They have balmy breezes, blue skies. And no state income tax.

	What lured Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady to Orlando? Was it the winning?

Backyard pools are in use all 12 months of the year. And no state income tax.

We're talking laid back lifestyle, casual luxury living. And, yes, no state income tax.

We're talking deep pocket, free spending owners. And, once again, no state income tax.

Last summer, in a dizzying span of weeks, four of the best and the brightest in the NBA, set up residence in Florida, where there is perpetual sunshine and that favorable tax situation -- Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady to Orlando, Eddie Jones and Brian Grant to Miami.

Is this only the start?

Does every NBA free agent or discontented player want to move to Florida where the absence of a 5 or 6 percent tax over the term of a $90 million deal pays for a luxurious home in an exclusive country club estate, plus his and hers Benz?

Will the Florida teams dominate and -- if they will -- what does this say for the future of the Milwaukees, the Indianas, the Minnesotas and the Detroits of the NBA?

Well, the truth is they may do very well, if you believe Bucks general manager Ernie Grunfeld, whose team right now is at least as good as Orlando's and not far at all behind anyone in the East.

Grunfeld points to that great leveler, that David Stern equalizer, the salary cap as the heavy slap of humidity that sits there like a heavy dose of reality when you open the front door to reality in central and south Florida.

"Uh, they're capped for a while, aren't they?" Grunfeld asks.

Why, yes, Ernie, so they are.

"Then if the players they've put together can dominate, then they'll dominate. But what they can do after that will depend on what the cap rule is."

Well, Florida sure looks good in January and February when the guys in Chicago and Minneapolis are shoveling out so they can get to practice, when the skies over Indy spit freezing rain and Cleveland is looking at that terrible phenomenal element called lake effect snow.

Grunfeld says, so what? Didn't the Bulls win six titles, the Pistons their two? Weren't the cold weather Celtics the Yankees of the NBA? "Whether it's a cold market, warm market, you have to look at the variables. Sure, things being equal, players may go to the warm market, but I think most players also will go to a winning situation. You ask them and you see pretty quick they want to be where there's a good positive winning environment. That goes beyond the argument of cold market vs. a warm market."

	McGrady

	Thomas

There was a report last week that claimed Bucks forward Tim Thomas might have well have gone to Orlando had either Hill or McGrady declined. But Grunfeld doesn't buy the image of Thomas taking his orange juice at the outdoor hot tub. "It said they were going after him. It didn't say they were going to get him."

In fact, says often outrageous Bucks coach George Karl, "We never thought Orlando had a chance. The team we were worried about was Detroit."

Take that, Doc Rivers.

"I might be wrong but I think we had a pretty good pulse. Detroit was involved much more than anyone else," Grunfeld said. "In fact, I'm not sure Grant Hill wouldn't have gone to some other place if it came down who had the money. I felt he wanted out of Detroit. That's all."

On the other hand, you didn't see Hill talking money with Jerry Krause in Chicago where the cap room was equally generous. You did see him house hunting last January in Orlando. And yes, Pistons guys have no warmth for the Bulls, but draw your own conclusions.

Still, Karl and Grunfeld make some pretty good points. Look at Phoenix, George says.

"I always thought Phoenix was the best warm market," said Karl. "Why? Phoenix, No. 1. The weather, the beauty of the area. Then Jerry Colangelo, a great owner. And they've been to what? One NBA final. They always had the warm weather attitude going for them. All the guys like going to Phoenix. They've taken care of their players in a big-time way and they've got a great reputation but that doesn't guarantee you will win a championship."

Come to think of it, maybe Orlando, Miami and Phoenix made a pact with the devil: good weather and a lot of money to throw around in exchange for ... what? Ask why Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway couldn't get it done after one run at the Finals? What chased them out of town? What about this terrible thing that happened to Alonzo Mourning? What about the season after season of injuries that have damaged the Suns?

And why is it, with all these advantages, that these teams blatantly feel they have to cheat to get ahead? Did you know, for example, the Magic are regularly fined by the league for breaking rules dealing with tryouts and such. Or that the Suns lost Dikembe Mutombo because they jumped the gun on a moratorium. Or that they had to pay Danny Manning $42 million AFTER his second ruined ACL. Or that the reason Duane Causwell, so modestly talented, is making better than $4 million this season is that Pat Riley promised him a big payday if he'd play a year on the cheap?

Says one GM who has gone head to head with Orlando over this business, "You'd think if being there was so wonderful, they could play by the rules and still stay way ahead of the game."

Grunfeld says, "the bottom line is players want to be respected. They want to be taken care of financially and they want to be in a winning environment. I don't buy the weather.

"Ask yourself, how many players actually live in those markets in the offseason. Even a bigger market like New York, Chicago, L.A. They aren't there in the offseason. They go back to their home base. A guy like John Starks goes back to Tulsa. A lot of players live in Atlanta, Houston, wherever, so what does the weather really mean?" Or as Karl says with finality, "Nobody likes to live in Phoenix in the summer time." He could have been talking about Florida, too.

Jeffrey Denberg, who covers the NBA for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.