Brett’s Offseason Grades for the Orlando Magic

Even if Mario Hezonja and Tobias Harris have great seasons, it has to be wondered how much better the Magic could have been had it really addressed its need for a true power forward.

This could have been the summer of Paul Millsap. That was the dream that was sparked when I awoke road-weary in a hotel and co-editor Philip Rossman-Reich had texted me to post the news of Millsap’s meeting.

So this was how the day was going to unfold: Millsap meets with Magic, posted in the AM, check.

I consult my phone somewhere south of Atlanta to discover Millsap is no longer playing in that city, that he is in fact headed to Orlando and I have a great “What will Paul Millsap Bring to the Magic?” post already queued and half-written, check.  It was.

But that piece was never to be posted.

It never had the final edits as we looked toward a season with an All Star inserted into the lineup at the 4-spot. And yes, though Millsap has made two All-Star appearances, he has been playing on that high level for the last half-decade and he would have made the Magic legitimate playoff hopefuls.

That cannot be said yet with the void still empty. It really cannot.

And while Millsap may have always been a bit of a pipe dream (he ended up taking fewer years and less money to stay in Atlanta), that initial meeting had this editor daydreaming about just how much the Magic could improve in one offseason.

Instead, it all became about the re-signing of one Tobias Harris.

Harris is indisputably worth his contract based on the concept of market value, but even if the $16 million per season is conceptually a high salary, it comes with equally tough expectations. Harris now has to play like a prized free agent, because that is essentially what he was, though we do not definitively know the offers Harris had from other NBA clubs.

In any event, Harris was a desired target for at least some teams, and the Magic retained him. Harris averaged 17 points and six rebounds per game last season, but beyond his scoring and rebounding it is dubious as to what other major ways he impacted games. Harris does not make a wealth of defensive plays, and Millsap would have addressed that deficiency in full.

Again, it is tough to praise the re-signing of a guy like Harris knowing Millsap could have blended so much better as this team’s premier forward. For all that Harris is, and as reasonably predictable as the scenario was, he is not on the level of Millsap, nor will he likely ever be a great defender like the long-time Jazz forward.

What we need now from Tobias is some evolution as a player, because great play is well within reach. With incremental improvements, he could easily justify the salary which he must now play to. But that is all yet to be seen, and even Harris’ improved 36 percent 3-point shooting is deceptively inflated (by poor percentages elsewhere than the corners).

All that said, let us evaluate the free agent signings that did occur as well as a draft that actually did go reasonably well, given what we’ve noticed in the short span since the draft.

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