The Magic’s
Recent signings show team will attempt to win as many games as possible
Jeff Weltman appears to be intent on winning as much as possible next season, signing players who add much-needed depth for the team.
Many questions were unanswered when the Orlando Magic hired Jeff Weltman as their new president of basketball operations two months ago.
Chief among them: Did Weltman plan to tank the 2017-18 season in an attempt to secure the best possible draft pick next June?
The answer appears clearer now.
The signings of swingman Jonathon Simmons, point guard Shelvin Mack, swingman Arron Afflalo and center Marreese Speights indicate the Magic will attempt to win as many games as possible in the season ahead.
Weltman has fortified the team’s depth.
In that narrow sense, Weltman’s plan for the short term resembles the plan Rob Hennigan employed last summer. Hennigan added power forward Serge Ibaka, center Bismack Biyombo, combo forward Jeff Green, point guard D.J. Augustin and swingman Jodie Meeks. The Magic hoped to have enough depth to eke out close games and contend for a playoff spot.
Hennigan’s plan had many flaws, especially in hindsight, but he sought to make a playoff push in 2016-17.
Weltman also seems intent on making the short term productive. Simmons should upgrade the Magic’s defense on the wings and add athleticism. Mack should compete against Augustin for playing time as Elfrid Payton’s backup. Speights should stretch the floor with his outside shooting. And Afflalo should provide the outside shooting that Hennigan sought from Meeks.
The team could develop an above-average second unit if it jells and avoids injuries. For the Magic to contend for the final playoff spot in the East, they must rely on their bench because their projected starting five still has glaring holes.
Last year’s depth plan failed for a multitude of reasons. Augustin underwhelmed defensively. Biyombo added almost nothing on offense. Green, never a good outside shooter in the first place, regressed badly as a scorer. Meeks missed more than half the season with injuries. And the team’s attempts to play two big men simultaneously was out of step with the league’s rush toward versatile, small-ball lineups.
To be sure, the Magic still have key weaknesses. Even with Afflalo and Speights in the fold, the Magic still figure to be one of the league’s worst 3-point shooting teams and probably will still struggle to draw fouls.
There are nagging questions, too.
Where will Speights’ minutes come from with Nikola Vucevic and Biyombo already at center? Given the apparent logjam at center, will the team try to trade Biyombo? Can rookie Jonathan Isaac make a meaningful contribution at power forward at this early stage of his development? Can Mario Hezonja, who is about to enter his third season, work his way into the rotation? And can coach Frank Vogel turn the team into something more than the sum of its parts?
But thanks to several teams’ decisions to rebuild, the Magic should see a glimmer of opportunity, too.
Three Eastern Conference playoff teams have just started rebuilding projects. The Indiana Pacers traded Paul George and lost Jeff Teague in free agency. The Chicago Bulls traded Jimmy Butler. And the Atlanta Hawks lost Paul Millsap in free agency and traded Dwight Howard.
Orlando posted an 0-4 record against Indiana last season, a 1-3 record against Chicago and a 2-2 record against Atlanta.
For the Magic to make inroads in the East, they must take advantage of the Pacers’, Bulls’ and Hawks’ rebuilds. Perhaps the Magic can compile a combined winning record against those three teams.
Weltman and GM John Hammond have found solid free-agent values with their additions — additions that, in total, don’t severely erode future cap space.
Simmons will receive an average salary of just $6 million per year, and the third year of Simmons’ contract is partially guaranteed. Speights and Afflalo will sign low-risk deals — each for one year at a veteran’s minimum salary. You can make a convincing argument that the Magic overpaid Mack by signing him to a two-year deal worth a total of $12 million, but at least the second year of his deal includes just $1 million in guaranteed money.
Of course, you also can make a case that the Magic would have been better off in the long run by divesting their core group of players for future assets, not adding depth and tanking the 2017-18 season. After all, even if the team overachieves in the year ahead, the best it can reasonably hope for is to finish seventh or eighth in the East. Being in the NBA’s mediocre middle can be a dangerous place, especially for a starless team that hopes to find a franchise cornerstone in the draft.
For now, however, it appears that Weltman has found a middle ground for the season ahead: an approach that seeks modest short-term improvement without threatening the team’s future cap flexibility.