If we were to poll the Orlando Magic faithful on the words to describe the Orlando Magic’s player and staff decisions over the last decade, I wholeheartedly believe one of the very last words that would appear on that list would be BOLD.
Since Dwight Howard’s departure in 2012, the Orlando Magic have found themselves ensnared in a miasma of unexciting lateral or diagonal moves that have left the fanbase disillusioned and frankly underwhelmed.
See, the 2010s Magic teams underwent an identity crisis akin to a college freshman picking a major — constantly shooting themselves in the foot with contradictory moves emanating from indecisiveness to either contend or rebuild.
In the NBA, if you want to establish a legitimate identity, you must be completely invested and make moves which satisfy the core tenets of how the team should operate. This means making risky moves and bold decisions to ensure that this identity remains the franchise’s foundation.
The Orlando Magic are embarking on a rebuild and as they being their process, Jeff Weltman must be bold and decisive to build the foundations of his franchise.
Orlando Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman understands this mindset as well as anyone. Hailing from the Masai Ujiri executive tree with the Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors, Jeff Weltman is well versed in bold transactions and top to bottom identity development for a franchise.
And this year will go down as a year of bold transactions for the Magic.
Weltman’s execution of a trade deadline sell-off of longtime franchise stalwarts Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier as well as the mutual departure of coach Steve Clifford ensures that unlike the last decade of Magic basketball, this team will operate differently.
The Magic will finally take legitimate chances to create a culture and roster from scratch.
The Magic will finally be BOLD.
Today, we will take a shot at predicting what other bold moves we may see in the upcoming offseason as this shapes up to be one of the most important Magic offseason in franchise history.