Orlando Magic’s summer evaluations note too much uncertainty

Another summer review is in. And while Sports Illustrated likes the thought behind the Orlando Magic’s moves, they too raise lots of doubts for this season.

The Orlando Magic offseason has been one of the most divisive and controversial summers of the offseason. The Magic began cashing in their young players to bring in veterans and firmly set their future more clearly.

The Playoffs were a more certain goal and a clearer focus. The Magic sought an identity and made offseason moves to achieve it.

Getting others to believe in that direction remains one of the bigger tricks for this team to pull. The skepticism is at a high level, much to the chagrin of Magic fans all around.

Orlando did get better. It seems there is no doubt about that. They traded in some young players who had yet to prove their worth for a lot of players with clearly defined skills. They picked up their identity.

Generally people think this is good. What they do not like is necessarily where that leaves the Magic.

That was the grade Sports Illustrated gave the Magic. It is a D-, nearly a failing grade, for trading the future for a chance at the present. Perhaps a clearer identity, but also an unclear result in a better Eastern Conference.

The Magic’s best acquisition was Frank Vogel. He helps the team establish an identity. Even adding Serge Ibaka gets high marks from them. But they ask, what happens next? Have the Magic put a ceiling on their future development in trading away all these pieces? And, perhaps worst of all, a lack of faith in the Magic to develop what young talent is left to build around.

Ben Golliver summed up perhaps the national questions remaining on the Magic’s offseason:

"In sum, Orlando’s off-season generally feels shortsighted, a little too desperate, and liable to produce an excruciatingly expensive decision on Ibaka next summer. Even if this summer’s additions and Vogel’s arrival can lift the Magic into the bottom of the East’s playoff bracket, it’s hard to see how the key pieces will fit together even one or two years down the line. Then whose turn will it be to flourish elsewhere?"

It is a real question that perhaps does deserve some exploration. What if this all works? Does that better set the Magic’s direction or is this team capped at a first-round exit or a flash in the pan.

The Magic have said they wanted to build a sustained winner and having to throw a lot of money at players who are not going to develop into stars can hurt that cause.

Then again, if this works, then the direction becomes clearer. There are simply too many questions — and perhaps too much faith in Brandon Jennings when it comes to analyzing the D.J. Augustin contract — for analysts to be satisfied with the direction the Magic are headed.

The ‘D-‘ grade is perhaps a bit too harsh. If the Magic make the Playoffs and do so with Vogel establishing an identity, then that will open doors for the team to make a bigger splash in free agency. The Magic will not have the same kind of cap room, but have remained plenty flexible to continue improving the roster. And they still have a few trade chips to explore.

The questions the offseason raise before training camp are still big questions to answer.

Does Jeff Green get in the way of Aaron Gordon‘s development or does Green get underused and rot on the bench? How do the Magic manage their frontcourt? Will they regret letting Victor Oladipo and all those young assets go, including Tobias Harris, now that they have Bismack Biyombo or if Serge Ibaka walks? Can they have a functioning offense to support that (hopefully, potentially) stellar defense.

So much is going to happen that can change the path for this franchise still.

Predictions of all stripes are still bullish though. The uncertainty overwhelms what many hope for this team, should it be successful.

ESPN’s panel of writers seemed to project the Magic would stagnate, having them match their 35 wins. Similarly, ESPN Insider’s projection using Real Plus-Minus has the Magic winning just 36 games. That is not much of an improvement at all.

This could be a product of another things. This measurement does not rate certainly players highly. Kevin Pelton of ESPN notes Real Plus-Minus does not like D.J. Augustin or Jeff Green.

Uncertainty just continues to reign. And that is going to continue to make the experts skeptical about the Magic.

There will be more doubts coming from the national, and even local media. The uncertainty overwhelms much of the discussion at this point.

Plenty certainly believe Orlando can accomplish its goals. No one is ready to say it is impossible. The belief around the media is that it is seemingly improbable.

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And, perhaps worse, the Magic sold their future for a shot at Playoff dreams this season with little promise of achieving that goal.