Here's one picture you may not see quite often during the upcoming season but one that will probably be among the most frequent occurrences: Clifford Ray pulling Dwight Howard aside to teach him a nuance or give him a pointer. Ray, along with Robert Parish, instructed Howard among others at their Big Man Camp but as an assistant with Johnny Davis, Ray will have all the time in the world to continue to mold Howard into a powerhouse.

Howard, of course, is ecstatic about it. All of the training has been entirely voluntary and that has to bode well for the Magic, since Howard was drafted for potential, and he is already looking to maximize it.

Ray was a center with the Golden State Warriors, and a former teammate of Parish before the Chief was traded to Boston, where he finally had the chance to flourish into a Hall of Famer. Ray was more of a rebounder and defender than an offensive weapon. His free throw percentage never broke above the 62 percent level he reached his second year in the league.

The only concern would be that Howard's game needs help on the offensive end as well. However, you can't build an attic before you have a foundation. And the right foundation is fundamentals of rebounding and defense. Howard's already got all the athleticism to try to block every shot. Now he has to learn which ones to go for.

TEAM NOTES
Hedo, Meet Orlando. Orlando, Meet Hedo: ... The coaching staff and administration have one whole-hearted supporter, and it’s one of the guys who hopes to be an integral part of the turnaround. Orlando Magic fans, meet Hidayet Turkoglu.

NEWSLINES

Tim Povtak ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: It didn't take Jeff Turner very long -- like the first quarter of the first game -- to see what was wrong with the United States Olympic men's basketball team in Athens the last two weeks. "They weren't prepared," Turner said. "It was obvious. They needed more practice, more time together." Turner, former NBA player and current radio analyst with the Orlando Magic, won an Olympic gold medal with the 1984 U.S. men's team. He also knows how much basketball around the world has changed since then.

Tim Povtak ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: Two months ago, Clifford Ray liked the idea of selecting Dwight Howard as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. He likes it even more today. Ray, one of the Orlando Magic's new assistant coaches, hardly has let Howard out of his sight in the past 10 weeks, first endorsing the selection, then taking charge of his pre-training camp development.Ray played 10 seasons as a center in the NBA, but he has spent a lifetime learning and teaching the fundamentals of playing in the NBA's front court. He joined the full-time staff of Coach Johnny Davis earlier this summer.