Grant Hill must've finally felt relief when an x-ray of his ankle was taken following the game vs Milwaukee on Wednesday night. He had been on the court long enough to suffer a sprain to his right, never operated on ankle.

"I tripped over a cameraman who was sitting on the floor. He had his legs extended out," Hill said. "I'm OK, but they just wanted to take a picture of it. It's the other ankle."

Buried deep on the depth chart, Magic G Deshawn Stevenson isn't happy with his role on the team. "I just have to somehow keep my head up," Stevenson muttered as he was walking out of TD Waterhouse Centre recently.

Signed to a 3 year, $8 million extension this past summer, Stevenson expected a larger role on a revamped Magic roster. He opened the training camp in a heated battle with G Keith Bogans over who would receive the last spot on the active roster. Just days before regular season would start, however, Magic GM John Weisbrod shipped Bogans to Charlotte, which seemed to put Stevenson in the clear.

Unhappy with the cut in his playing time after Mobley's return to injury, however, Stevenson publicaly demanded a trade during the team's West coast trip. But following a closed-door session with general manager John Weisbrod, he has toned down his request.

In a recent radio interview, Weisbrod went on to say that "he has two players in front of him (Cuttino Mobley and Hedo Turkoglu) who are clearly better than him" which prompted Stevenson to describe his current role as follows: "I'm trying to give the starters good reps at practice. My job is to make Cuttino better. Right now, I just have to get him ready for the games. He plays hard against me every day in practice, so I have to think that's making me a better player."

This Christmas, Orlando forward Grant Hill has a bit more to be thankful for.  For the first time in years Mr. Hill is not nursing any injuries.

"I'm happy," Grant Hill said. "We're having a healthy Christmas."

Grant Hill is averaging 19.4 points a game this year and has only missed one game due to a bruised right shin.

This week, Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni took exception to Steve Francis' comments that the Suns' up-tempo style will not work in the playoffs and that no team has run to a title.

"I'm not sure he is a cerebral player," D'Antoni told the Arizona Republic. "He's a talented player who's very good in our league. I love Steve Francis, but he's not known for his thinking on the floor. Maybe he's too young to remember Los Angeles (with the Showtime Lakers) and the old Celtics.

"I don't think (playoff success) has anything to do with whether you play fast or slow. ... Either you're slugging it out or you're having people try to catch you. I'd rather have people try to catch me than slug it out. I've been a chicken all my life. Slugging it out doesn't interest me."

Grant Hill is a mere 67,631 votes behind the leading forward and brand new Net, Vince Carter.

"A lot of things have surprised me this season. And that -- I was a little shocked," he said. "I appreciate the love."

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Magic have been looking for another veteran point guard since the season began, using DeShawn Stevenson as possible trade bait.

They are hoping to land someone such as Howard Eisley (Utah), Eric Snow (Cleveland), Anthony Carter (Minnesota) or Tony Delk (Atlanta) as a reliable veteran backup for Francis.

"Heaven forbid one of those guys should get injured or get in serious foul trouble early," Davis said after practice Friday. "If we went into a game minus Steve, with no backup for Jameer, that's a potential problem."

With the Suns' victory on Monday night over the Orlando Magic, their record improved to 18-3, their very best record through 21 games in their team's 37 year history.

"It means a lot," Amare Stoudemire said. "It's down to where I know we're not pretenders, we're contenders."

But newcomer Quentin Richardson downplayed his team's record since it so much of the season remains.

"It's definitely a nice thing, but all of this means nothing if we start going downhill," he said. "We can talk about all that stuff at the end of the year. We've got a lot more goals than just a great start."

Magic guard DeShawn Stevenson wants out of Orlando due to a lack of playing time.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reported on the Orlando Magic pregame show before tonight's game with the Phoenix Suns that Stevenson told him he wants to be traded.

Stevenson cannot be traded until Wednesday December 15 when players who signed new contracts this offseason and within three months ago can first be traded.

Coming into tonight's game, Stevenson had not played in the previous two games.

Magic pride note: Stevenson will be a bit difficult to deal as he is a base-year player but given that Magic General Manager John Weisbrod moved swingman Keith Bogans before the start due to a lack of playing time, look for Stevenson to be moved quickly if there are any takers.

Look for a possible trade to be mainly a swap of role players along with maybe a future second-round pick for Stevenson.

Magic forward Andrew DeClercq has been sidelined all season with a knee injury, and he now hopes to be back at full strength by mid-February.

"I'm looking at the all-star break," DeClercq said. "It has just been a real slow process. It's getting better, but there's still some things I can't do."

DeClercq, 6 feet 10, 255 pounds, had surgery to repair his right knee this summer. He suffered a setback a month ago in his rehabilitation and basically had to start over.

Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting the New Orleans Hornets might be ready to part ways with veteran power forward, P.J. Brown.

With the recent departure of Darrell Armstrong, it appears as though the Hornets are ready to scrap the season and rebuild.

Povtak suggests the Orlando Magic could possibly trade for Brown. They've had interest in P.J. for many years and could use an additional big man to solidify their frontline.