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Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag Volume 22: Drafting a dream

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Mar 24, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; The basketball court for the NCAA Men’s Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. The court is made from 397 4’ x 7’ panels of Northern Hard Maple, weighing approximately 188 pounds each. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK
Mar 24, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; The basketball court for the NCAA Men’s Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. The court is made from 397 4’ x 7’ panels of Northern Hard Maple, weighing approximately 188 pounds each. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK /
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Elfrid Payton, Frank Vogel, Orlando Magic
Mar 27, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Orlando Magic guard Elfrid Payton (4) talks to head coach Frank Vogel against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat the Magic 131-112. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /

The Orlando Magic were really good at tanking for three seasons. It netted them the worst record in the league (Victor Oladipo, second overall pick), the third-worst record in the league (Aaron Gordon, fourth overall pick) and the fifth-worst record in the league (Mario Hezonja, fifth overall pick).

The reality is the Magic understandably lost some patience and wanted to push the team forward and make tangible progress. Arguably they did but they lost all patience and traded away one young player for nothing (Tobias Harris) and then another young player on a risk (Oladipo).

Orlando wanted to make the Playoffs. I still believe the team wants to make the 2018 Playoffs and will construct a roster next year with that in mind.

On top of all this, the roster is not really built to “tank.” The Magic play all of their young players — and before you say Mario Hezonja, the Magic are not playing him ahead of Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross, two more young’ish players whom the Magic feel are part of the team’s immediate future. So that typical mode of resting veterans is out the window for the Magic.

Orlando is trying to build a winning culture by continuing to play hard and get after these games. Frank Vogel is still pushing this team pretty hard by all accounts. They just may not be good enough. Every lesson the rest of the season is valuable.

I get the instinct and rationale of tanking. As I have said, this team is not likely good enough and they will lose plenty of games. But there is not much benefit in resting starters. The starters are still the players the Magic want and need to play most to glimpse their future.

So the team is and should continue to try to win.

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The other part of this is fans online and fans that frequent this site are an intelligent bunch. We get that the best way for the Magic to become winners again is to get a high draft pick and draft a new, young star. That was what Rob Hennigan staked this entire rebuild on (and he crapped out in the Lottery time and time again).

Most fans are not like that. Most season ticket holders want to pay for a team with some hope and a winning product. The Magic sense the frustration among these fans as much as they sense the frustration among the more active discussers on sites like this one and on online. They know they have to deliver some wins soon to reconnect with disillusioned and frustrated season ticket holders.

Again, a high draft pick would solve all of these problems. Bring in a guy like Lonzo Ball? Now you have someone to stake your future to in a way no player has since Dwight Howard arrived.

Then again, I am not sure the casual fan is willing to wait. They may jump back on when he develops, but they do no want to go through that long climb again. Thus, I think the timeline is a little bit shortened. The Magic want to make the Playoffs soon.

So they might as well start figuring out what they have in this new style and building a culture now.The losses have clearly taken care of themselves so far.