Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: It is trading season
By Zach Palmer (@FmrTankCommandr)
I have been thinking about this situation a lot recently. It has become clear the Magic just are not a good team and the current collection of guys do not fit together well. With that in mind, I think it is time for Orlando to perform somewhat of a soft reset to the roster.
My first trade that I came up with is actually very similar to David’s deal with the Raptors. However, in my iteration, the Magic send out Serge Ibaka, C.J. Wilcox and Jodie Meeks for Terrence Ross, Jakob Poeltl, Jared Sullinger and the worse of the Raptors first round picks this year.
So the question here is why would Orland do it?
First, they cannot really risk Serge Ibaka leaving for nothing this offseason. The Magic would have ended up trading Victor Oladipo and then some in return for a rental of Ibaka. Orlando absolutely cannot let that happen.
Second, the Magic really cannot afford to waste Aaron Gordon at the small forward spot anymore. It is clear as day when Gordon does not have his jumper falling on offense, he may as well be invisible. When he is at power forward, he has the athletic advantage and the jumper is his secondary weapon as opposed to his primary weapon.
Why do the Raptors do this? To take a shot at the title of course.
First off, I think Ibaka fits the Raptors perfectly and it also helps them match up with the conference favorites the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While the price is certainly hefty, the Raptors only end up losing one key rotation player in Terrence Ross, who is replaced by Jodie Meeks. Meeks is more than capable of filling the role that Ross is currently in once he is healthy again. Poeltl was a long-term player, and while it would hurt to see him go, Toronto’s window seems like it will not be open for long with Kyle Lowry aging. Sullinger has been a non-factor for the Raptors due to injury. He recently started playing with an injury to Patrick Patterson but he has been fairly bad for them.
The second trade I have in mind sends Nikola Vucevic and C.J. Watson to the Boston Celtics for Amir Johnson, Demetrius Jackson and the rights to Guerschon Yabusele.
Why would the Magic do this? First, it helps clear additional cap space for this offseason in case the Magic want to try their luck in free agency again. Second, the team adds two prospects in Jackson and Yabusele that can help the team reclaim some of the youth movement that was abandoned this offseason.
Why do the Celtics do it? The Celtics have one glaring weakness on their team. Rebounding. The Celtics plain and simply stink at rebounding.
With Vucevic they can start Al Horford at the 4 where his lack of rebounding is not a huge issue because Vucevic is crashing the glass as a 5. And while Vucevic could still hurt the Celtics defensively in the pick and roll, coach Brad Stevens can easily take him out and go small with Horford again.
The Celtics in this deal only lose one rotation player in Johnson who is less than an ideal fit next to Horford. Jackson likely is not going to see time behind Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier. Yabusele would be a nice addition to the Celtics but he is a wild card as there is no sure way to say he will be better than Vucevic.
The last trade the Magic need to make is a simple one. Trade Jeff Green to the Sacramento Kings for Anthony Tolliver and Ben McLemore.
The Kings desperately need a small forward with Rudy Gay out. McLemore is not a consistent rotation player for the Kings and Tolliver has not played a huge role for the team until Gay was injured. At this point, it ends up being teams just swapping expiring contracts trying to make things work.