The Orlando Magic waived Quentin Richardson, Justin Harper and Chris Johnson, bringing their roster to 15 prior to the start of the 2012-13 season.

Richardson has two years, $5.4 million remaining on his contract.

Harper, the 32nd overall pick in the 2011 draft, was acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for two future second round draft picks.

Johnson, a 22-year-old small forward, was signed to give the team some depth during training camp.

Dwight Howard admits that his preference was to be traded from the Orlando Magic to the Brooklyn Nets.

"I did want to go to Brooklyn. That's a place where I told the Magic that I really wanted to go," said Howard. "[But] I was traded to the Lakers, and I think it was a blessing in disguise.

" … I think there's a reason why everything happened the way it happened. So far it's been an unbelievable experience for me. … It's like a dream come true."

Howard is beginning his first season with the Lakers.

"The whole year a lot of people were making up a lot of stories about 'This deal is getting close, that deal is getting close to being done,' or whatever, but none of those deals were ever close," Howard said.

"I thought I was going to get traded at the beginning of the year, actually, that's when I asked for it. But everything happened for a reason. I had to go through last year to get to where I'm at today. It's made me a stronger and better person for it. I had to go through the hell and the stormy forecast to come out to a place like this … and I'm thankful for it."

The Orlando Magic have waived Christian Eyenga and Armon Johnson.

Eyenga was a 2009 first round pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Orlando Magic are likely to choose between Justin Harper, Josh McRoberts, DeQuan Jones and Quentin Richardson for the 14th and 15th spots on the roster.

Harper's deal guarantees him a salary of about $760,000 for this season, while McRoberts and Richardson would be even more expensive to cut.

Jones has impressed the Magic and has the ability to defend point guards, shooting guards and small forwards.

The Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks will add the STATS, LLC camera-tracking system this season, according to a source.

There will be 13 NBA teams with the system, with the Raptors, Thunder, Spurs, Knicks, Celtics, Rockets, Bucks, Wizards and Wolves already having them.

Justin Harper entered the NBA as a power forward, but is also attempting to learn the small forward position to have more minutes available to him.

“He’s done an amazing job with his body, and he’s continuing to learn,” Jacque Vaughn said. “It’s tough to learn both positions. It’s honestly tough. It’s a different mindset being an outside guy to an inside guy. But he’s done a good job.”

Harper is learning how the positioning of small forward differs from power forward.

“In practice, I’m just trying to get as many reps in as possible,” Harper said.

“I think I’m starting to get a lot more comfortable with being able to play both [positions].”

Deron Williams advised general manager Billy King not to wait for Dwight Howard as the Brooklyn Nets approached the 2012 offseason.

"One thing Deron did say to me, he said, 'Please, just don't wait on Dwight. We can't wait and not have a team,'" King said during the premiere of NBA TV's "The Association: Brooklyn Nets," which will air on Oct. 16.

"The team of Brooklyn is bigger than one person. I owed it to the organization, I owed it to our fans, I owed it to Deron and the players that we have to build for Brooklyn, and we went forward and built our team."

The Nets had struggled to surround Williams with complementary pieces to remain competitive as they attempted to acquire Howard.

In the offseason, the Nets re-signed Brook Lopez, Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries, while trading for Joe Johnson.

The Magic eventually traded Howard to the Lakers.

The Orlando Magic have signed free agent forward Chris Johnson.

Johnson (6’6”, 201, 4/29/90) played in 138 career games during four years at the University of Dayton, averaging 10.6 ppg., 6.1 rpg. and 1.1 apg. in 24.9 minpg.  He was named the 2010 NIT Most Valuable Player and was a four-time Atlantic 10 Conference honoree during his collegiate career.  Johnson was waived by the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 7.

Gustavo Ayón will start for the Orlando Magic at center when they open their preseason schedule in Mexico City against the Hornets.

Ayón was born in Mexico and was acquired from the Hornets in the Ryan Anderson sign-and-trade.

The Orlando Magic completely replaced their existing coaching and scouting staffs with 23 new hires in basketball operations and especially wanted people who had been exposed to winning.

For example, the Magic hired away Matt Lloyd, former director of scouting with the Chicago Bulls, who helped draft Taj Gibson at No. 26 in the 2009 NBA Draft.

"There's definitely a different approach now," J.J. Redick said about the franchise that is now led by Rob Hennigan and Jacque Vaughn.

"It all comes back to having a different foundational system than we had in the past," Martins said. "That's not to say we haven't had great success; we have. What we're trying to create is a consistency that maybe is stronger than what we had.

"We've had some incredible valleys that have taken us years to recover from. We want to lessen, eliminate, the valleys. We've studied this."

The Magic studied models of how other teams found sustained success, primarily the Spurs.

"It's no secret that we're fond of what they've done in San Antonio," Martins said.