Orlando Magic Team Review

 

2022-23 Finish: 32-50

 

Season Highlight:

The Magic had a struggle of a year and particularly down the stretch to see them heartbreakingly miss the play-ins, but there was a shining beacon in Florida. His name was Jarrett Allen whom they brought over for Dejounte Murray. Murray of course is a stud I his own right, but was in a backcourt squeeze with Young and Suggs, and Allen came in to anchor it all. He lead the teams scoring, even, with 18 points per game, shooting 68% and hauled in 16.5 rebounds per game too. The only thing he could have done better was not miss 13 games which might have meant they made the playoffs�as he was the only guy on the roster to record a + in the +/- column!

 

Season Lowlight:

The lowlight was touched on already, the crushing end to the year which saw them miss the play ins by 1 game to a rampaging Miami squad. They sat in the playoff/play in spots all year and then, nope. They struggled through some key injuries at times which didn�t help and guys they brought in to stabilize didn�t end up playing much for them, like Nerlens Noel, and it all just fell the wrong way.

 

Best Trade:

Magic send: 10 GM Points

Magic receive: Haywood Highsmith

 

Best is so subjective�and when all your trades in the year are orchestrated by JMac just pillaging what he wants when he wants it going back to the same well over and over again, it ends up looking like the list of trades below. They did however claim the services of the Miami Heat fix it guy Highsmith for only GM points from the 76ers when they needed a roster spot. It�s not a big deal or a world changer, but it�s clearly in their favour when it�s a freebie, the way Highsmith ended the playoffs and is now a legit rotational bench player.

 

Worst Trade:

Magic send: Cody Martin, Orlando 2024 2^nd round pick, Orlando 2026 2^nd round pick and Sacramento 2027 2^nd round pick
Magic receive: Nerlens Noel

Yuck. Noel is a glitch, sure, but by the time he was traded here it was basically reported EVERYWHERE that he was about to either be waived, or traded and waived, and therefore was basically never going to suit up this year and wouldn�t return next year either�and that was worth Martin and 3x 2^nd round picks, that will all be in the 30s.

 

Other Notable Trades:

Magic send: Jae Crowder

Magic receive: JaMychal Green and Sacramento 2027 2^nd round pick

 

Pretty good value for Crowder really.

 

 

Magic send: Lauri Markkanen, Marko Simonovic, Brooklyn 2024 2^nd round pick and Golden State 2025 2^nd round pick
Magic get: Aaron Gordon

 

To be fair, this probably aged worse than anyone expected. It�s probably overs for Gordon initially still though, and Markkanen obviously went on to be a break out stud.

 

 

Magic send: RJ Hampton and Pick 41 2023
Magic get: George Niang

 

The better player, younger player, and a pick heading out for Niang�

 

 

Magic send: Kevin Love and Damion Lee
Magic get: Chris Boucher and Will Barton

 

Love was the best guy in the deal, but they got two solid role players.

 

 

Magic send: Davion Mitchell, Will Barton and Orlando 2027 2^nd round pick
Magic get: Bogdan Bogdanovic and Pick 55 2023

 

It�s a close run white wash maybe, and probably has aged well for them really, but at the time it�s borderline.

Magic send: Pick 43 and Pick 55 2023
Magic get: New Orleans 2024 2^nd round pick and 10 GM points

 

 

 

 

Free Agency:

The Magic will be very quiet on FA day with their roster pretty well locked in. All of the top end is under contract and fresh to mesh with the newly acquired Zion Williamson. Key bench big man, Jock Landale, signed a new deal and is an RFA so will be returning, while the other couple of names are here nor there if they even make it to an NBA roster.

Jock Landale � RFA, Required player and will be back for free.

Edmund Sumner � UFA, out the door and won�t be missed.

AJ Green � RFA, if the QO is extended, which it hasn�t been for now, but might not have a deal anyway.

Colin Gillespie - RFA, if the QO is extended, which it hasn�t been for now, but might not have a deal anyway.

 

 

Star:

Jarrett Allen

The star of this team, you would have though on paper would be Trae Young, and there is no doubt he was the biggest name, but Allen was the star. He was the only guy on the roster to put up a positive +/-, the other, Kevin Love, only played 28 games and was traded. He led the team in scoring with 18 a night, he dominated the rebounds as you would expect, sitting amongst the league leaders, crushed the team leading blocks and tied for leader in steals, too. All round unquestioned star of this team.

 

Flop:

Nerlens Noel

It really was the make or break move for the Magic this year and it went horribly wrong. Armed with 3 good 2^nd round picks, they opted to go after the glitch Noel when he was already on the outer and once he was here, he managed 3 measly weeks before being waived and not playing again. The 2 Center experiment gone and the assets to try again, also gone.

 

 

Draft Grades:

No Picks

After owning two 2nds in this draft, they traded them out sort of cheap before the draft.

 

The Future:

The Magic have a solid roster on paper. They�re not all that old, they have some star players and they have some rock solid veteran types too. All in all, you�d think this team is going places. They have the pieces to shuffle for trades and most of what they have looks like it should fit ok together. So why doesn�t it feel like they are moving up from where they sat last year? Is it putting all your hopes in the health of Zion? Is it the notoriously quiet GM not finding the deals that bring in more talent and value to grow with? I just do not know. This team though could probably get 50 wins if Zion stays healthy and it all clicks�or they could struggle for 30 again and we watch them deal 3 times with Portland through the year and not much else.

C: Jarrett Allen / Jock Landale
PF: Zion Williamson / Chris Boucher / Dorian Finney-Smith
SF: Aaron Gordon / Haywood Highsmith / Simone Fontecchio
SG: Bogdan Bogdanovic / Josh Green / Ochai Agbaji
PG: Jalen Suggs / Delon Wright / Malachi Flynn