Last season: It was a season of transition. The Magic started out near .500 (12-13) but when Glen Davis got injured things fell apart. The Magic won 8 games the rest of the year and by the trade deadline they had fully embraced the rebuild, meaning J.J. Redick was the first out the door in a six-team trade that brought Orlando Tobias Harris. The Magic ended the season with just 20 wins, the worst record in the NBA.
Signature highlight from last season: Not a lot to choose from, but how about some Tobias Harris.
Key player changes: It was a pretty quiet summer. The biggest addition this offseason was Victor Oladipo, who was drafted No. 2 and is expected to be key to whatever is ultimately built in Orlando (that doesn’t mean I think he’s the point guard of the future). They also brought in Jason Maxiell as a free agent. Gone are Al Harrington, Josh McRoberts, Dequan Jones and Beono Udrih.
Keys to the Magic’s season:
Just how good is Tobias Harris? Orlando is all about player development the next few years and there may be no bigger test of that than Harris.
He showed a little promise but could barely get off the bench in Milwaukee, then he comes to Orlando, gets an opportunity and averages 17.3 points a game. He was a revelation. That said, his shooting efficiency numbers were just average (he shot 45.3 percent overall, 31 percent from three with a true shooting percentage of 52.4 percent for Orlando). It begs the question: Is he a legitimate future All-Star player or is he a nice player just putting up numbers on a bad team? Is his ultimate role really gunning sixth man on a contender or something more than that? His game has holes, for example his defense on the perimeter needs work, also he needs to attack more and not settle for jumpers on offense. He’s going to get a lot of minutes this season and we will see how his game develops. We’re going to find out just how good he is the next couple years.
When do Jameer Nelson and Glen Davis get traded? We can probably throw Arron Afflalo on that list, too. The Magic are rebuilding and guys who are not part of the long-term future are going to get shopped around (Nelson has already admitted he knows he’s on the block). Davis could be hard to move with that contract ($6.6 million the season after this one) unless he shows his foot is fully healthy, but we know by the middle of the season there are contenders always looking for big men who can help them out.
Also, how do all the trade rumors that will swirl effect this young team?
Can Jacque Vaughn build a winning culture amid all the losing? It is all about player development with the Magic — how does Victor Oladipo come along? Andrew Nicholson? Nikola Vucevic? Tobias Harris? Mo Harkless? There are interesting pieces.
The key is keeping them working on doing things right amid all the losses that will come — they cannot let losing infect the team culture.
Vaughn seemed to do that last year — Orlando played hard for their coach. Not well, but the effort was there. If felt like a foundation was being laid for the future. Now they need to take a step forward and keep building on that — if the defense or effort slide that will be the problem. They are not going to be good this season but you can see where something good can come in a few years if they keep developing. If the losing infects the culture then Orlando has real issues.
Why you should watch the Magic: They have some interesting young players — Oladipo, Harris, and even Mo Harkless. How they use them, how they develop them are the questions, but these players are intriguing.
By the way, the Magic may not be as bad as we expect. If they can get everyone healthy (we’re looking at you, Glen Davis) their starting five to start the season is Jameer Nelson, Arron Afflalo, Tobias Harris, Glen Davis and Nikola Vucevic, with Victor Oladipo, Andrew Nicholson and Mo Harkless off the bench. That’s potentially pretty entertaining.
Prediction: 25-57. Call it rebuilding, call it organizational tanking, call it whatever you want, this team is all in for the upcoming draft. Whether it ends up being Wiggins or Randal or Smart, they are going after some big talent in the top five of the draft board. The Magic have some interesting young pieces to develop, they could be a team on the rise in a couple years, but they need one more big piece and they are going after it through this draft.