Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: End of the offseason moves
What is the biggest need the Orlando Magic still have to address — via trade, minimum signing or during the season?
Scricca: Shooting from almost any position. Marreese Speights, Mike Dunleavy, Brandon Rush and Gerald Henderson could all be candidates for the minimum or the room exception. But the depth chart is pretty full as it is, and none of them would likely be able to earn enough minutes to have a significant impact. More important for the Magic right now is getting off some bigger contracts, like those of Bismack Biyombo, Nikola Vucevic, D.J. Augustin and Evan Fournier. But I do not see that happening until the deadline when Weltman will have had a chance to evaluate their contributions or improve their trade value. Getting a second-round pick and/or a prospect/fringe player would be a good return for any of those guys.
Rossman-Reich: Shooting is the obvious need still. Orlando does not have a great shooter. Evan Fournier is the best returning 3-point shooter and the Magic still likely needs him to be on the ball a lot more and attack off the dribble. Someone is going to have to step up. But I will go somewhere else to highlight another area. I think the Magic need one more post player, probably a power forward, to round out their roster. Khem Birch is reportedly the guy the team is going to sign. But the Magic might be able to find a NBA-quality big on a one-year deal for the rest of their cap room or the room mid-level exception. Orlando is relying heavily on Jonathan Isaac playing meaningful minutes. Maybe they are ready to withstand his mistakes for now. But there is definitely a lack of depth in the post.
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Doyle: I believe Orlando needs to add shooting too. It was a massive problem last season and it looks like it is going to continue next season. The NBA is a 3-point shooting league now and the Magic are falling far behind. Yes, the team can build an identity around strong defensive play for now, but that is only going to get them so far. They needed a consistent 3-point shooting threat. They could easily add one in a trade if they decide to dump some salary. Which leads into my second need: cap space. Orlando has far too much money invested in average players and the team needs flexibility if they are going to build back up to contention.
Treadway: Absolutely without a doubt, as mentioned above, it is shooting. It is almost saddening after watching the 2009 Finals team shoot the lights out of the arena every night, especially behind the 3-point line to watch the Magic the last few years shoot abysmally from the field. Even their best shooters have been pretty mediocre at best. The biggest problem is there is no real good solution at this point to receive immediate relief from their shooting woes. There is virtually no cap room or roster space to add a real shooting threat to the team. And, by trading for a knockdown shooter, the Magic risk giving up valuable assets and potential go to players for short term relief. Unless players like Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier or Terrence Ross become 3-point snipers over the summer and light it up next year, there will still be no shooting improvement come this year.