Created: 5/24/2007 4:09:39 PM 
By TRAVIS REED Associated Press Writer ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The Orlando Magic are a small-market team with big ideas, and just making the playoffs isn't one of them. Neither is 40 wins in 82 games, or an 0-8 showing for the season against the Eastern Conference powerhouse Detroit Pistons. So it was with a heavy heart, Orlando general manager Otis Smith said Thursday, that the Magic dismissed coach Brian Hill after his second season back and their first playoff appearance in four years. "I believe we have one of the best sports franchises in the country, so I think we should expect our team to win a championship," Smith said. "Short-term expectations of the next guy is to win a championship. I don't know how to say it any other way. I know that sounds like I put a lot of pressure on everybody in the room, myself and whoever the next guy is going to be."
Hill -- in his second stint with Orlando -- is still the most successful coach in the young franchise's history, and Smith was quick to praise him. The Magic are negotiating with him to stay in another capacity. "This wasn't an easy decision by any stretch of the imagination," Smith said. "It was something that kept me up nights trying to figure out, 'Is this the right thing to do at this time for this young basketball team?"'
The team said Hill was not immediately available for interviews. He was Orlando's coach from 1993-1997, taking a young Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway to the NBA Finals in 1995. The club dismissed him halfway through the 1996-97 season and brought him back in 2005 when a carousel of others failed to produce. Hill inherited a team with 36 wins and posted the same record last season. This year Orlando improved by four games, but got bounced from the playoffs in four straight by the Pistons. The Magic also lost all four games to Detroit in the regular season.
The Magic even started hot, helping Hill earn the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month award after a 12-4 November. But Orlando struggled -- particularly against weak teams -- and barely made the postseason as a No. 8 seed.
Smith acknowledged consistency at the top has been a problem for the Magic. Hill was their fourth coach in four years, including Chris Jent, Orlando's interim coach for two months before Hill's second hiring. The club seemed confident in Hill at regular season's end, but team president Bob Vander Weide said after the playoffs they were reconsidering.
Smith refused to talk specifically about replacement candidates. "Of course there's a list that exists, but I'm not going to get into a list of candidates and who that person is going to be," Smith said. "You guys are going to call me again for the next couple of weeks and I'm not going to answer my calls or e-mails for the next couple weeks until we get the right person." Some speculated the Magic would try to lure Billy Donovan from nearby Gainesville after the Florida Gators' second straight championship, but Donovan said he'd stay put in a statement Thursday.
"My focus is on coaching at the University of Florida," the statement said, adding that Donovan expects to finalize a new contract there soon.
Smith said Orlando's offensive imagination and adjustments had to change, and the new coach must develop Orlando's young but talented core. It includes All-Star Dwight Howard, forward Trevor Ariza, point guard Jameer Nelson and 7-footer Darko Milicic, a free agent the Magic vow to re-sign.
Grant Hill's status is still uncertain as he considers retirement. The often-injured 34-year-old's contract expired after this season, and he could opt for another year with Orlando or a title run somewhere else.
"I think our team is attractive enough to get some attention from some other coaches that might be available out there right now," Smith said. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-05-24-07 1421EDT
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