After seven months, the Orlando Magic cut bait on their big acquisition, admitting failure. The decision to acquire Serge Ibaka was still the right one.
Back on Draft night, the Orlando Magic knew they were entering a summer of change. The team would be spending the vast amounts of cap space they had created to reshape their team and make a more concerted push to make the Playoffs.
Their young players, drafted specifically for this rebuild, were beginning to come up for free agency. Orlando would have to make decisions on exactly what their value is and how much to pay them.
With Evan Fournier set to become a restricted free agent, that decision seemed to be coming to a pass with Victor Oladipo. The Magic cannot pay everyone — especially without results — and they had a decision to make on just what Victor Oladipo — still perhaps a star in the making after hitting a road bump in 2016 — was worth.
Having to get deep into that decision never really came. The Magic began their roster’s transformation on draft night by trading Oladipo, the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis and Ersan Ilyasova to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Serge Ibaka.
“I think it was a calculated risk,” Hennigan said after trading Ibaka last week. “With where we’re positioned, we’ll continue to make calculated risks if we feel like they address needs and can push the team forward.”
The Magic marketed the move as the missing piece for a team to bolster their defense and provide some playoff experience to the locker room. It was meant to set the Magic on a clearer direction. Perhaps other moves sabotaged its effectiveness in the end.
Perhaps other moves sabotaged its effectiveness in the end. But the experiment plainly did not work. The risk the Magic took failed.
It has been a week now since the Magic traded Serge Ibaka to the Toronto Raptors for Terrence Ross and a 2017 first-round pick. The Magic are moving on and looking to a new era, having cut bait on a gamble they have lost.
There is plenty of talk about how the Magic got a poor return on Ibaka. And they are absolutely correct. Orlando gave up a lot to acquire Ibaka, taking a huge gamble on his success and came up losers. The Magic in trading for Terrence Ross simply recouped some value for a sunk bet.
Orlando lost the Serge Ibaka deal.
But that does not mean it was not the right decision. The Magic had to make a move, quite clearly. Their rebuild with the core they had currently used had stalled out some.
Sure, the Magic made some small measures of progress. Before trading Tobias Harris last year, the team had that 19-13 start and were on pace to again improve their win total, if only modestly. In all, the Magic went from 25 to 35 wins. That was progress and suggested they had something that only needed a little push.
The pace was slow but steady. The Magic had to make that decision with Oladipo and Evan Fournier and there was the opportunity to cash in. Once the team made that decision not to move forward with Oladipo, the question was what could they get for him?
With the Magic topping off at 35 wins in the odd way they did, it was clear the Magic were ripe for cashing in some chips and taking a bit of a risk to improve the roster. It felt like it was the right time to make the deal.
“If you go back in time and look at what was needed for us in the front court and some of the voids we felt we had on the roster and you balance that with the logjam we had at the 2-guard at the time with Evan and Victor, we felt like it made sense,” Hennigan said.
Orlando Magic
“Sometimes you have to take a few shots down the field. Sometimes it pans out, sometimes it won’t. I applaud our aggressiveness and I think given the same situation circumstantially, we would make the same trade. Sometimes things don’t work out as you planned. And I think it’s important to be proactive and try to rectify that when you realize it’s not working.”
It is easy to look back on it with regret. The Magic’s ambitions this year did not turn out for the better. Orlando had to cut bait and restart.
Their gamble did not pay off.
But it was still the right one to make. The Magic needed to take a risk to get to the next step. They needed to cash in some chips. And acquiring a player like Ibaka who seemingly fit a need in the front court next to Nikola Vucevic did make a lot of sense.
The Magic made the correct decision pursuing a deal like Ibaka.
Perhaps, the Magic could have waited for a better offer. Perhaps, the Magic gave up too much to get Ibaka. These are both more than fair arguments. And ultimately a general manager is judged on how the risks he takes work out.
The fact the Magic traded Ibaka seven months after acquiring him is a sure sign things did not work out. Let alone the seemingly poor fit that led to such a disastrous season.
Perhaps though, the Magic sensed the draft was the right time to strike. Perhaps, the Magic believed they could make the big move at the draft and then have a better sense of what direction to take their free agency.
Those decisions are certainly subject for debate too.
But overall, it was the right chance to take, even if it did not pan out. Orlando needed to change what they were doing in some way. They needed to try to take a chance on a veteran like Ibaka.
He performed well, averaging a career-high 15.1 points per game while still providing solid 3-point shooting and defense as a power forward.
It was clear, the Magic needed to change. Their rebuild had made progress. But it needed a shock. The team needed to make decisions and take a chance. They took that chance.
Next: Orlando Magic should value continuity heading into Deadline
It just did not work out.