Orlando Magic Position-by-Position Outlook
Shooting Guards
Unlike the point guard situation, the shooting guard situation saw its turmoil get resolved this summer.
The Orlando Magic believed they had a budding star in Victor Oladipo last year, but he struggled to take the next step up and play efficiently as a scorer while delivering more wins to his team. Skiles moved Oladipo to the bench and it statistically made sense to do it. And Oladipo struggled early in the season only to have his second straight late-year push to restore some hope.
Meanwhile, Evan Fournier was consistent throughout the year. That includes his surprising run of scoring early in the season. The Magic had found someone consistent who could help spread the floor and fill in gaps in the rotation.
Orlando knew it would have to pay Fournier in the summer, just like Oladipo’s contract was going to come up the following summer. And the team probably also knew Fournier was not a long-term solution at small forward either.
That brought a decision point this summer. Maybe a false one. But the Magic made a decision anyway.
The team traded Oladipo to the Oklahoma City Thunder and signed Fournier to a reasonable five-year, $85-million. Fournier is established now as the Magic’s starting shooting guard.
And with this lineup, that could be as important as anything else.
He is one of the few players in the Magic’s starting lineup who is reliable as a 3-point shooter — certainly the only one in the proposed starting lineup on the perimeter.
Fournier was a good fill-in-the-gaps player last year, but the Magic may need more from him to bolster the offense this year.
Behind Fournier, the Magic aimed to load up on shooters.
They acquired Jodie Meeks in a trade to add some much-needed shooting. And Meeks certainly can shoot and shoot it very well. That has how he has made his career in the league.
Meeks though will be out until at least the beginning of November. Lingering effects of his foot injury from last year continue to bother him after offseason surgery in July.
Questions about Meeks certainly are high right now after Meeks played in all but three games last year with a fracture in his foot. That injury still lingers for Meeks.
So it is unclear if the Magic can truly rely on his shooting.
And that might be why the Magic acquired another shooter in C.J. Wilcox.
Wilcox though is much more unproven. He can shoot the ball well, but he has played only 43 games in two seasons. And not much in that time. The Los Angeles Clippers just did not have room to play him.
The Magic, especially with the Meeks injury, figure to play him more. That could mean Wilcox, a former first round pick, finally finds his fit in the NBA. Or it could mean the Magic are stretching thin with a player who cannot quite make it in the NBA.
Watson and Mario Hezonja can also play shooting guard. The Magic are shored up at this position should they need to mix and match some. And even Watson and Hezonja are good shooters.
So the Magic shored up some perimeter shooting with this position now.