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The Orlando Magic want to shift focus to a ‘win-now’ approach
The Orlando Magic want to shift focus to a ‘win-now’ approach
The Orlando Magic took a slight step back this season amid a slew of injuries to Jalen Suggs, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, among others, as well as another poor offensive season where the pieces that were available failed to consistently produce.
The team got eliminated in five games to the reigning champion Boston Celtics, the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, their second straight first-round elimination.
Though Magic president Jeff Weltman is ready for the team to take the next step: Win-now with a core of Banchero and Wagner, a message that hasn’t been emphasized publicly each of the last two offseasons.
“It’s time to enter the next stage of our development,” Weltman said Thursday. “We’re in a place now where the focus will shift to looking at the world through a win-now sort of lens.”
For that to be accomplished, Orlando must get better offensively. They were anemic again last season, finishing No. 27 in adjusted offensive rating with the league’s worst 3-point percentage, according to Dunks and Threes. They have been a bottom-third offense each of the last two seasons, including a bottom-five offense thrice.
They added Kentavious Caldwell-Pope last season and drafted Tristan da Silva No. 18 overall, but that wasn’t enough to remedy the plaguing issue. A part of their lack of offensive struggles is the talent surrounding Banchero and Wagner, though both players are below-average 3-point shooters, at best. There’s no question that Orlando’s bought in defensively under head coach Jamahl Mosley, but there has to be a better formula offensively around two non-shooters.
The Magic own each of their next six first-round picks–plus Denver’s first-round pick this year, the final unresolved piece to the Aaron Gordon trade. They are slated to be $3 million above the first apron but roughly $8.5 million below the second apron, according to Spotrac. That’s not much wiggle room. Though they still have team options to decide for Moritz Wagner, Gary Harris, Cory Joseph and Caleb Houston.
Banchero, a former No. 1 overall pick, will be up for extension this summer–as will Cole Anthony; Caldwell-Pope, Anthony Black, Jett Howard and Goga Bitadze will be extension-eligible next summer.
Right now, this team isn’t good enough as is. The East isn’t very good, so I would expect the Magic to try and make some sort of splash either this summer or the trade deadline. They’re gonna be expensive, but why not push at least a few of the chips into the middle and make a run for it? It appears Weltman feels similarly, but what will his plan be?
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