ORLANDO – To this day, exactly 25 years after the Orlando Magic won the NBA Draft Lottery that would deliver them larger-than-life center Shaquille O’Neal and change the franchise forever, Pat Williams still remembers the sounds of crunching paper bags and the frustration on the faces.
The lasting images of May 17, 1992 are that of Williams – the co-founder and Senior Vice President of the Magic – vigorously shaking hands with then-NBA Commissioner David Stern and flashing that child-like smile from ear-to-ear. But the thing that has stuck with Williams all these years later is the smashing and thrashing of those old-school, brown paper bags.