Orlando Magic’s expectations, goals for 2018 become clear
The Orlando Magic were supposed to have a quiet offseason to start their next phase. Instead, they have brought in veterans and made their goals clear.
Everyone believed the Orlando Magic were due for a quiet summer.
That was disappointing in some ways with the team winning just 29 games last year. The team needed some major changes to avoid the mistakes that plagued the team last year. And there were seemingly few avenues for the team to do so.
Unintentionally, then, the Magic had to let things roll. About the only good news about this is they saw something they felt confident in to end the season. The starting lineup played better with smaller groups after the All-Star Break. Outwardly, the Magic projected optimism the team that finished the year would make some dramatic improvements thanks to some stability and a training camp to practice.
The going thought was the Magic would wait and see how things would work out. They would look to add some promising young players and see if they struck gold. But the main goal would remain to develop the players currently on the roster, evaluate the roster and look for ways to create more flexibility to shift the Magic to their new mentality.
For all intents and purposes, the team would continue rebuilding and looking for signs of improvement while preparing to reshuffle the roster — hoping the deadline would provide a better trade market than the offseason.
All that may still be the plan. It is safe to say a lot of that is still the plan.
But the Magic did something somewhat unexpected with their cap space. Opportunity shifted for Orlando and what they could accomplish.
The three-year, $18-million contract Jonathon Simmons ended up signing was a surprise. The expectation before the summer began was he would get his pay day after a solid season with the San Antonio Spurs. The market dried up completely for restricted free agents by the time the Spurs turned him loose.
This was a move that would help set a culture and fit what the Magic were looking to build. Namely, an identity.
The landscape in the Eastern Conference changed dramatically too. The Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls traded Paul George and Jimmy Butler off their Playoff squads to the Western Conference, throwing two Playoff spots in limbo. Paul Millsap left the Atlanta Hawks, another Playoff team, in free agency for the Denver Nuggets. And Carmelo Anthony seems likely to leave the New York Knicks soon.
Orlando Magic
The Eastern Conference all of a sudden seemed wide open. The Playoffs came closer to the Magic. It seemed a little bit of improvement would put the Magic — put any team — in the conversation.
The Magic did not have to worry about that, though. They had their own plans and their own long-term goals to achieve. Namely, the team could not afford to tie itself up with long-term money on a wild goose chase for the Playoffs.
That clearly did not mean the Playoffs remained a far off goal. It was not something the team was about to write off. Orlando was not going to make a full rebuild this year. The team just wanted to see progress. And if that resulted in the Playoffs: Great.
But the market changed. Instead of seeking young players to fill out the roster, the Magic found some valuable veterans to fill the roster out willing to take the veteran’s minimum. The Playoffs became close enough to begin making a push, albeit with low-risk deals.
All of a sudden doors were open to sign Marreese Speights and Arron Afflalo. Both players played roles for their teams last year and bring the kind of veteran presence the team has lacked since Arron Afflalo left the first time.
Orlando bolstered its young core with veteran role players.
Their presence likely pushes Mario Hezonja out of the rotation, brings Marcus Georges-Hunt‘s previously certain status into doubt and might even eat into Jonathan Isaac‘s minutes.
It has created a very different Magic team. All without threatening the team’s long-term financial flexibility. Orlando has some depth and some veterans who know what they are doing now. If the team keeps their gains from the end of the season, it is easy to see this team has improved.
The question that remains is whether a Playoff push is a good thing for the team and its long-term future.
The first place to start is that winning is always a good thing. Even if the team was outwardly looking to rebuild, winning and competing for a Playoff spot is a good thing. For these young players, they need to experience playing meaningful games and the pressure that comes with competing for the Playoffs. That will always be positive.
Second, the Magic did not commit any long-term money to secure the depth they have grabbed. Shelvin Mack signed a two-year deal with a non-guaranteed second year. Jonathon Simmons signed a team-friendly three-year deal with the third year non-guaranteed. Marreese Speights and Arron Afflalo signed minimum deals.
There is very little downside to these deals. The Magic got some proven entities and did not tie up their future cap space. They will have maneuverability again whether the season is a success or a failure. The team played with house money.
But these deals come with caveats. Young players like Mario Hezonja and Marcus Georges-Hunt are pushed out of the rotation. Jonathan Isaac’s role becomes less certain, although surely the Magic will find time for him to play.
Veterans offer consistency and for a franchise desperate to make the Playoffs again, a short-sighted goal — even without the long-term pain — can still have long-term implications.
No one, after five years of a rebuild and a roster the team is pretty much locked in with, for the time being, is about to depreciate any of the team’s value or pack in the season waiting for the bad contracts of 2016 to expire.
Orlando is still looking to compete and improve. That part of the team’s mantra is not going to change. Coach Frank Vogel would be the first to say he believed his team was turning a corner or showed some positive signs to build from after the season.
The question is whether that is enough to build upon truly. And whether the Magic have resolved their bench issues to give a starting lineup that performed well in limited minutes during the last quarter of the season to get that true chance.
Or even if that really matters in the long term. Maybe these moves have been done just to shore up this team and see how far it can go.
The reality before the offseason began was that there were no bad results. A surprise Playoff run would accomplish all the things a young team needs to accomplish and suddenly makes the Magic a team on the rise. Another struggling season gives the team more time to evaluate and make moves to get things going in the right direction. Plus the benefit of a high Lottery pick.
The reality now with the Magic adding these veterans is that expectations are raised somewhat. The team is indeed pushing for a Playoff berth. They are not all in like last year, but winning is still the franchise goal.
It muddies up what the team’s long-term goals are, at least under the lens of the 2018 season. The Magic can still accomplish everything, but the 2018 season will exist in its own universe to set that path.
Next: Orlando Magic Daily Podcast: New Kids on the Block
Orlando expects the 2018 Magic to win.