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2018 will be a year of change for the Orlando Magic

By Philip Rossman-Reich

ORLANDO, FL - DECEMBER 30: Elfrid Payton #2 and Aaron Gordon #00 of the Orlando Magic during the game against the Miami Heat on December 30, 2017 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - DECEMBER 30: Elfrid Payton #2 and Aaron Gordon #00 of the Orlando Magic during the game against the Miami Heat on December 30, 2017 at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The 2017 calendar year was a disaster for the Orlando Magic. The 2018 calendar year promises to bring change as Jeff Weltman implements his vision.

Rebuilds are built on hope. Signs the team is trending in the right direction and to believe the future will be better than the present.

That is what the new year is supposed to bring too. A chance to renew and refresh. A clean slate, so to speak. Everyone makes their resolutions in hopes of making themselves better and dividing the time.

The NBA season does not quite work that way. The new calendar year falls near the midpoint of the NBA season. It is a time for reflection for front offices preparing for February’s trade deadline and beginning to make their moves perhaps for next season. Or, at least, that might be the plan for a team in the Orlando Magic’s position.

The 2017 calendar year was not a good one for the Magic. In all, Orlando finished 26-59. That is a little more than a full season and hardly a record that inspires confidence — according to the Orlando Sentinel, it is the fourth-worst calendar year record in team history.

In this calendar year, the team fired its general manager, moving in a new direction with Jeff Weltman as the president of basketball operations. It feels like a new day. Just not on the court yet.

The summer brought with it few changes to the main roster. The new management group was going to spend the year evaluating the team. and so this year will see the end of that evaluation. Or at least the first phase of it.

If 2017 was a year to admit the team’s failures in the rebuild and begin taking steps toward something new, then 2018 will be about making that change. Or at least starting to make that change. It will be extremely difficult to flip over the roster or completely transform the team in a single summer or offseason.

But that is the process that will undoubtedly begin this calendar year. The Magic are about to change.

That is inevitable when a team is unable to perform. The Magic’s 8-4 start has gone away pretty quickly. Injuries hurt the team in the long run, but that still does not explain the complete collapse this year — losses in 21 of the last 25 games. Orlando is looking at the deep lottery again.

With the players given a second chance to recover this year, they have floundered. Maybe that is not completely their fault with the injuries. This was not a team that could afford the major injuries they have faced. But the team has shown a lot of the same problems as last year — the sometimes lethargic play, the inability to finish games and the propensity to get blown out in embarrassing ways.

That is all information Weltman and the Magic’s management will take into consideration now.

At some point, the potential energy of Weltman’s evaluations will turn into the kinetic energy of movement. And this team needs to make that movement and that change. The core general manager Rob Hennigan built up has not been able to coalesce into wins. It is time for a new vision.

Undoubtedly, 2018 will be the year that new vision begins to form.

It will likely start with re-signing Aaron Gordon to a long-term deal. His breakout season — 18.9 points per game, 7.9 rebounds per game and a 58.4 percent effective field goal percentage — has been the clearest sign of hope each night. The kind of play from a young player (he is just 22) a team can build around.

Combining him with Jonathan Isaac (still on the shelf with a sprained ankle, but a clear potential defensive ace) and then the Magic’s eventual pick in the 2018 Draft — currently slated to go third putting center DeAndre Ayton, point guard Trae Young and forward Marvin Bagley in range. There are players who will make a big impact at the top of this Draft.

It is still way too early to begin thinking about that. But that three-player core has the makings of something. At least enough to seel fans on hope for continued improvement. Even keeping some players like Evan Fournier around while that group develops could produce a brighter future in the short term and in the long term.

But it is also clear some of the pieces to this puzzle no longer fit. Maybe that has been clear for some time, it just might take a new management group to begin affecting the change.

The results certainly make it clear that change is necessary. It has been five years with much of the same core with little success to show for it. A restless fan base wants to avoid another long-term rebuild. But inevitably that is what they may get.

The only thing that is clear is this current team is not that direction. Even a half season of evaluation can reveal that. And so change is clearly necessary if the Magic want to improve.

That change must begin in 2018.

Orlando cannot be reckless in the decisions they make — they must remain strategic and bring in players that fit their vision and create better financial flexibility. But change has to come. And it has to come soon.

The 2018 calendar year will be the first real year of Weltman’s tenure as president of basketball operations. It will be the first year he will truly be able to make an imprint on this team.

Next: Bismack Biyombo's defense key to fulfilling Orlando Magic's vision

Expect the Magic to look different as the calendar turns to 2019. Expect the team to have a clearer path to the future. That will be the change that comes in 2018.