The same questions from a year ago are being asked about the same ankle.

But Grant Hill and the Orlando Magic are confident that when training camp for the 2002-03 season begins today, he'll be able to provide the answers in the affirmative this time.

A team of orthopedic surgeons has determined Hill's left ankle, which had been operated on three times since April 2000, is healed and has been so for nearly six months. Between that and what the five-time all-star has shown the past few weeks in five-on-five scrimmages with his teammates, the Magic had reason to head to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville with an optimism based on more than wishful thinking.

"I've just got to be smart, that's all," Hill said Monday during the team's annual media day. "And everything thus far has been good."

"If he's not (healthy), he's as darn close to the naked eye as anyone's going to guess that he is," general manager John Gabriel said. "But we will be guardedly optimistic about things. We want to see him in a uniform in March and April and June when we're in the postseason. That's what's important to him, and that's what's important to us."

Despite Hill playing just 18 of a possible 164 games, the Magic made the NBA playoffs each of the last two years. While he may never return to his former level of excellence, Hill's presence should allow them to make a run at unseating the New Jersey Nets atop the Atlantic Division.

"The goal is 82 two-hour games," he said. "Those are the most important things."

"I don't go to sleep thinking about Grant Hill anymore; I can tell you that," coach Doc Rivers said.

Hill admitted he is "not where I'd like to be" on defense but added "that's because I haven't really worked at it a whole lot this summer."

How he meshes with the Magic -- and, in particular, with Tracy McGrady and Mike Miller -- on offense could have a large bearing on the team's status when the regular season opens Oct. 29.

Rivers plans to limit the Magic's running and scrimmaging compared to previous training camps. That can be taken as a means of keeping Hill from sitting out practices or playing reduced minutes in the second games of back-to-back situations.

"If we feel that sitting down throughout training camp at times or sitting down at times throughout the season is smart, we'll do that," Hill said. "It's too early to tell right now what I'll be feeling or how the ankle will be feeling in November or December or even next week."

"You can't expect him to be the same Grant Hill the first week," Miller said. "So you go out there and work with him and let him get in the flow and do some of the things he needs to do to get back."