ORLANDO -- Doc Rivers looked on Tuesday as Tracy McGrady worked diligently with a specialist to strengthen his back and also saw a confident and sturdy Grant Hill twice beat a defender off the dribble for dunks.

The question marks dogging the Orlando Magic, at least in Rivers' mind, might not be the ones you'd think of right off the bat.

"The Grant Hill concerns, Tracy's back problems and the point guard situation, to me those aren't questions for this team," said the Orlando Magic coach. "The thing I don't know is who our bigs are(power forward and center) going to be."

That problem, of course, is nothing new to a Magic team that was battered physically most of last season and was knocked out of the playoffs by the bigger and stronger Charlotte Hornets. While luxury tax concerns kept them from pulling off a blockbuster move this offseason, the Magic did make several changes to their frontline.

Gone are Patrick Ewing (contract buyout), Don Reid (traded to Denver) and, at least for six months, Steven Hunter (torn knee ligament). In their place the Magic will head into training camp with Shawn Kemp, Horace Grant, Andrew DeClercq and Olumide Oyedeji.

Orlando talked Grant, 37, out of retirement and back for a 16th NBA season. Kemp, all 310 pounds of him, negotiated a buyout in Portland and hopes now to get beyond his drug and weight troubles and revive his career in Orlando. Oyedeji might be the wild card of the group. Already, some in the Magic organization are comparing him to a young Ben Wallace after his hustling, shot-swatting style of play in the summer earned him a free-agent contract.

"If we can just have a year where Tracy, Grant and Mike Miller are healthy, all we need is one of our bigs to have a good rebounding year or defensive year," Rivers said. "They don't have to be All-Stars, but just solid. If that happens we could have a sensational year."

Orlando's training camp opens Oct. 1 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The Magic will play an intrasquad scrimmage that's open to the public Oct. 5 in Jacksonville and open the preseason Oct. 8. The regular season tips off Oct. 29 in Orlando against Philadelphia and star guard Allen Iverson.

To this point, the Magic have been downright giddy over the progress Hill has made since having a third surgery on his troublesome left ankle. Hill, who signed a seven-year, $93 million free-agent deal with the Magic in August 2000, has played just 18 games the past two seasons because of a slow-healing fracture and bone spurs in his ankle.

But Rivers said Tuesday that the Hill he's watched work out the past couple of weeks is beginning to once again resemble the six-time All-Star he was prior to his ankle troubles. Hill has been playing in five-on-five pickup games at the team's headquarters for the past month and has reported no pain or stiffness in his ankle.

Hearing that was one thing. But seeing it this week was a totally different confidence builder for Rivers. He said he is more confident than ever that Hill will make it through this season injury-free.

"I think this is really the first time since he's been here that he's had that explosion and quickness again," Rivers noted. "He's walking with that swagger again. You can see that he really thinks that he's fully healthy again."

While Hill has worked with Miller this summer in an attempt to build chemistry, McGrady has spent much of this offseason trying to strengthen back muscles that slowed him down in the playoffs last season. McGrady is again working with Canadian-based trainer Alex McKechnie, who managed to relieve some of his back pain last season with a variety of stretching exercises.

"You don't ever go from having a bad back to having a good back," said Rivers, whose NBA career was cut short by back problems. "You have a functional back and that's what Tracy has now. At 23, I'm sure it's hard for him to imagine that he has back problems. But he's done a good job this summer of doing the right things and he looks great physically."

One major change this season will be the Magic's emotional leader, Darrell Armstrong, coming off the bench. Jacque Vaughn, signed away from Atlanta as a free agent, will likely start at point guard. At 34, Armstrong can no longer play extended minutes, and like in 1999 -- when he won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player awards -- Orlando is hoping Armstrong can provide life off the bench with his high-energy style of play.

Rivers also said he'd like to use Grant off the bench in an effort to conserve his energy for the fourth quarters of games. That, of course, is dependent on how much Kemp can be counted on.

Kemp did have five double-doubles and two 16-rebound games last season for the Trailblazers. But for the most part he was buried on the bench behind Rasheed Wallace and Dale Davis. And for a second consecutive season, he was suspended by the league for a violation of the anti-drug policy.

Rivers said the goal is to get Kemp down to "between 290 and 300 pounds." The 6-foot-10 power forward has been drilling in Los Angeles with Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, father of Lakers' star Kobe Bryant, and is expected to return to Orlando next week to work out with his new Magic teammates. Rivers said Kemp was impressive during the one workout he watched, but for now he's reserving judgement on the oft-troubled former star.

"The question is what can he be where he's at physically?" Rivers said. "He still shoots the heck out of it and he's a phenomenal passer from the post. And he's a rebounder because of his size. But the key right now is can he get up and down the floor? I'd love to say he's going to be great, but I can't answer that now."