Visitors From Other Worlds : NBA: O’Neal makes his team more than an attraction. So far, Orlando is winning, too.

Do you believe in Magic?

Do you believe in the Magic?

Can you believe the Magic?

The Orlando Magic, on its first Los Angeles visit of the season, comes to the Sports Arena tonight in a virtual tie for the Atlantic Division lead at 8-4 and preaching that the future, the foreseeable future that is, is even brighter.

Whatever the future, though, the 4-year-old team is the NBA’s team of the hour, drawing attention at every stop with its superstar-to-be 20-year-old center.

With No. 1 pick Shaquille O’Neal, the franchise that won 21 games last season, worst in the Eastern Conference, is suddenly a team to be reckoned with. And the Magic has four first-round picks in the next two drafts.

If NBA fans are surprised by the Magic, so is the man in charge of putting the team together.

“As we go around the country, we’re an attraction, we’re selling out buildings,” General Manager Pat Williams said. “But we are not a dominating team. We’re trying to keep it all in perspective. Are we a playoff team? I don’t know. That is one of our next goals.

“Were we expecting this? Would we be happy at 8-4? I think we would have jumped on it in the summer.”

The Magic has in the fall, too. Jumped on it with a gang tackle.

O’Neal is, in the words of Williams, “very raw, very inexperienced.” He is also averaging 22.4 points, an NBA-leading 15.3 rebounds, 3.33 blocks and shooting 54.3%.

Dennis Scott has returned after a pair of operations on his right leg that limited him to 18 games last season, during which he averaged 19.5 points.

Nick Anderson, the Magic’s first college draftee, continues to develop into a top swingman and a versatile offensive weapon, a 6-foot-6, 205-pounder who can post up or show range on a jump shot.

Scott Skiles, the gritty point guard, is sixth in the league with 8.3 assists while adding 16.3 points and shooting 54.4%.

Jeff Turner, the least-known starter despite having played on the 1984 Olympic team, began 1992-93 as a 46.2% shooter, but suddenly is shooting 58.6%, tops in the NBA.

In all, three Magic starters are shooting better than 50% and the team is shooting 49.8% and averaging 109.8 points, sixth in the NBA. And the starters are carrying the heavy load, with Turner at 30 minutes a game and the four others getting at least 37. Last season Anderson led at 36.7.

Last season Orlando shot 45.3%, the least in the East, averaged 101.6 points and didn’t get its eighth victory until Jan. 17. But that dramatic improvement isn’t enough to account for the Magic’s becoming a top draw around the league. O’Neal is, though, and road attendance for Magic games, 21st in the NBA in 1991-92 at 14,949, has jumped to seventh at 17,270.

O’Neal has made the biggest impact, but the real development could not have happened without Anderson and Scott taking advantage of double-teaming in the post by hitting from the outside. A trade that would bring three-point specialist Steve Kerr from Cleveland for Chris Corchiani appears imminent and that would add even more air cover.

The bonus is that the Magic is off to such a start without Terry Catledge and Brian Williams. Catledge, who led the team in rebounding last season while averaging 14.8 points, broke his right hand Nov. 18 and might be out another month. Williams, the first-round pick in 1991, played 22 minutes in four games and then went on the injured list because of clinical depression. There is no timetable for his return.