GM: John Hammond
Head coach: Frank Vogel
2016-17 record: 29-53 (13th in the Eastern Conference)
2016-17 result: Didn’t make the playoffs
Key departures: Jeff Green, Jodie Meeks
Key acquisitions: Jonathan Isaac, Jonathon Simmons, Arron Afflalo, Shelvin Mack, Marreese Speights
The Orlando Magic are on their longest playoff drought in franchise history, not having made the post-season since 2012.
Luckily for them, they head into 2017-18 with a promising new front office tandem of Jeff Weltman and John Hammond. The former helped make the Raptors a 50-win team and will serve as the Magic’s president of basketball operations, while the latter is responsible for drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo, and will now be Orlando’s latest GM.
The two went to work this summer, making sure the Magic’s young core had pieces to help them progress towards a more promising future by adding veteran pieces in Arron Afflalo, Shelvin Mack and Marreese Speights.
The Magic were also able to get a steal of a contract through restricted free agent Jonathon Simmons, inking the former Spur to a three-year deal worth $20 million.
But Orlando was still able to add another young promising piece, using its lottery pick in the 2017 draft to acquire Jonathan Isaac, who Frank Vogel says is already NBA-ready on defence. At six-foot-11 with a jump shot that extends to the three-point line, he has all the tools to make any general manager salivate.
Isaac should be a perfect complementary piece alongside Aaron Gordon, another star pupil on a Magic roster that’ll be looking to flip the switch throughout the 2017-18 season.
Potential Breakout Player
Gordon has a chance this season to shed the label of being only an otherworldly athlete, and become the all-around force the Magic expected him to become when they drafted him fourth overall in 2014.
Orlando saw glimpses of that type of production last season, when Gordon posted four games with over 30 points. He also ended the last 20 games of the regular season averaging 16.8 points on 50.6 per cent shooting, not far behind their leading scorer on the season in Evan Fournier (17.2).
With Vogel leaning towards playing only one big at a time, Gordon has the physicality to match up with power forwards with his six-foot-nine frame. At 21 years old, his only weakness remains his ability to shoot beyond the three-point line, but that should come with time in what could be a season filled with growing pains for the Magic in general.
What a successful 2017-18 season would look like
The Magic might not have won 30 games last season, but they do have a roster that resembles a fringe eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. They could surprise a lot of teams, but for now, they should be worried about developing their youth on their way to cracking that 30-win mark.
Players like Isaac and Mario Hezonja will need to go through their fair share of trial and error if the Magic want to see them part of their long-term future. Luckily for them, they’ll have a veteran like Afflalo to show them the ropes, while wings like Gordon and Terrence Ross pick up some of the heavy lifting.
With a coach like Vogel, who guided his former Pacers to a top-three defensive rating in three of his six seasons, the Magic will also need to focus on that side of the ball. They finished 24th in defensive rating last season, but with the addition of Simmons and Isaac, to go along with Bismack Biyombo on the bench, they should be looking to at least get themselves to the middle of the pack.
Biggest X-Factor for 2017-18 season
If the Magic are going to become a true Vogel team, they’ll need to up their defence. That all starts with point guard Elfrid Payton, who can use his pesky defence to anchor both sides of the floor for what will be his third head coach in three years.
Payton’s stat line of 14.3 points, 8.9 assists and 7.2 rebounds to end the last 20 games of the Magic’s 2016-17 season is a good sign. But so was his willingness to play on-the-ball defence starting as a rookie in 2014, even going as far as using a full-court press against the league’s best.
With a roster full of young and more experienced scorers from Isaac to Nikola Vucevic, his pass-first mentality should continue to benefit the Magic moving forward. It should also help make up for the fact that his range as a shooter is limited, only converting on 28.9 per cent of his attempts from three-point distance throughout his first three years in the league.
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