Despite having a down year, the Orlando Magic still are a team that is full of potential for years to come. While they didn’t have a second half turn around that would excite fans for next year, much like the one with the Utah Jazz, Orlando should still be excited.
Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton and Nikola Vucevic seem to be what the team is leaning towards building around. It’s a pretty good core with Oldaipo’s mix of offensive and defensive skills, Payton’s defense first mindset and recent ability to do some great things with the ball and Vucevic’s consistent 20/10 lines from night to night causing him to be a focus in the paint. Partner those guys with a couple good veterans that can fill some needs and you could potentially have a team that is a contender in the Eastern Conference. Kind of following the same mold of the Milwaukee Bucks.
There is one piece that might be better than all 3 of those players, the sneaky clutch, soon-to-be free agent, Tobias Harris. The forward’s name has previously been brought up in rumors concerning his departure but it appears the Magic want to keep him around.
Following from Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
Magic GM Rob Hennigan says the club “intends” to bring back F Tobias Harris – a restricted free agent – “no matter what” the cost this summer. At $15 mill per year? Seeing is believing.
This is fairly earth-shaking news. Hennigan wouldn’t pay Harris what he wanted – near max money – when they talked contract before the season.
Now Hennigan is telling the league he’ll essentially match any offer. He could make Harris the team’s highest-paid player, exceeding Nik Vucevic’s $13-million per year. He must have a hunch that the market for Harris won’t be outrageous
Keeping Harris, who is a bonafide scorer and has great skills for his 6’9″ frame, would possibly finalize the a nice core four in Orlando. The issue is, the Magic just haven’t found a way to translate all this potential talent into wins as of late, which was a big sticking point in the firing of Jacque Vaughn.
The team talent is there, along with the available money, but can they do it? The main hurdle for success next year might be keeping Harris around, especially with teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks having interest in the forward with some money to spend. It could be hard to entice him to stick around with a team who might not have much to offer besides the max contract. Don’t forget, Harris is a native New Yorker who has been working out with Carmelo Anthony in his offseason time along with the sneaker deal incentives Tobias would get going to a big city, it might be hard to keep him around.
