Since 1988-1989, the NBA has gone through the expansion process to reveal four new franchises. While Charlotte Hornets and Minnesota Timberwolves peaks were pretty low, two teams from Florida had notable success. Thanks to the dynamic duo of Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal, and then probably the biggest “Big 3” in the history of the sport, Miami residents saw three different championship parades.
The Orlando Magic, on the other hand, with its own set of stars of the past including O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Dwight Howard, are still chasing the first banner. But even disappointing efforts of Shaq and Dwight’s Magic in NBA finals are now seen as an unreachable possibility. The modern Orlando franchise is going through rough times. With 6 consecutive seasons without making the playoffs, the Magic renewed its sad anti-record and even a crazy optimist won’t bet their house on this streak being dead anytime soon.
However, during that stretch, the club from Florida had various valuable young talents. Some like Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris, and Elfrid Payton are now gone. Others like Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier, and Aaron Gordon are still there. But no matter how bright the future looked on paper, in reality, not a single young squad produced any reasonable result. The overall 157-335 record since Dwight Howard took his talents out of the Sunshine State is pretty telling.
The new shot at completing the painful and never-ending rebuild has started with the arrival of Steve Clifford. Frank Vogel, once one of the major protagonists in the East alongside Paul George and the Indiana Pacers, has failed to elevate young Magic to playoffs. Clifford, on the other hand, had a decent run with the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets and also has the required experience of working with a young team full of potential.
Orlando’s front office wasn’t that active this offseason. The only notable trade the team was involved in brought the shell of what Timofey Mozgov used to be and, most importantly, his terrible contract. The other piece landed in Orlando after the three-team swap was Jerian Grant. Aaron Gordon, the main attraction of the franchise at this point, has stayed in Orlando. There were some losses, but none that impactful. Mario Hezonja, the prototypical European swingman who had some bright moments recently, has signed with the New York Knicks. Shelvin Mack, last season’s Magic assists leader, will take chances with the Memphis Grizzlies.
There wasn’t much work put in the draft either. Orlando took the easiest path and simply chose the best player available at the moment. At sixth overall, it was Mohamed Bamba with big potential and an even bigger wingspan. Orlando also drafted Melvin Frazier 35th overall and Jarred Vanderbilt 41st. None of the rookies stood out in the Summer League though. Bamba’s effort was decent but he was limited to 20 minutes and only 6.7 shots per game.
However, there was a Magic player who really put up respectable numbers. Jonathan Isaac, whose rookie season was cut short due to injury, was team’s leading scorer (14.3 points per game), rebounder (7 rebounds per game), and shot blocker (2.7 blocks per game). Isaac’s shot selection was questionable as always (especially from three-point range), but he was fun to watch and Orlando’s front office will definitely bet on the guy in the near future.
And that leads us to the most important question about the franchise going forward. How will the Magic handle all the talent in its frontcourt? As the roster stands now, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic, Jonathan Isaac, Mohamed Bamba, and Timofey Mozgov will need to share 96 minutes between them. And if Aaron Gordon should feel safe about his position and Timofey Mozgov may never receive any legitimate playing time in the NBA, the other three create a real headache.
And it’s not a bad headache to have by any means. Nikola Vucevic has been nothing but a smooth operator for the franchise in recent years. Since his rookie year, he never dropped below 13 points (2nd year) and 8.9 rebounds per game for a season. He also added a three-point shot to his arsenal. And while 31.4 percent accuracy is nothing to be admired of, it’s still decent enough number for a big who has never used long range before.
With all positive attributes, the Montenegrian is a 27-year-old center who clearly won’t be a franchise player anywhere. While his peak could be rather long he won’t improve defensively and most likely won’t post his career highs. And on that he is on his last year of the contract and suddenly Vucevic is a major candidate for a trade in the near future.
But even if we take Vucevic out of the picture, the issue of coexisting Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac, and Mohamed Bamba still remains. Will Clifford keep both young guns on the bench? Will Isaac get a preferential treatment? Or will both of them share big minutes with Gordon? In that case, it could be monstrous frontcourt with fundamental defensive basement, something the Magic have been lacking tremendously recently. Orlando got 20th best defense last year and finished 24th the year before.
Another crucial issue for the young team is their point guard position. Shelvin Mack as the team’s leader in assists per game last season pretty much says everything about their depth, and now even he is gone. That leaves Clifford with D.J. Augustin and Jerian Grant. D.J. is a serviceable veteran with good shooting splits (45.2/41.9/86.8 in the 2017-18 season), but is heavily undersized and would hardly start anywhere else. Grant improved over his first three years in the league, but not dramatically. Three-point shooting is his major liability with a career average of 31.4 percent.
Is there anything stable in chaotic Disneyland? Wings would probably deserve that spot more than others. Evan Fournier still will be able to give you 20 points on any given night. Jonathan Simmons was an early candidate for 6th man award last year before Lou Williams finally took over. Terrence Ross still flies well above the rim and was above average defender if we apply Magic measurements obviously.
All in all, we’re talking about the same team we’ve already seen with minor tweaks here and there. And there weren’t too many bright spots for the group. Despite having quality offensive players, the Magic had the 7th worst offense last season. They both ranked in bottom-5 in rebounding (26th) and in three-point shooting (28th). And while rebounding numbers and overall defensive stats should be better with healthy Isaac and the successful take-off of Bamba, perimeter offense still will be a heavy burden on the offense.
The Magic have a healthy salary situation and two tradable expiring contracts of Nikola Vucevic ($12.75M) and Terrence Ross ($10.5M). But with the current state of things, it will be fairly difficult to find a max player wanting to carry the team that failed to develop a winning culture too many times.
Don’t make any mistake about it, Orlando is still fun to watch. Aaron Gordon has a long way to go and his steady progress on both ends of the floor reflected in every metric. His highlight reel deserves its own piece. Other core Magic players are also far from their peak with exception of Fournier and Simmons. It’s just too much raw material.
The East looks wide open in every playoff area. Steve Clifford’s Orlando Magic can be scrappy and ambitious, but you definitely shouldn’t lose your head over another potential 6-2 start. We all remember how things played out last year. 30-win team range is probably the right description for this version but unfortunately, low expectations is something Magic fans are used to. At the end of the day, Dwight Howard may create Twitter meme avalanches nowadays, but his departure still hurts the franchise he once almost took to back-to-back NBA Finals.
