The End of the “Process” for the Orlando Magic

How we got here

When you take a look at what Rob Hennigan did when he first became general manager he had a clearly defined strategy: Plan on losing but remain positive and nurture the young talent.

Hennigan traded Dwight Howard and somehow managed to end up the winner of that deal. The Magic acquired a bunch of future cap flexibility, some young players (Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless) and picks. In that trade, the Magic did not acquire anything that did not serve a purpose to further Hennigan’s future plan.

The hiring of Jacque Vaughn and his staff were made to place a focus on building an upbeat, fun culture for the young guys where they were encouraged to build camaraderie and learn together on the court.

While the Jacque Vaughn hiring flopped, nobody can suggest Vaughn did not consistently maintain a positive attitude even when things were going badly.

There was a clear plan in place and the Magic were following it to a tee. In his first three

In his first three drafts, Hennigan selected Andrew Nicholson, Kyle O’Quinn, Victor Oladipo, Romero Osby, Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton and Devyn Marble. Five of these seven players project to be long-term NBA players, while the other two were late second round picks.

This is a good batting average for the draft. But one problem remained, the Magic still had yet to find a superstar in the draft.

The central mantra of Hennigan’s plan was based around the idea the Magic could eventually find a superstar or two by bottoming out and drafting future superstars.

In 2013, the Magic fell one spot according to their lottery odds but essentially drafted the player who was number one on their board in Victor Oladipo. The 2013 draft is still considered one of the weaker drafts in recent memory even with the emergence of Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo. and C.J. McCollum.

In 2014, the Magic again fell one spot, out of the top three while the Cleveland Cavaliers bumped them out with a less than two percent chance of doing so. The Magic ended up selecting Aaron Gordon and later trading for Elfrid Payton.

This is the problem for teams trying to build through the draft, the Magic “unlucked” their way out of prime draft position. Had the Magic stayed in the top three they would likely have had Joel Embiid and the franchise’s future is completely altered.

Without a true superstar, the Magic struggled again in 2014 and head coach Jacque Vaughn was fired halfway through the season.