How The Orlando Magic Finally Became “Not Bad”

How The Orlando Magic Finally Became “Not Bad”

[Applause] with the first pick in the 2022 NBA draft the Orlando Magic select Paulo banero from Duke University the Orlando Magic select fron Vagner from Berlin Germany Jaylen Suggs from Cole Anthony Anthony black jet Howard from the University of Michigan when I think of the history of the

Orlando Magic I think of three distinct eras the Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway era in the early to mid 1990s the magic were a new expansion team and Shaq became the first superstar in franchise history he also became the first player ever to get his jersey

Retired by the magic though this era was short-lived as Shaq left after 4 years it was probably the most iconic and recognizable period that put this team on the map next I think of the Tracy McGrady era even though they never won more than 44 games and always sat near the bottom

Of the playoff standings T-Mac was such a popular influential Superstar and fans across the globe only watched Orlando games to see him it was an ERA marred by injuries and poor management and just like Shaq T-Mac left after four seasons that brings us to the third era the

Dwight Howard ERA this was the first time the magic saw prolonged consistent high levels of success led by a franchise player who actually seemed like he wanted to stay well at least for a longer time than their two previous Stars after that I guess you could say

It was the Aaron Gordon and Nicola vuich era which uh I don’t really consider this a major period in their history since it was quite forgettable but this era shaped the foundation for their current success how’s it going folks my name’s Andy and in this video let’s take

A look at how the Orlando Magic after years upon years of uncertainty during their rebuilding phase have finally become a team with a clear identity and Direction starting in 2012 the last season that Dwight Howard was here up until 2023 the Orlando Magic only had one season with a winning record that

Would be the 2018 to9 season where they went 42 and 40 just barely a winning record this is what that roster looked like with the exception of Jonathan Isaac no other player from that roster is still on the team today looking back it was a strange group of guys a team

That wasn’t particularly strong in any specific skill V was kind of their franchise player but not really he developed into their best player but I wouldn’t say the magic tried to build around him then you had a young Aaron Gordon who was still finding his way he

Played a lot differently prior to the Nuggets they attempted to turn him into the star of this team but it wasn’t really working Evan forier was the same way then you had a bunch of young role players many of whom are already out of the NBA this so-called big three lasted for

Several years up until the 2021 trade deadline at this point the magic finally realized okay this isn’t working we’ve tried waiting we’ve tried building around these guys and it’s not working it led to the most glorious blowup I’ve ever seen at that deadline they traded away their entire core within the span

Of 2 days I’ve never seen a team be that decisive in blowing up a roster and people jokingly called it the magic fire sale despite all the underwhelming years this Trio provided the franchise and amidst all the poor draft selections that never panned out one good thing

Came out of it it made the organization realize they needed to stop this experiment and move in a different direction by sending their three main guys to three different teams they managed to get enough back in return to Kickstart the beginning of a new era it wasn’t just the trades though they

Overhauled several higher positions in the organization coach Steve Clifford parted ways replaced by firsttime head coach but longtime assistant and Player Development specialist Jamal Mosley Jeff welman replaced Rob henan as the new team president welman was previously with the Raptors and helped turned their franchise around too they even hired a

New GM Anthony Parker with all these changes the most important part is the magic showed a willingness to improve and seeing them make all these changes it’s a great start now what exactly did they get back in those trades that helped them rebuild they didn’t get much back for trading

Away Evan forier or Aaron Gordon which is unfortunate forier was basically a salary dump and Gordon was kind of one as well they got back longtime nugget Gary Harris along with Denver’s protected 2025 first round pick which I don’t think will be worth much Harris had a a

Good couple years but he’s not a focal point of this team anymore however they hit the jackpot with Nicola vuvi they got a great package in return for him and saying it was a great package is underselling it you would think the magic traded away a generational Talent he fetched more than most

Superstars it was initially seen as a deal centered around Wendell Carter Jr that’s who the magic wanted but it was the future draft picks that turned out to be gem in particular the 2021 first round pick they got back which turned out to be the eighth pick of the draft France

Vagner along with poo banero who got drafted the year after these two 6’10 forwards launched the Orlando Magic into a brand new era tall skilled beats small skilled all the time now you know small skill beats tall stiff all the time but I mean there’s just no way like I I I honestly

Watch you know your Golden State series I said I would love to have Draymond Green gy I don’t care how many threes what he was doing I’m just like there just no way that guy he couldn’t grow enough to guard me I mean you know you’ll be hearing from him tomorrow yeah

Exactly yeah Draymond couldn’t draw enough young man I can guarantee you this small skild beats Big Stiff but big skild beats small skilled every time that was a quote said by Kevin mcale during a Roundtable among various NBA coaches the thing is at the time he

Said this it was during a period where smaller guys were dominating in particular the early to mid 2010s where it seems like there were such few dominant big men and the league was taken over by guards people back then theorized that in the future the most dominant teams in the NBA would have

Several guys who are 6’9 and 6′ 10 who can run shoot dribble Drive create plays and finish plays basically got who can do everything at that height the Orlando Magic is a great example of this Theory coming to reality very early on the organization recognized the talent and skills of

These two guys banaro was more of a Surefire Prospect everyone knew who he was prior to coming to the NBA he was the number one pick after all Vagner was not as known but he developed much quicker than we thought when you watch these two guys play together they’re so versatile they’re

Both very good at so many aspects of the game you would be hardpressed to find any major weaknesses for either of these guys and you compact all of their skills into the body of a 6’10 forward it’s a nightmare matchup for any opponent this is what people around the

League warned us about a team who can utilize multiple skilled big men to their fullest potential it takes more than just pure talent to become a winning team however Jeff welman and the executives did a phenomenal job to draft High character high IQ players and each one

Of these guys in this locker room has won at some level that is important to our culture I think when you can understand winning you know what you’re asked to do whether you were the guy that scored 40 on your college team or high school team but you also knew what winning

Took Jamal Mosley’s coaching style is unorthodox to put it lightly right when he took over after the departure of Steve Clifford the Orlando Magic went from being near the bottom of the league in defense to a respectable defensive team hovering around the middle of the pack for a couple of years

Before rising to a top three defense the best two words to describe the Magic’s defense are aggressive and desperate I know it sounds cliche but it really is like that they defend every position like it’s the fourth quarter it’s their style of defense that stands out they’re way more willing to Blitz

The pick and roll with their bigs they do it frequently especially when they’re facing an All-Star caliber guard like Damen Lillard here for example their bigs come out pretty far to try and Hound them force them to pass it this type of defense is it’s a high-risk High reward type of play style

However when you have a team that’s so long players who are so athletic and can quickly switch and recover it makes this type of Defense less risky and more rewarding the magic have also implemented way more ball denial than most other teams not just to prevent

Them from getting the ball but to limit the options for the opposing guards to pass to normally it’s risky to play this way but the magic have the Personnel to pull it off they are the fourth youngest team after all with a roster that’s built to play this

Way from top to bottom they got highly intelligent players who communicates very well that’s what coach Mosley emphasized right when he got here communication it’s the key to success all of their players move switch and slide in one cohesive unit it’s like they’re moving on a string what makes or breaks a rebuilding

Team is usually determined by what kind of players they get in the draft for the magic under Mosley they’ve developed this defensive identity and and their goal in every draft is to find guys who fit into this identity and hopefully they’ll complement their two main stars

As well in the 20123 draft with two picks in the lottery they drafted Anthony black and Jet Howard what these two guys have in common is they’re both big guards they fit into the play style the magic want to play and both of them were considered good defensive players in

College the magic also needed an actual point guard and that’s why they took Anthony black for a while they tried the whole jayen Suggs experiment at point guard but that wasn’t working jet Howard was drafted purely for his shooting ability the dude projects to be a sniper so he would

Definitely help with the magic spacing issues over the years heck over the decades the magic have hit on some great picks in the lottery but they’ve had way more misses than they’d like Mario honia Jonathan Isaac Mo Bomba yeah those were rough ever since the new management took

Over they’ve been way more decisive at drafting and their plan is finally coming to fruition though not everything is perfect despite their progress there are plenty of obstacles that the magic have yet to find a solution to I mentioned earlier about their point guard problem p banero and France Vagner lead this

Team in assists which I guess it makes sense because they have the ball in their hand so often but you can’t expect these guys to carry all of that burden on their shoulders they’ve used banaro a lot as the primary ball handler to varying degrees of success the team

Averages 15 turnovers a game the sixth most in the NBA along with being bottom five in both three-point attempts and three-point percentage it’s the domino effect the lack of spacing and reliable Shooters have caused the magic to have one of the worst pick and roll games

Among all teams the pick and roll ball handlers average just 0.81 points per possession an effective field goal percentage of just 43% they need a true point guard who can set them up to get easier baskets instead of relying on them to create every points the Magic’s purpose of

Drafting Suggs and black was for this reason to alleviate the pressure off their two main guys but you know it’s still a work in progress Cole Anthony used to be the starting point guard but he’s been coming off the bench honestly Orlando has drafted a lot of point guards in

Recent years and all of them are a bit dicey at least they recognize their weakness and they’re trying to find the right guy at the end of the day the Orlando Magic have rebuilt their team the right way they spent years waiting for their old core to take that leap but it just

Never happened they realized this and blew it up in a single trade deadline which is nice you you never want to remain mediocre and keep running into a brick wall like so many other teams have done with the assets they got back and some Lottery luck thrown in it all

Kickstarted their rebuild we’ve arrived at a new era the banero Vagner era and this time perhaps they could build something special thank you all so much for watching I hope you all enjoyed the video and of course as always I’ll see you next time peace

The Orlando Magic have a decorated history, but ever since the departure of Dwight Howard…they’ve had a rough time becoming relevant again. Now, I think they’ve finally made the leap. Hope you enjoy!

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