This is a big question for a lot of Magic fans these days. And essentially the Magic are tanking whether they want to or not. Their team simply is not good enough and losses are piling up. Orlando has the fourth-best lottery odds. Maybe they gain a spot, maybe they don’t. But they are what they are at this point.
Considering the Magic have not won consecutive games since Christmas, it does not seem likely the Magic will make that big run to make a big Playoff push. And the Magic traded arguably their best player in Serge Ibaka this week.
My approach to “tanking” has always been the same: Tanking teams are bad enough they will lose games more often than not.
But teams and coaches should not be purposefully losing (outside of maybe rotation decisions and playing young guys). When a team has a chance to win, they absolutely should try to win that game.
You do not want to send the wrong message as an organization by yanking a star player for the game when you go up 10 or doing anything untoward with a chance to win.
This is a good draft. And the Magic have made a happy accident having the bottom fall out.
But tanking also would look extremely bad at this point. They came into this season promising the Playoffs to the fans. And there is a ton of fan dissatisfaction with how this season has gone. This is the longest Playoff drought in franchise history.
The team is starting to play young players more. As the Playoffs fade away and become eliminated mathematically, the Magic will rely more heavily on their young players. C.J. Watson and Jeff Green will recede to the background.
The plain truth is the Magic are not going to try to tank. That is not part of the culture they want to build. And if they plan on bringing any of these players back, they need to teach that winning matters.