Orlando Magic’s offseason as graded by others
With the NBA summer about to wrap up, writers (including us) are putting in their offseason grades. How did the Orlando Magic do in the eyes of others?
The offseason is more or less over now that Summer League and free agency have ended. The Orlando Magic have a more or less complete roster at this point — 12 players are under contract with Devyn Marble and Dewayne Dedmon still left to get onto guaranteed deals and Keith Appling on a partially guaranteed deal for training camp.
So it seems like a good time to evaluate the Magic’s offseason.
The acquisitions C.J. Watson and Jason Smith were relatively minor free agency additions. They paled in comparison to re-signing Tobias Harris and hiring Scott Skiles.
So there was not a big move, but the Magic clearly indicated they were ready to think about winning more seriously with the additions they made and the money they started throwing around — or waving wildly in hopes of getting someone’s attention.
We have started to cull our staff evaluations of the Magic’s offseason as Juan and David have put their two cents in. The rest of the staff will be joining soon.
The rest of the NBA world is starting to play catch up with their grades too.
The overall conclusion seems to be the Magic did OK. Not flying colors, not a big splash, but enough to continue intriguing everyone with what is to come with this group.
Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com writes the offseason additions for the Magic were solid and signal the team is eager to win:
"Grade: B-The biggest decision Orlando made was hiring Scott Skiles as head coach, a move that signals the Magic are planning to compete whether their young core is ready or not. Orlando added some much-needed shooting by drafting Hezonja and signing Watson to a reasonable three-year, $15 million contract. But replacing the promising O’Quinn with journeyman Smith is puzzling, given O’Quinn will make slightly less money this season and has been the more productive of the two players. Ultimately, Skiles’ ability to mold the Magic’s young talent into a winning unit will be the measure of this offseason."
Matt Moore and Zach Harper of Eye on Basketball were also relatively optimistic on the Magic’s offseason. It was nothing too spectacular, but nothing too harmful either.
"Moore: They didn’t do much, but they’re banking on their young core. They kept their flexibility open and C.J. Watson will help them in the backcourt. Grade: C+Harper: They gave out a big deal to Tobias Harris this summer, and they’ll need him to show consistency as a 3-point shooter in order to justify the money. But he can be great in combination with Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic on the court. C.J. Watson is a stabilizing point guard for the second unit, and Jason Smith gives them a nice rotation big man to play some defense and give some hard fouls. You’d like one more shooter on the Magic, but perhaps they already have that with the drafting of Mario Hezonja. Grade: B+"
Fred Katz of FOX Sports reaches the same conclusion. The team’s improvement will depend on internal roster improvements. But why can’t the team do it and make the Playoffs in the watered-down East?
"Offseason review: The biggest acquisition for a young Magic team actually came on the sidelines. Orlando coasted through last season with Jacque Vaughn, who struggled on the bench, at the start and James Borrego for the end. Skiles brings a new, more intense mentality to the Magic. A team with the defenders of this one along with Skiles, one of the NBA’s smarter defensive minds, could end up better than people expect.2014-15 season outlook: How much better? Why couldn’t the Magic be a surprise playoff team in the weak East, where it seems like the Nos. 7 through 13 seeds could be separated by only a few games? With the way Aaron Gordon looked in summer league (yes, I know it’s summer league), it feels like Orlando is getting ready to take a next step. The Magic hardly will be dominant — they still have a backward roster that lacks shooting on the wings — €”but 38 to 40 wins would be a major improvement on the past few years and could be good enough to sneak into the postseason.GRADE: B-"
The consensus is pretty clear at the end of the day. The Magic did OK this offseason. But their future remains very uncertain until the roster shows improvement and the players begin making good on their potential.
That answer will have to wait until October to begin getting answered.