Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: Race to the finish
Who is the non-obvious player you would ABSOLUTELY try to trade or move on this roster?
Badillo: In my opinion, I think Evan Fournier should be traded away and the Magic should draft a solid guard from the 2017 Draft. I think Fournier’s inconsistency has hurt the Magic the most than any player on the team. Surprisingly he has averaged the most points on the team, but he only tends to have a good night when Elfrid Payton has a bad night. I do not think the chemistry is there for them. So for that reason, I think Fournier should go. There are plenty of talented guards in the draft and with the Magic’s position right now they should go for the best guard available.
Rossman-Reich: Jeff Green is the obvious one (he is a free agent). D.J. Augustin also does not seem to fit, but he is fairly obvious too. I think the guy the Magic absolutely need to find a way to deal or move on from is Nikola Vucevic. It sucks to say it, but it is simply time. Vucevic has kind of played his role out as a starting center for this team. The Magic need a bit more athleticism and fluidity at the position. And when Vucevic gets the ball, everything stops. That might be how things go when you have a post-up first center. True, his jump shooting and passing are unique skills among big men. The Magic should not simply give him away. But the defensive shortcomings are still there despite some improvements. And Bismack Biyombo is more than capable of doing what the Magic need defensively so long as the team has shooters to support him.
Scricca: When you talk about tradeable pieces, there are two categories: players that just need to be moved (because of a bad contract, lack of contribution, etc) and players that can be moved but would net a good return (i.e. a good player whose trade return would be more valuable than his short term contributions). The ideal answer to this question would fall into both categories. Contrary to what many believe, I do not think Nikola Vucevic falls into either category, mostly because of the glut of skilled offensive bigs on the trading block year after year. Not a lot of teams are willing to break the bank for a player with his profile. Elfrid Payton probably does not either because his lack of shooting from the point guard position would scare many teams away. D.J. Augustin and Bismack Biyombo should be moved, but would not net much in return. Evan Fournier is probably the answer here because it is reasonable to expect other teams would be attracted to his shooting and ball handling. But the Magic will probably be drafting someone who can fill his role on the team almost immediately. Keeping him around would only serve to clog up backcourt/wing minutes.
Iwanowski: I think the Magic should try to get whatever young assets they can get for their established veterans. I think Nikola Vucevic may have the most trade value, and therefore he is the choice here. Vucevic was a consistent producer in this dark era of basketball, and it would be nice to see him play for a contender. Fournier would be an option here too if someone is willing to take on the four years left on his deal. Jeff Green is gone, C.J. Watson is probably gone, and I doubt anyone would want Augustin or Biyombo with their deals, so those options were off the table for me.
Palmer: Nikola Vucevic is and has been my answer for about two years now. Vucevic has made strides on defense this year, but he is still defenseless against athletic point guards in the pick and roll. Offensively he stalls the offense out way too much. We used to see it back in the day when the Magic had an actual good big man in Dwight Howard. If you feed him too much and it is exclusively him the shooters go cold. Today’s NBA is about movement, motion and shooting. Vucevic does not really fit into any of those criteria.
Grullon: This is a tough question because two players instantly come to mind, but I am going to have to go with Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic is an established veteran center that many teams would love to have as their starting center, but his time in Orlando has come to an end. Vucevic is currently a commodity for the Magic since they have Bismack Biyombo on the bench, so this offseason is the perfect time for the Magic to cash in on him and try to acquire some pieces that better fit the direction the team is trying to go in.
Next: How the Orlando Magic's offseason needs have changed
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