The Orlando Magic have needs to fill and will search through free agency to fill them up. But internal roster improvement remains the real key.
Free agency started at midnight and the Magic . . . well, they were not exactly sleeping on LaMarcus Aldridge’s doorstep. Or really going after any of the major free agents.
Orlando has its own major free agency decision to make in Tobias Harris. But, all things considered, the Magic have approximately $38.9 million guaranteed with about $8.1 million in cap holds. Before the Magic get anywhere, they have about $20.1 million in cap space.
That is a little bit of money to throw around. Not a ton, mind you, but some. Especially since the majority of that cap space will have to be used to re-sign Tobias Harris (expected to get $14 million to the max of about $16.8 million). And this does not even get into the timing of when the Magic match Harris’ qualifying offer since they own his Bird Rights, they can go over the cap to re-sign him.
Timing may matter in the Magic’s free agent plans concerning Harris.
A lot of the work is going to have to work around this.
But the Magic have some maneuverability and their exceptions to play with — the nontaxpayer mid-level exception starts at $5.464 million — to fill their needs. And the Magic still have a lot of needs.
Orlando’s focus in winning means they are going to have to spend some money. And Rob Hennigan said the Magic will be active in free agency this summer — even if you did not hear much coming out of the Magic’s camp on the first evening of free agency.
“I think we’ll be fairly active,” Hennigan said. “I think we’ll continue to search out opportunities of all sizes, of all shapes, of all forms. I think we’ll be very active.”
Hennigan has always said the Magic will remain opportunistic. They are not married to doing everything through the Draft. If an opportunity comes in free agency the Magic will pounce.
They will not do so recklessly though. That much has been borne out in Hennigan’s operation. He is not going to spend money just because he has it. As he would say, the Magic must be “strategic” and ensure it is in line with how they want to build the team and what they want it to be like.
That does not mean the Magic do not recognize they have needs to fill and that free agency — however much they end up having available to spend — is a way to accomplish those goals.
“I think rim protection is still an area we need to address,” Hennigan said. “However, we fully expect to be a better defensive team next year with just the players already on the roster. We expect to see a sizeable uptick in our defensive abilities next season.”
As much as the Magic have needs to fill — that rim protector and power forward is a mighty big one — the only thing that will make the Magic appreciably better is internal roster improvement.
Even Hennigan expects Scott Skiles’ influence to make the defense better. If that makes the individual players better, that will make the free agents the team acquires supplement the core they have already even better too. That is the ultimate goal of the Magic’s free agency.
While Orlando has the ability to free up max cap space, the team is not likely going after any A-list free agents. They are not ready to go after that final piece to get them over the top. They just need the support to get to respectability.
Ultimately, the Magic’s season depends more on internal roster improvements than on who they could pick up. But Orlando will have to be active to give that growth the support it needs.