Welcome back

Magic rookie center Steven Hunter is excited to see Leon Smith, a high school friend and rival from Chicago who became a cautionary tale for high schoolers who jump to the NBA, back in the league.

Smith, a 6-foot-10, 260-pound center, signed a 10-day contract with Atlanta.

"He played with us at Hoops the Gym [in Chicago, where Michael Jordan trains] this summer," Hunter said.

"He looked pretty good. He's always been a great rebounder."

Smith went from the 29th overall selection in the fist round of the 1999 draft to out of the league because of emotional problems.

Once, he attempted to kill himself by swallowing more than 200 aspirin. He was put on probation for bashing a car owned by the mother of his former girlfriend.

He eventually sought psychiatric care before re-establishing his career in the minor leagues of professional basketball.

"Definitely, I worried about him coming into the league," said Hunter, who was in the same class academically as Smith during high school even though Smith is almost two years older.

"Since then, I think he's matured, and he knows not to make the same mistakes. I knew he wasn't ready to be on his own. There was no way he was going to live in the NBA, coming from the circumstances he came from. I'm glad he's working his way back now, though."

The buzz around the Magic

Coach Doc Rivers can only hope that the upcoming months of talk concerning the sale of the franchise doesn't do to the Magic what it has done to the Charlotte Hornets.

In Charlotte, the talk of a sale turned into talk of relocation, which has become a nightmare.

And the team has played like it.

"[Charlotte Coach Paul] Silas told me it's become a huge distraction there, but that's a different situation," Rivers said.

"Maybe down the road, when a buyer emerges, it might become an issue here, but not now. I just hope that we get it done here in the summertime. I'll go on record as saying if this team moves to Afghanistan, I won't be going. We'll let Geraldo [Rivera] coach the team."

Man of the city

Rivers will be at the Winter Park Recreation Center tonight at 6, speaking to a variety of local youth basketball coaches about the Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA programs that will be starting soon.

Etc.

Rivers said he is unsure when injured center Patrick Ewing will return. Ewing has missed the past four games with tendinitis in his right calf/Achilles' tendon. Ewing is eligible to come off the injured list Saturday for the Magic's game at Memphis. . . . The Orlando Magic Youth Foundation awarded more than $500,000 to local non-profit agencies during halftime of Monday's game.