The Orlando Magic are the perfect example of misplaced explanations and not cashing in on assets, culminating in a failed rebuild. It’s hard to believe that this team was once a dark horse favorite to sneak into the playoffs (this year and in year’s past). There was young talent on the roster, but the pieces never quite fit together. This is typical of most rebuilding teams and as long as management properly cashes in on assets then it usually works out in the end. Maybe not with a title, but at least some playoff appearances and competitiveness. For the Magic, it did not work out in the end.
Orlando’s waste of assets has been the defining failure of their rebuild, post-Dwight Howard. Early on, Orlando moved veterans for solid returns such as Evan Fournier and Tobias Harris. They drafted well, taking Andrew Nicholson, Maurice Harkless, Aaron Gordon, Victor Oladipo, and Elfrid Payton. They already had Nikola Vucevic from the initial Howard trade. The Magic’s tear down was clean and effective which is exactly what a team wants. Get rid of the old era and replace it with the new.
Problems arose when the Magic began to force the issue on their rebuild. Their key players never developed in the timeframe that Orlando wanted, but the Magic continued to later steps in the rebuild anyways. There was never a point where the Magic took a step backwards to re-assess. Just a constant desire to push forward. This desire appears to be what led to a playoff push despite no real core to speak of. Trading Maurice Harkless for essentially nothing. Re-signing Tobias Harris to a four year contract only to immediately move him for single year rentals and cap space. Signing veterans, only to have them not pan out, and then getting no return on their value.
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All of these failures could have been justified as trying to find pieces that fit their core, but the Magic never had one. They were always nothing more than talented pieces put together to form a roster. Never an actual functioning design. They never had an identity. Just a plan they rashly pushed forward while their players fell behind. As a result, the front office wasted their assets. Constantly having players leave and immediately thrive in different environments. Orlando has nothing to show for it. Just a mess.
All of this leaves Magic General Manager, Rob Hennigan, in a really bad spot. It’s become quite clear his rebuild has failed and he must push the reset button. Plans for that have already begun, trading away Serge Ibaka for Terrence Ross and a first round pick. Unfortunately for Hennigan, it’s unlikely the Magic are going to give him a second chance at the rebuild. Ownership has a desire to make the playoffs. They’ve been pushing Hennigan to make the proper moves to reach that goal for months now, and fair or not, he hasn’t pulled it off. After hiring Scott Skiles, the Magic looked like everything was finally coming together in the right way for them. They were winning games. A January collapse later, and Orlando needed to make a trade to get things back on track. So they traded Tobias Harris for Brandon Jennings and Ersan Illyasova.
Even in hindsight’s context that Skiles didn’t believe in Payton to be his point guard, and considered resigning in the middle of the season, this was an awful trade from the start. Ignore that it was obviously a move to create cap space for next summer’s free agency period in a year where everybody in the world was going to have cap room. Look at the players that were brought in. A borderline starting point guard and a bad stretch four. If Hennigan’s directive from ownership is to win games, then why is he trading away one of his much more talented players for rentals that don’t move the needle?
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Hennigan did finally move into a win-now approach in the offseason. Trading Oladipo for Ibaka. Using the money he freed up from the Harris deal to sign Biyombo to a large contract. Going all in on Evan Fournier with a new contract to him. Using free roster spots to sign veterans. The problem? The Magic still had no core. They were in the exact same situation they were after the first two years of the rebuild. A collection of talent on the roster without any real design to it.