Grading the Orlando Magic’s offseason: Focus put on the future

The Orlando Magic were quiet with limited cap room. But it seems they did about as much as they could with their long-term goals in mind.

The true midpoint of the offseason passed just a few days ago. The countdown to training camps and the regular season has begun. But really, the NBA has been quiet for a long while now.

The major activity of the offseason really occurs in the first few weeks after the Playoffs end. The rush of the Draft then free agency and then Summer League are all done in about a month. Then everything goes quiet as players privately prepare for the season.

The Orlando Magic figured this summer to be relatively inactive. They had many problems to fix and address and few resources to do that. Even with about $13 million in cap room to start the summer, they knew most of that would get taken up by Aaron Gordon (and almost all of it would get eaten up by his cap hold).

It left the Magic really with their draft picks, the mid-level exception and the potential for trades to make significant changes to a roster that won just 25 games last year. Health would undoubtedly help the team improve that mark. But it was also painfully easy to see the Magic needed to do more than make changes on the fringes.

That was likely all that was available to them.

Whether the Magic had a successful summer or a poor one is likely a framing of expectations for the immediate future.

If those agree with president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman that this is a process the Magic must do right and not fast, the task for this year was to continue adding key players to the team while not further tying up the books with bloated contracts. The Magic can see light at the end of the tunnel in cap space, but they still must be smart in how they spend.

Aaron Gordon’s four-year, $76 million seems like a bargain and a necessary price to keep a 22-year-old player still growing. But it is more long-term money tying up the Magic’s books. Especially while the young players in Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba keep growing.

For those hungry to see the team end their six-year Playoff drought, the Magic almost certainly did not do enough. They opted to pass on potential win-now players and left questions about their point guard position completely unanswered.

This was not the summer in any case for the Magic to make some major moves for the short term. Analyzing this summer may be something the team will be able to do more fruitfully a few years down the road when the puzzle looks more complete.

Still, the Magic accomplished two major things this offseason.

The first is re-signing Gordon. An obvious decision to retain a 22-year-old who has shown tremendous growth. The tight market did not bring an overpriced deal Gordon’s way. Instead, his restricted free agency chased everyone off and money dried up. It gave Orlando a bargain deal for the growing young player.

The second was drafting Mohamed Bamba. No matter what with this strong draft class Orlando needed to draft a player who would make a major impact on the team. Likely the team would say that about anyone they picked.

The focus now turns to Bamba and his ability to transform the Magic’s defense with his length and shot-blocking ability. He will be a critical player for the team’s future.

But he remains a project too. Someone not quite ready to make those impacts fully as a rookie.

Both those moves are universally praised. The team’s other moves and decisions — or lack thereof — remain in question.

The Magic swapping Bismack Biyombo‘s contract for Timofey Mozgov‘s contract and Jerian Grant probably does not deserve too much criticism. Orlando picked up an interesting young player on an expiring contract in swapping two similarly bad contracts. Both centers the Magic were not likely to use much.

The hiring of Steve Clifford was met with some shrugged shoulders. Plenty of people saw his record with the Charlotte Hornets and rightly asked questions about whether he could truly do a better job than Frank Vogel did. Then again, there are plenty of people who thought Clifford was the best coach on the market and saw what he did in Charlotte as exactly what Orlando needs.

The grades coming in early on for the Magic’s summer saw a team that did not hurt itself this offseason. But a team that still left some opportunities on the table.

The Dunc’d On Podcast made this analysis saying they would like to have seen the Magic use some of the mid-level exception — possibly even on that rumored Isaiah Thomas deal — to make this year a little more palatable. But there was not a whole lot for Orlando to do and the team acquitted itself well.

They did about all they could do while maintaining the flexibility for the future a rebuilding team needs.

The bottom line for this offseason for the Magic is the team left some opportunities on the table perhaps. There is fair criticism for this offseason.

But they likely left them on the table because they did not fit the long-term vision for the team. And that ultimately was more important for the team.

The Magic left a lot of needs unaddressed — the point guard position chief among them and the team also still looks too similar to last year’s team. That was never the team’s goal to fill all those needs.

Orlando’s drafting strategy showed a team still focused on collecting kinds of players that fit the overall vision of the team. The moves Orlando made were not meant to address the team’s immediate needs.

And so the Magic’s offseason is tough to judge. It will likely be judged on how many of the pieces the team collected this year actually become part of the team’s final product.

Will Bamba truly transform the Magic’s defense? Can Melvin Frazier become a rotation-caliber player with his solid defensive foundations? Can Jerian Grant establish his place in the NBA with this team? And what happens with Gordon’s development?

These are bigger questions for the team. Grant’s question will get answered this year but leaves the Magic in no worse position than they were before the trade.

The rest is more about the long-term future for the team.

If anything, Orlando’s free agent and offseason strategy showed the team is planning to continue its rebuild for a few more years as they build up the assets and players that fit their vision and future better.

If all the Magic get out of this summer is getting a future starter and defensive game-changer in Bamba, then this summer will be a success.