2017-18 Finish: 43-39
Season Highlight:
The first quarter of the season.
Wow, what a five weeks it was for Orlando Magic fans to start the 17-18 season. The Magic had perfect balance within their team and with the league’s sim settings (that rendered every player under 6’10’ pretty much useless) and exploded out of the blocks. They were almost winning every game in the first month of the season and at this point, they were arguably the best team in the East (based on record) and they had the best player in the league (based on statistics, Jonas Valanciunas. Big Val was averaging something totally ridiculous, along the lines of 30+ points and 15 rebounds per game with god-like efficiency and defensive stats. Javi was at this stage dreaming of the bright lights of June and he had good reason to be, with the Jonas brother up their with his MVP trophy.
A highlight would also be their rookie selection, Laurie Markkinen. Much like Porzingis who came before him, tall, blonde European basketballs don’t get much respect on draft day and all he was perceived to not be able to was touted about through the media. And again, like Porzingis, he proved them all wrong and showed that he is the real deal; the perfect prototype for modern basketball. Well done, Javi.
Season Lowlight:
The steady decline, post-settings change.
Were the Orlando Magic the best team in the East? A rational person would say ‘no’. Were they playing some pretty amazing basketball? Yes. The team complimented each other very well and deserved their playoff spot in the eighth seed. However, it would be amiss to say that fans were disappointed to see them slowly slide down the standings as the season progressed. They still played great basketball, however, some of their shine had worn off and just as importantly, their competitors had improved. It brought the Magic back to the pack and they ended up holding onto the eighth seed and exited in the first round of the playoffs.
Best Trade:
This is another one of those teams that tends to prefer to play it safe and tweak from within, as opposed to trading and looking for answers on opposing rosters. However, this was likely their best deal:
The Orlando Magic trade Danny Green to the Boston Celtics.
The Orlando Magic receive Tyler Johnson, Patrick Patterson
In this trade, the Magic were able to turn an underperforming Danny Green into young guard in Tyler Johnson, who is on a longer deal and arguably rated higher in 2k, and solid backup power forward Patrick Patterson. The return was good for the Magic, and they get a more versatile and offensively talented guard in Johnson, who is five years younger. Green was coveted by Boston for the role he plays and Javi was able to cash in on their want for the 3 & D specialist, and the ret
Worst Trade:
There isn’t really a trade that screams ‘worst trade’ due to the scarcity of deals and the fact that Javi took almost no risks during the season with his trading, moving none of his starting five during the whole season. This trade will have to be considered ‘the worst’:
The Orlando Magic trade Ed Davis, Pascal Siakam and Kyle Singler, 2nd round pick, 10 gms
The Orlando Magic receive Gorgui Dieng, Cheick Diallo
In this trade, Orlando receives who should be the best rated player in Dieng, an athletic, defensive big man with a strong NBA role. However, due to Taj Gibson in NBA Minnesota, Dieng was relegated to being a bench player, playing sporadic minutes. Add to this that Dieng has a massively inflated contract at 15+ million, and that Orlando are set at the PF and C for the near future, it doesn’t make a tonne of sense to have him rotting on the bench. He also doesn’t have any trade value, at the moment.
Add to this that Siakam actually looks like a good NBA prospect, Ed Davis is still playing effective minutes in the NBA and they gave away a 2nd rounder and cash means they paid a pretty high price for a bench big who takes up 15% of the salary cap.
Other Notable Trades:
The Orlando Magic send Troy Brown to the Phoenix Suns.
Yep. This is a nothing trade, but it goes to show just how inactive Javi was in the trade market last season. Sending a player to another team for no return hardly even qualifies as a trade [edit: I don’t think it does], as you didn’t give up a commodity for another.
Is it wise to tinker from within or unwise to make so few splashes in the trade market over a year?
Free Agency:
All remains calm in Orlando, with Cheick Diallo the only player with an uncertain contract situation at the moment. Diallo has a team option which Orlando will likely exercise.
As the team is already pretty capped out, with bloated salaries up and down the roster, it has to be asked - is it even possible for the Magic to make any improvements this off-season via free agency?
Will the current Magic team be dangerous enough to compete in the East, without any further moves?
Star:
Jonas Valanciunas, the almost-MVP for a time, averaged 21.6 points, 13.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks on terrific percentages over all 82 games of the regular season. These numbers are dwarfed by the numbers from his first month of the season, where he averaged around 30 and 15.
He is still just 26 years old and is a quality big man in the NLL, despite the fluctuations of settings.
Goat:
Wesley Matthews – this was a hard selection, because the Magic did play for one another and had a consistent season. However, Wes makes 18 million dollars a season and should be a leader of this team in production. However, with the nuclear explosion of production that was Jonas Valanciunas, and Dragic’s steady play, there was no room at the table for Matthews. So, you are left with a defensive role player who shoots 40%, scores 11 points with not much else (62 games, 0.8 steals, 0.1 blocks – isn’t this guy good at defence?).
Eeek, expensive! He is the opposite of a steal in terms of production X salary.
Draft Grades (from Insider):
Orlando didn’t make any picks in the 2017-18 draft.
The Future:
The Magic will trot out (at this stage) the same core group of players that they had for much of last season, with the starting five of Val, Lauri, Lamb, Matthews and Dragic. The bench still consists of Tyler Johnson, Gorgui Dieng and Tony Snell, with rookie Derrick White looking great in the summer league.
While a talented team, being good enough isn’t good enough in the Eastern Conference, with at least 11-12 teams being legitimate chances at the eight spots in the playoffs. Dragic Luck, timing and a great start will be required for lots of these teams, including the Orlando Magic.
They will compete for a playoff spot for the whole season. Will they? Won’t they? Flip a coin.
Javi is known as one of the most elusive and mysterious figures in the NLL, and no one knows what to expect from him. Does he re-enter the trade markets and try to improve the Magic? Does he stay put and see if the chemistry from last year carries over?
