Orlando Magic Preview
In an era of position-less basketball, positions still kind of matter.
Last Season:
Orlando finished 29–53 and in 13th place in the Eastern Conference. The Magic entered the year hoping to zig where the league zagged. GM Rob Hennigan’s plan was to build around big ball. The Magic had traded Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, and Ersan Ilyasova for Serge Ibaka. The Magic already had Nic Vucevic on their roster, as well as Aaron Gordon. Many assumed that this meant that Gordon would mostly come off the bench as the first big, and maybe see some occasional time at the 3 in big lineups. But the Magic weren’t done! They signed nephew of the Congo, Bismack Biyombo as well. The roster was poorly misconstructed from the jump, and by February Ibaka was sent packing to Toronto. The team put Gordon in a position (literally) to fail, they failed to get much of anything out of former lottery pick Elfrid Payton, and for some reason Jeff Green was on this team. Frank Vogel was brought in to provide some stability and experience, but the roster he was given by Hennigan was not something Vogel could work with. Vogel is known as a defensive minded coach, but Aaron Gordon at the 3 is not a good defensive matchup. Evan Fournier is a solid, underrated guard, but other than that Orlando’s backcourt was barren. The team didn’t address the backcourt in the draft, and it’s going to be a problem going forward. After Hennigan was sent packing and forced to drive away in his Honda Accord Hybrid, John Hammond was brought in from Milwaukee. The Bucks haven’t been known for their guard play of late either (shoutout to Delly), but hopefully Hammond can address the team’s needs in free agency.
Draft From The Past:
The Magic had the sixth pick in the draft and selected Jonathan Isaac out of Florida State. Isaac is long and skinny, his biggest skill is his speed for his height. Isaac is 6'11" but has the movement of a guard. Defensively, he can comfortably guard 3 through 5, and can hold his own against guards near the end of the shot clock. The areas where Isaac needs to improve are his jumper and his offensive aggression. If Isaac can build himself up offensively and specifically from the outside, he could develop into a Rashard Lewis type of player for the Magic.
Free Agency Tinder Superlike:
Hybrids, baby!
Hybrids aside, Orlando needs guards. In the modern NBA, Aaron Gordon needs to play the power forward position, and maybe even small-ball center in some lineups. At 6’7”, Evan Fournier is big enough to play the 3, and the Magic probably will want to give Payton one last chance, given the upcoming season is the last of his rookie deal. Orlando should look to find a shooting guard who can play off the ball and space the floor to pair with Payton, Fournier, and Gordon. They would need to move some guys to make space for him (which they should do anyway), but JJ Redick would fit nicely in a return to Orlando. I would personally love to see a Payton-Redick-Fournier-Hezonja (He’s 6’8”!)-Gordon lineup run out there. That lineup might not be able to defend well enough, and you might have to go with Payton-Redick-Fournier-Gordon-Isaac, but I kind of like that team.
One Defining Stat:
Aaron Gordon is lowkey at his best on the second night of back to backs. Gordon averages 11.5–6–2 on 0 days rest while shooting 35% from 3 and 48% from the field (better than his career averages of 10–5–1.5 while shooting 29% from 3 and 46% from the field).
How Far Away Are They?
The Magic are nowhere close. Despite years of futility, they don’t have a single blue chip prospect that the team is certain will be good. Aaron Gordon might be the team’s best prospect (outside of Isaac), but he’s already entering his fourth year and has had his development hindered by being pigeonholed into playing the small forward position at times. The Magic are giving Isaac a shot this year to be that blue chip guy for them, and he certainly has potential. The thing is, this might finally be the year that the Magic could get the number one pick. They should really, truly stink this year, after many years of just being normal terrible. The Magic haven’t had a number one pick since Dwight, and their only other top three pick from the last twenty years came in the abysmal 2013 draft headlined by Anthony Bennett. 2018 should be the year the Magic are back near the top of the lottery.
The Up & Under:
The Up: Hezonja proves that with more playing time he can be a good NBA player. Aaron Gordon finally improves his jumper, and Jonathan Isaac proves to be a stud. He wins rookie of the year, but the Magic still only win 30 games, finishing 30–52. Orlando wins the lottery and takes Luka Doncic to be their new point guard in the post-Elf world. They now have a solid core of Doncic-Gordon-Isaac to build around.
The Under: Jonathan Isaac decides to attend Disney World to celebrate being drafted by the Magic. He buys a season pass since he’s going to be in the area a lot, and signs a contract behind closed doors to complete the transaction. Isaac tweets out a photo of him signing the contract, but in the background there’s a whiteboard that reads “Hybrid Heroes” and there is even a suggestion “Spiderman (for MM?)”, which everyone takes to mean a Spiderman for Mickey Mouse swap. Mickey goes ballistic and bounce-walks his way into the Amway Center. He kidnaps Isaac and demands that Isaac tells him everything he knows about Disney’s plans to move him. Isaac says he has no idea what he’s talking about, and Mickey freaks out. He takes off his little red pants and runs out of the room naked. He bursts into Hammond’s office and knocks him unconscious. Mickey then does a perfect Hammond impression on the phone and successfully trades Isaac to Phoenix in exchange for Tyson Chandler. The Magic start Chandler at point and go 15–67.
