Orlando Magic’s future wholly dependent on free agency
By S.W. Guest
The Orlando Magic played the draft game and determined it was time to move forward. Now reeling and unsure, their future is dependent on free agency.
There is no right or wrong way to build a NBA team.
Purists would have us believe there is something deplorable about the way the Philadelphia 76ers are currently going about it. But there is some logic to tanking, especially as the league currently rewards teams for being bad. Whether a fan base can stomach being
The Orlando Magic have however chosen a somewhat different path. Instead of waiting for their superstar to come through the draft, they felt comfortable enough to start taking steps forward.
By trading Dwight Howard for young assets like Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless, a handful of savvy veterans like Arron Afflalo and Al Harrington and enough picks to guarantee some form of future flexibility, Orlando attempted to accelerate the rebuilding process somewhat.
They figured after restocking the talent base through the draft, they would be ready to move forward. Three top-five picks in Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon and Mario Hezonja should have provided enough talent to form a team around and move forward in this iteration of the plan.
Four years on though and the success of their approach is hard to measure.
Since the Howard trade, Orlando has won a grand total of 90 games and is yet to establish a true identity on either end of the floor, let alone a sense of overall direction.
The team does have a solid young core, but due to the organization’s approach to rebuilding, the glaring absence of a potential superstar (a commodity teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and even the Philadelphia 76ers have all arguably found by playing badly in that time and striking it rich in the NBA Draft Lottery), it could yet be a season or two before the NBA doldrums are fully behind them.
Few fans would argue the 76ers’ approach is preferable to the Magic’s, especially as the 76ers have won just 45 games since their rebuild began three years ago. But having guys like Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid (who is still yet to play an NBA game) and Nik Stauskas aboard, enough future picks to sink the USS Eldridge and a pretty good shot at the best lottery odds this spring should help soften the blow of a regular season campaign that has delivered just eight wins to date.
The Magic, on the other hand have, slipped into that group of NBA teams that is not quite good enough to make the playoffs and not quite bad enough to win the lottery. And seemingly with little upward mobility without some significant internal improvement from those top draft picks the team lost three years for.
As a result, this offseason will be crucial for them, as the only way the team can truly be improved at this stage is via trading a handful of young assets for a disgruntled superstar (which seems unlikely) or by striking gold in free agency.
Rob Hennigan and company did almost convince Paul Millsap to take his talents to Florida last summer, but the All-Star forward decided to stick with the Atlanta Hawks despite reportedly being impressed by Orlando’s pitch.
On paper the offering has improved, as those considering Orlando as a potential landing spot will now get the opportunity to play with a fairly well-established group of young players in need of a fixture to guid them forward. Sure they have their collective flaws, but this team is crying out for a veteran presence, especially in the starting five, which lacks leadership as much as anything else.
A player like Millsap would have been perfect, as the Magic seem set at guard, small forward and center, at least for the time being.
That said, no one on this roster is irreplaceable. And if Scott Skiles has to sacrifice the development of one his young charges for the sake of overall progression then so be it. That much has been made clear throughout the season.
He is focused on winning regardless of a player’s status on the team. He will put out the best lineup in his mind to help that cause.
With each passing game, it becomes clearer and clearer Tobias Harris was traded for the sake of freeing up extra minutes for the likes of Aaron Gordon and Mario Hezonja. Both seem to be relishing the opportunity, but beyond this season the focus has to shift from player development to winning.
The team has made that desire very very clear.
The big question is whether or not this team can become a contender without a star onboard.
Options aside, there are plenty available this summer. But how many of them would want to play for the upstart Orlando Magic, a team that is still at least a few years from contention, is another thing.
Rob Hennigan may want to set his sights a bit lower and consider the likes of Al Horford, Al Jefferson or Chandler Parsons, who are all unrestricted this offseason. Or even restricted free agents like Harrison Barnes and Bradley Beal.
As all these guys have already entered or are entering their prime, they are unlikely to provide a long-term solution but can give the team that short-term satisfaction of winning.
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All Orlando really needs right now is a player or two capable of showing this team how to take it to the next level. That player may still be ont eh Magic roster in need of more time to develop.
But free agency is always a gamble and there is no guarantee you will get what you are looking for.
Perhaps in some respects the Magic would have been better off tanking another year.
Had they been able to secure a guy with the potential of Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker with another top draft pick, the future would have looked a lot more certain. Then again, the Magic had played the lottery three years and only won it when the jackpot was low, effectively losing all three times.
As it stands, they have little choice but to hope one of the team’s recent picks turns out to be a stud, or hoping Durant shocks the basketball world by choosing Orlando over Oklahoma City or some other locale.
And at this stage the odds of that happening are about as good as those of the 76ers winning a championship in 2016.