From time to time over the next several months, the Magic will talk to people who have suffered major leg injuries, hoping to gauge what type of player they will have when Grant Hill attempts a third comeback from ankle surgery.

"Unofficially, yes, we will look into it," General Manager John Gabriel said. "We talked to a guy who broke his shin bone in an automobile accident the other day and was able to make a recovery."

Gabriel said the man "was an athlete, but not a professional athlete." Most likely, they will talk to professional athletes in the future.

Of course, Hill's recovery will have nothing to do with most of these people. Everyone heals -- or doesn't heal -- differently. Everyone rehabilitates with a different mindset.

Still, several NBA players already have treaded on Grant Hill's path. Several players have dealt with multiple injuries to the same leg and returned to action. Here are four different paths -- and there are several more where they came from -- Hill could travel:

The Zydrunas Ilgauskas Route: This is not ideal. Ilgauskas, the Cavaliers center, has played in only 39 games the past three years because of foot injuries.

Ilgauskas had three screws inserted into the navicular bone in his left foot in February and had extensive bone grafting. He had a similar procedure on his right foot a year earlier and has had five operations on his feet.

He began the season on the injured list, but returned recently. He is averaging 12.9 points and 4.2 rebounds in 10 games this season. The bright spot for Magic fans is that Hill is not 7 feet 3 and 260 pounds. He has problems with his left ankle, but his right ankle is fine. Still, the Ilgauskas comparison will be the one most people use.

The Danny Manning Route: Manning, who is now a role player in Dallas, never reached superstardom in the NBA because of three major knee injuries.

He was the No. 1 overall draft pick of the Clippers in 1998, but he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that season and missed 56 games. He then was a very good player for the Clippers, Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns and made two all-star game appearances in six years before tearing the ACL in his left knee in 1994. He rebuilt his game and even won NBA Sixth Man of the Year honors in 1998 before suffering his third ACL injury in 1998. Now, at 35, Manning is at the end of his career.

The Derek Anderson Route: Anderson should give the Magic hope. He suffered two major knee injuries in college and another semi-major one early in his NBA career, but he is still explosive and dangerous. He hasn't had to change his game at all. Though he doesn't have as much hop in his legs as he used to, Anderson is still an above-average athlete, and his athleticism is still one of the big reasons he's a good player in the NBA.

The Bernard King Route: It would be quite a triumph for Hill to return as King did. Everyone gave up on King when he missed the majority of two years of his career -- just like Hill -- because of an ACL tear in his right knee.

King is believed to be the first NBA player to suffer a knee injury that was diagnosed as an ACL tear. King was a star with the New York Knicks before he was injured. Then, the Knicks gave up on him, and he went to the Washington Wizards, where he gradually became a star again. In three seasons, he worked his way back, going from a 17.2 average the first year to 28.4 the third year.

King changed his playing style to accommodate the loss of explosiveness he had suffered because of his knee injury. The good part of King's career ended, however, with a knee operation to remove cartilage before the 1991-92 season.

Portland lunacy

Portland forward Bonzi Wells caused an uproar this week over a comment he made in a Sports Illustrated article.

"We're not really going to worry about what the hell [the fans] think about us," Wells said in the article, which was about how this Portland team is not worthy of its adoring fans. "They really don't matter to us. They can boo us every day, but they're still going to ask for our autographs if they see us on the street. That's why they're fans and we're NBA players."

Wells has since backtracked and was greeted with a mixture of cheers and jeers during his most recent home game. So the Blazers remain Team Effervescence, but you wonder how much the fans will take if the losing continues.

Are they for real?

Outside of Washington, people are dismissing all this Washington Wizardy with one statement: They haven't gone out West yet.

Still, after Michael Jordan hit the game-winning shot in New York on Saturday, the Wizards secured their ninth straight victory. And it was, in essence, their second straight victory without Richard Hamilton, who left Friday night's game with the Magic in the first quarter because of a strained groin.

While in Orlando on Friday, Jordan talked about the way this season is going.

"You can see the confidence in my team is getting stronger and stronger," he said. "We believe that every time we step on the floor, we can win. And that's a big change. We keep winning and that says a lot about the character of this team. I'm not too old to learn. I'm proud of the way we're playing. They've grown up a little bit."

Around the NBA

Many expect Denver Nuggets team president and Coach Dan Issel, who requested a leave of absence on Saturday, to resign from the Nuggets. Issel's leave comes after a four-game suspension after making disparaging remarks to Latino fans who were taunting him. . . . With the Nuggets in disarray, might they bite on the latest trade rumor? It involves them shipping Antonio McDyess and Raef Lafrentz to Philadelphia for Dikembe Mutumbo, whom they drafted in 1991, Matt Harpring and Speedy Claxton. Both teams are denying the rumor. The Nuggets would be wise not to make such a move.