the Orlando City Council that there is enough demand to move forward with the $100 million plan (h/t Mark Schlueb of the Orlando Sentinel):

There is great and exciting opportunity for a sports-and-entertainment district right in that core," Martins said. "There is demand in downtown Orlando for all these components, in addition to additional residential."

This was always part of the plan for the Magic. When Orlando was reviewing the best way to build its stadium, it looked out how FedExForum helped revitalize Beale Street and how Los Angeles built L.A. Live around the Staples Center. Indeed, the Barclays Center was also the hub for developing the Atlantic Yards area in Brooklyn.

This is eventually what the Magic want to accomplish. In fact, the original facilities plan that the City of Orlando and the Orange County Board of Commissioners envisioned a continuous entertainment district going from the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center at one end of downtown going through (and hopefully revitalizing) the Parramore area and ending at the renovated Citrus Bowl.

I will begin my review of the Magic season Monday with What Went Right/What Went Wrong. The season reviews though are coming in fast and furious. I have already compiled a video recap of the season with highlights from big moments this season.

For the perspective of someone who is probably with the team as much as anyone, we turn to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.

Saturday he posted his big takeaways from a long season that featured a lot of losing, but some optimism for the future to offset that.

The recap includes a list of the five best wins, the five worst losses, the five best individual performances and this list of the five most encouraging developments:

1. Vucevic exceeded everyone's expectations, even his own, as he scored 13.1 points per game and finished with 11.9 rebounds per game, the league's second-highest rebounding average.

2. Maurice Harkless made significant improvements during his rookie season.

3. The Magic finished the season with the league's top chance to win the draft lottery.

4. Coach Jacque Vaughn and his staff kept a positive attitude, which maintained team morale.

5. Harris played well after his trade to the Magic.

It is hard to argue with Josh on any of those.

The NBA Playoffs start Saturday at 3 p.m. as the Knicks take on the Celtics at Madison Square Garden.

No, the Magic are not coming out with a steel chair to wreak havoc and steal the championship. If only that were allowed. Glen Davis would clear the ring pretty quickly.

Ending the wrestling references, the three-month journey to a championship begins Saturday and there will be lots of great basketball to watch. It is going to be fun.

Since we are all basketball fans, the Playoffs are what we all cannot wait for.

Over at Crossover Chronicles, Jeff Garcia and I discussed all the first round series matchups including a discussion of Carmelo Anthony's chance to build his legacy in this year's postseason.

You can hear the rest of the preview over at Crossover Chronicles. Jeff andI break down the Western Conference here and the Eastern Conference here.

The first season of the Magic's rebuilding program is over. It featured a lot of young players getting lots of time to grow and develop in their first and second years all under (at least early on) the watchful eye of several veterans. Undoubtedly, having Jameer Nelson, Glen Davis and Arron Afflalo among others in that locker room helped Maurice Harkless, Andrew Nicholson,  Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris grow.

Eventually though they got in the way of playing time for the young players. Injuries and "injuries" began to take over as the Magic were happy to allow players to take as much time as they needed to get back 100 percent healthy.

Arron Afflalo and Glen Davis likely could have pushed themselves to play if that is what the Magic really wanted. Having been eliminated from the Playoffs already, there was no need to risk further injuries. Jameer Nelson missed all of April with what was at first a sprained ankle. Al Harrington and Hedo Turkoglu were pretty much healthy scratches, even when they could have been used in minor roles to help give young guys a rest.

Orlando wants these veterans around for their leadership and guidance for the young players. But playing the young guys was a priority for this team. And it will remain to be so in what is expected to be another developing year in 2014 (with an eye on a start-studded Draft class).

Tobias Harris might be saying the team's goal next year should be to make the Playoffs -- and it should be -- but the question is whether you can rely on these young players who struggled specifically on the defensive end in the final months of the season -- the Magic gave up a 107.7 defensive rating in the final 20 games. If the Magic favor young players again next year, without major improvement from multiple players, the Playoffs are just that: a goal.

Next week I will do my yearly review of "What Went Right" and "What Went Wrong" for the Magic this year. That will be our more in depth review of the season that ended last night.

Until then, while the ink is still drying on the season, we are going to reflect and look at where we have gone this season and where we are going. There is a lot that is going to happen in the Magic Kingdom this offseason including key decisions about veterans, development of the young players on this year's roster and the drafting of a top-4 pick. A lot can and will happen.

The Magic filed out of Amway Center and had their exit interviews with Rob Hennigan and Jacque Vaughn today before meeting the media. There was plenty of uncertainty in those meetings for several players.

Let's keep the focus on this season first though before we get too far ahead of ourselves.

A lot happened this season more than just 20 wins and 62 losses.  Colby Huggins of The Magic Wire put together this nice retrospective video of the season that was that, I think, tells a good story of the season:

#WEWILLREBUILD an Orlando Magic 2012-2013 season retrospective from Colby Huggins on Vimeo.

Fox Sports Florida also had two nice highlight packages in the last two games of the season highlighting a lot of the great plays this Magic team had even when the wins were not coming in droves.

Here are some other highlights from the year, after the jump!

Monday's tragic events in Boston had shown that sports is only a distraction from more important things. Fortunately sports can serve as a welcome distraction and a conduit for a lot of good.

Last night, Boston hosted its first sporting event since the bombings at Monday's Boston Marathon that injured hundreds of spectators and has killed at least three. The events were shocking, but showed the very best of America in the face of senseless evil.

There is not a whole ton we can do to help as an Orlando Magic Daily blog except provide our thoughts and our prayers and whatever support we can.

It may be the smallest thing we can do, but I wanted to provide this link to help. Our friends over at Project Spurs have a great partnership with several NBA artists. For the month of April these artists have agreed to donate the proceeds from any sale of their prints to Boston relief efforts. There are some fantastic works of art like the Kevin Garnett above by Dustin Watson.

There are also works from Joseph Applegate, Bobby Bernethy, Jesse Blanchard, Maddison Bond, Robb Harskamp,  Double Scribble and Hoop Dream Ink.

I am partial to Double Scribble's print of Tracy McGrady and he has some nice doodles of Jameer Nelson too. And his visual history of Horace Grant's goggles is fun. Unfortunately neither are available in the story (the McGrady portrait is on a T-shirt, check Double Scribble's Web site for more info).

Even just sharing these great works of art with others will undoubtedly help. It is the least we can do right now.

I would also be remiss right now if I did not mention the incredible kindness the Magic showed on Fan Appreciation Night toward a local veteran. The Magic and Chase Bank gave away a mortgage-free home to a 15-year U.S. Army veteran on Fan Appreciation Night. John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com tells his story more in full. It is really worth a read and it was a great way for the Magic and its partners through Operation Homefront to show support to and give back to our veterans.

If the season's goal was to collect the most ping pong balls in the NBA Draft Lottery -- while incidentally seeing plenty of growth in the young players amassed in the various trades in the remaking of this roster.

Mission accomplished.

Sorry if I do not seem overly excited about this prospect. It is not the fact that this is considered a weak draft at the top or that it was completely unexpected.

Orlando had a lot of work to do this year just to stay in games on a nightly basis and the team largely performed admirably. Nikola Vucevic was a revelation at center, providing consistent rebounding and a solid offensive game. Tobias Harris was acquired in a trade and proved to be a promising prospect for the future. Maurice Harkless improved seemingly daily as a 19-year-old rookie. And the veterans kept the boat steady, ensuring the Magic were approaching games the right way.

Still, you are what your record says you are. And after a 105-93 loss to the Heat at American Airlines Arena in the season finale Wednesday, the Magic's record says they are 20-62, the worst record in the league. Orlando will have a 25 percent chance of winning the May 21 NBA Draft Lottery.

Whether you wanted it or not, that statement leaves a bitter taste for what was a season of growth for many of the young players.

Certainly the effort in Miami was uncharacteristic of a team that played hard every minute even if they could not always execute with enough consistency to win every night. 

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.