The Orlando Magic come full circle

Krypton, the theme park.

As an NBA team, the Orlando Magic had its issues, but as entertainment for the whole family, like the Magic Kingdom it was named for, it had it all:

Pratfalls (the 1995 Finals when their starting lineup, ages 23, 23, 25, 27 and 29, took a 20-point lead over Houston in Game 1, and wound up being swept, 4-0), drama (Tracy McGrady) and not one, but two cape-wearing, logo-emblazoned Supermen.

Of course, as Shaquille O’Neal takes great pains to inform Dwight Howard, only one is really Superman.

Shaq started doing Supe when Dwight was in pre-school, dedicating his life to the Man of Steel with “S” logos tattooed on his shoulder, on plaques on his cars, and etched into the glass on his front door.

Whomever that makes Howard, the Magic is OK with it, since he’s the closest thing to Shaq since Shaq.

The problem came between Supermen.

From O’Neal’s departure in 1996, to 2007 when Howard’s game began catching up to his gifts, they made the playoffs five times, never got past the first round, and were in the bottom four in attendance four years running.

Coaches came and went. So did GMs, such as one-year wonder John Weisbrod, a Harvard whiz kid and former NHL player with the New York Rangers who became president of the company over the Magic, decided to make himself GM, and talked about building a no-stars team like the New Jersey Devils.

I should note the GM he fired, John Gabriel, is not only a former executive of the year, but my brother-in-law.

Leaving aside anything I think, Weisbrod lasted one full season, was pressured to resign, and announced in parting:

“It’s not in the best interest of the organization to have a GM running the basketball team that in his heart would trade three NBA championships for one Stanley Cup.”

Thanks for coming, eh?

Happily, the Magic had one thing to fall back on -- magic, or luck -- personified by their first GM, Pat Williams.

With Williams representing them in the lottery, they won the grand prize in 1992 (O’Neal) and 1993 (Penny Hardaway).

Back at expansion level at 21-61, needing the old magic, Williams, now a senior vice president, went back to the 2004 lottery and came home with the No. 1 pick, Howard.

Of course, as Williams can tell you, it was a long time between jackpots.

On losing O’Neal:

“Shaq was supposed to be a restricted free agent, but for that brief window, they made all restricted agents unrestricted. Then, the next year, they tightened that back up. . . .

“It was probably Jerry West’s finest moment. He trades his center, Vlade Divac, to Charlotte to get cap room, and gets Kobe Bryant, too.”

Actually, O’Neal was Orlando’s to lose, having decided he wanted to stay, but the Magic lost him.

Magic owner Rich DeVos, the Amway magnate and author of the book “Compassionate Capitalism,” wanted O’Neal to show he was loyal, rather than just waiting for the top bid, and waited for the Lakers to make offers before beating them.

The Lakers dumped players to clear room until they got up to $118 million. The Magic went to $115 million, pointing out it was worth more, with no state income tax.

On that mistake, modern Lakerdom was built.

“The Lakers had the press conference before the Olympics in Atlanta,” said Williams. “That was the one in which Shaq said, ‘I just want to wear my Reeboks and drink my Pepsi.’

“We were down here, saying, ‘The world has ended.’ ”

On the lean years:

“The next fall, Penny Hardaway had surgery on his knee. The next fall, he had surgery on his other knee.

“He was like Bill Walton, Andrew Toney, Doug Collins, great players who had careers interrupted by surgery and were never the same. . . .

“T-Mac came in 2000 with Grant Hill. There were three big free agents, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill and Tracy, and the Magic was in the mix with all of them.

“We got Duncan to visit. Then David Robinson came flying back to San Antonio from Hawaii, and talked him into staying.

“Tracy was Plan B. He wasn’t a great player at the time but he was an elite athlete with great talent.

“At the end of the day, he was a guy who once said, ‘I don’t want to be a leader, I want to be the second-best player on the team.’ . . .

“The one year [2002] we got up, 3-1, on the Pistons, he came in and said, ‘I’ve never been in the second round before.’ Three whippings later, we were out of the playoffs.”

On drawing the No. 1 pick in 2004:

“I was sitting next to Jeanie Buss . . . and, I’ll tell you, she smelled a whole lot better than the other guys.

“Jeanie had this stone from an Indian reservation. She said, ‘This is a stone my boyfriend, Phil Jackson, gave me. I wish he would give me a stone for my finger.’

“I almost fell over. She said that on national TV. Greatest line in lottery history.”

The Magic also got the No. 1 pick.

It took a while to turn it around with players such as Hedo Turkoglu (signed by Weisbrod), Jameer Nelson (drafted by Weisbrod after personnel boss Dave Twardzik pushed him) and Rashard Lewis (signed by current GM Otis Hill for $118 million, a major controversy until recently).

They also needed the right coach.

“Two years ago, we had a press conference to announce we had hired Billy Donovan, pride of Florida,” says Williams.

“He signs his contract, the press conference goes great, he goes back to Gainesville, calls at 7 a.m. the next morning and says ‘I can’t do it.’ ”

So they hired Stan Van Gundy, who was in Sacramento, about to sign with the Kings, but instead came back and took the Magic from 40-42 to 59-33 in two seasons.

So what went around so long ago has finally come back around.

Williams was the GM of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1975, when they acquired rookie Joe Bryant.

“Aug. 23, 1978, we get a card announcing Joe and Pam Bryant have had their first son,” says Williams. “He came to games that season, with Pam and his grandparents, three or four months old. That was the first time I saw Kobe Bryant.”

Well, he has grown some but it’s true, everything goes in cycles, however long those may be.

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mark.heisler@latimes.com