After making that big trade with Oklahoma City Thunder and deciding to move on from Victor Oladipo, the Orlando Magic have a new look. Bismack Byombo is now on the squad just like Serge Ibaka, and they are a decent front court. But is this team bound to make the Playoffs this season?
Magic made some big decisions in the past couple of months. They decided that Evan Fournier is the man to play that shooting guard position for them. They signed him to a big 5-year deal and shipped out Victor Oladipo who they would need to pay next summer. And he is going to demand a big contract from the Thunder.
Orlando will most likely pay Ibaka that big money that he will ask for in 2017. They will do that since it’s the only way that makes sense. If they don’t, they just lost Oladipo for nothing. Rim protection won’t be a problem this season for Orlando as Byombo is now on the team. After having a great playoff run with the Raptors, Magic decided to sign this man to a big contract.
Some of the moves that this franchise made are really head scratching. Not that they made some bad moves, the jury is still out on that, but trading Tobias Harris in the middle of the season after giving him a 4-year deal is a bit strange.
They cleared the deck and went into a completely different direction this summer. Their frontcourt is good, but we wonder if Aaron Gordon will have needed room for development. You can play him at both 3 and 4, but he still needs to work on his shot.
This Magic team is tough to figure out right now. They might have just outsmarted everyone with their moves and with the addition of Frank Vogel, they might look like one of the best in the East.
On the other hand, this whole process can be a flop and Magic’s season can easily be over in February.
We are going to say that they will be decent this season, but just not good enough to make it to the postseason. They will go 37-45, and that will be good enough for a 10th or 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings. Magic fans will wait at least one more year to watch their team in playoff action.
