The Orlando Magic’s season is over and the offseason is looming ahead. One that is full of change. The mailbag is open as we begin to ponder the future.
The Orlando Magic’s season is officially in the rearview mirror. And good riddance to it.
The 25-win season that started out with so much promise after so much lowered expectations ended up a complete dud.
Worse than a dud, it felt like the end of the road. This was a team with little cap flexibility, few future assets, no identity (and now no coach) and little to feel hopeful about. If there is a rock bottom in the NBA, this Magic team was it.
About the only thing that was hopeful was Aaron Gordon‘s development, Jonathan Isaac‘s potential and the prospects of a future high draft pick (something vociferous fans will note the team tried to ruin with a win in the final game of the season).
To be sure, things cannot keep going down the same path. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman took a season to evaluate his team — read: had little flexibility to make changes — and seems to have come to the conclusion that massive changes are needed.
A day after the season ended, he fired coach Frank Vogel. A week later, the entire coaching, training and strength and conditioning staff were gone. It has been a lonely week at the Amway Center.
Before we get there, there is a lot to recap from the season. You cannot know how to move forward without understanding what went wrong in the past. And a lot went wrong.
A. Lot.
But we have begun to assess those problems and put the 2018 season to bed. On a recent episode of Locked On Magic, I began dissecting those issues with listener Stuart Hodge. He posed questions to help break down the season:
The changes are coming. Magic fans know it. Everyone knows it.
Now comes the waiting for those changes to take place. It will be a long wait for sure. There is a lot to get to and not a lot of time to get to it.
The team still has to hire a new coach, of course. The team is slowly starting to make those interviews and get through the process. Then comes hiring a new staff. And then the draft.
And finally, the Magic will begin changing personnel and begin changing their players. Orlando fans are most fretting and looking forward to this part of the team’s process. The Magic will have their work cut out for them.
There are still a lot of debates to be had. A lot of philosophical points to be made and a lot of figuring out to do to get the team to the point it can find a way forward, much less contend. It feels like the team is at rock bottom.
And so with some downtime before the Draft picks up, let’s answer those questions. Both by opening up the mailbag and by inviting your questions for another fan Q&A.
Be sure to submit your questions to me on Twitter @omagicdaily or by e-mail at omagicdaily@gmail.com. You can also drop your questions in the comment section below or on Facebook on the Orlando Magic Daily Facebook page.
And you can always submit questions for our next fan Q&A by tweeting me @lockedonmagic. We will be recording another one later this week.
Next: OMD Podcast: Searching for the Orlando Magic fan
I look forward to answering your questions!