Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: The final countdown
What has been the best surprise of the season so far?
Palmer: The season’s best surprise so far has to be the emergence of this year’s draft class. OK, I am kidding. Well, sort of. My real answer would be Aaron Gordon’s ability to defend the perimeter? I do not think it really matters much with the current roster construction, but it is nice to know they have a lockdown perimeter defender on the team.
Rossman-Reich: Nikola Vucevic’s defense has changed the narrative for him and made the Bismack Biyombo signing look a little silly (that may have happened anyway). Vucevic has gone from a virtual defensive liability to at least someone the Magic can rely upon to be a stalwart defensively. He is not throwing blocks into the second row or climbing up to block shots incredibly. But he has had far better positioning to challenge shots and recover. This is a strong development for him and has Vucevic as one of the pillars for this team moving forward.
Doyle: Nikola Vucevic. I wanted the Magic to trade Vucevic this past offseason. Now, I am eating those words. Vucevic has taken a step back offensively, but he has transformed into a good NBA defender. I could not believe the work he and the coaching staff put in to improve his game on that end. I would like to see him find that shooting touch again, but in a season full of disappointment, Vucevic is one of the few bright spots.
Jumani: I have to agree with Zach on this one, it has clearly been Aaron Gordon’s ability to guard perimeter players, and usually the other team’s best player. He held James Harden to his second-worst game of the season. That was a very encouraging sign to see. The “Aaron-Gordon-at-the-3” experiment was a failure, but that is about the only positive that came from it.
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Grullon: Rob Hennigan staying put at the trade deadline was the biggest surprise of the season for me. The expectation was for the Magic to make at least one additional trade after the Serge Ibaka trade, but that never happened. I was afraid heading into the trade deadline the Magic would make a panic move just to try to salvage the season and win more games after the All-Star Break. Instead, the Magic will be heading into the offseason with two first-round draft picks and plenty of money to spend in free agency to try to find a player or a couple of role player that can help this team win next season.
Iwanowski: The greatest surprise to me is that even in a season in which they weirdly decided to go all in for the playoffs, they have decent odds for a potential star in the draft and do not have any REALLY crippling contracts going forward. Obviously, the Biyombo deal looks pretty bad, but they can overcome that. Other than that, this is probably the worst season in recent team history that really set the franchise back.
Badillo: The greatest surprise to me was Aaron Gordon’s ability to handle the ball and guard the perimeter much better. He has shown some pretty nice moves this season, and lockdown defense on teams best players. These few improvements show his main focus coming into this season was to improve his ball handling and his defense.