The Magic sent the No. 54 pick to Houston for cash before the draft even began. They traded the No. 44 pick to Dallas for the last pick (60th) and cash, then selected someone they knew wasn't going to come for at least another season.

"The way it fell, we accomplished what we wanted out of the draft," Magic General Manager Otis Smith said. "We got a big guy who could continue to develop overseas."

The Magic now have the rights to 22-year-old Serbian power forward Milovan Rakovic, who might come to summer camp before returning to Europe to play this fall.

What the Magic didn't say was that they were trying to conserve every bit of salary-cap room they could for free agency. Taking a player with only an outside chance of contributing next season didn't make sense to them.

"We're young enough already," Smith said.

Although Rakovic won't be around this fall, Magic officials expect to see power forward Marcin Gortat of Poland, a second-round pick in 2005. He already is in Orlando working out, awaiting summer camp next week.

Fran Vazquez also was drafted in 2005, but he isn't expected to arrive any time soon. He has two years left on his contract with FC Barcelona, and has a buyout clause that would cost him $7 million.

"Anyone we could have taken at 44 or 54 would have been hard-pressed to make our team," Smith said. "Adding another young piece was not something we wanted to do."

Smith said he might have used the 44th pick if Florida power forward Chris Richard had been available. But Richard went 41st to Minnesota.

Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy, meanwhile, is expected to announce next week that he has hired Patrick Ewing as an assistant coach to work with center Dwight Howard.

He also will announce that Brendan Malone (with Cleveland last year) and Steve Clifford (Houston) are joining his staff.

As expected, the Magic tendered qualifying offers to free agents Darko Milicic, Travis Diener and Mario Kasun yesterday.

The qualifying offer prevents them from being unrestricted free agents, giving the Magic the right to match any offer they receive.