Orlando Magic not hiding, free agency time is now

The normally secretive Orlando Magic are not hiding their free agency status. They plan to be active and make their move this summer and next to improve.

Ever since Rob Hennigan took over as the general manager of the Orlando Magic, mum has been the word on offseason plans. There were always signals, but the general statement to the press was the team would remain “opportunistic” and look to build through the Draft.

The plan was seemingly laid out pretty clearly. Build a base through the draft while suffering through some losing and slowly progress into contention, adding pieces around the core or taking advantage of opportunities as they come.

Orlando’s plan has not gone smoothly.

None of the players the Magic have drafted have quite emerged consistently to be the true centerpiece to a contending team. There is still a lot of work to do.

And so the Magic have made moves to put themselves in position to force things just a little bit more. This summer, the Magic are pushing some chips in and going for it in free agency.

They are not hiding from this reality either. Unlike summer’s past when the team’s strategy was not always well known or who the Magic might go after or what their needs are, they are not hiding their intention to make a splash this summer.

As Alex Martins told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, this team is read to make a move in free agency to take that step forward and add those pieces the draft cannot bring.

"“This has been a plan, this has been a process. The first part of the plan and the process is to develop your own [players] and grow your own [players]. And when you inject veterans at the wrong period of time, it has an impact in the way that you’re trying to develop your corps of young players. It can’t just happen immediately. It’s got to happen at a certain point in time — after your players have matured and developed.“And we always believed that this summer and next summer were going to be the two summers of free agency for us that we needed to focus on after developing our young guys.”"

As Robbins notes in the very next paragraph, the Magic did dip deeper into free agency last summer, offering a max contract to Paul Millsap before he opted to remain in Atlanta. Orlando was not quite ready to take a step up.

With Frank Vogel now as head coach, another season of experience and 35 wins instead of something in the 20s, maybe that will get someone to pull the trigger and sign up.

It is clear though the Magic need a veteran on the roster and maybe some leadership there too. Everyone from Rob Hennigan to Frank Vogel have said it now.

The Magic are not being quiet about it.

They have the means to go after someone too. Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders projects that the Magic will have up to $52.1 million in cap room to spend this summer. That would be enough fro two max players potentially. Freeing up that room will depend on who the Magic opt to retain of their own free agents.

There will be big decisions to make for sure.

The Magic are not able to say who they will go after directly. Many expect them to chase Al Horford from the Atlanta Hawks. But beyond that, it is not entirely clear.

Hennigan has said the team will be aggressive in its spending, but not reckless either. That could mean the Magic are active but ultimately unproductive signing players.

Next: Can Frank Vogel break through on offense?

It is clear Orlando is expecting to make some moves in free agency in the next year or two and be aggressive to improve the team in the offseason.