Orlando used the 4th pick in the draft on Aaron Gordon (PF from Arizona) and flipped the #12 pick and a coupla future picks for #10 Elfrid Payton (PG from Louisiana-Lafayette). The Magic chose to skip on PG Dante Exum which allowed them to get a rangy power forward to add to the youth movement in the front line...and get fleeced by the Sixers...and still get a top flight PG prospect in Payton. Indeed with Exum's PG skills in question they were probably better off getting a legit PG instead of another project for the back court. A draft day trade also netted them the #56 pick, Roy Devin Marble (SF from Iowa).
The front court has a load of interesting young talent that is now deeper and younger with the addition of Gordon. The free agent signing of Channing Frye, an under appreciated stretch-4, gives them a veteran presence to mold the youth movement. I thought it was a weird signing at first but the more I think about it the more I like it: Frye does the little things without hogging attention from the rest of the squad and it's a declining contract. They'll go into the season with a front court of Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless, Andrew Nicholson, Kyle O'Quinn to go with Frye, Gordon, Marble and Dwayne Dedmon. Unpredictable but promising.
Two other free agent signings still make no sense to me: Ben Gordon and Luke Ridnour. I'm usually more measured in my pronouncements but these guys are horrible. I always thought Gordon was overrated in his prime and that was several seasons ago; Ridnour moves well but his surprising athleticism hides the fact that he's actually a step behind the game on the court, hardly the veteran leadership you'd want from a free agent pickup. I guess the Magic see them as reasonably priced, non-threatening veterans to sheepdog the youth movement. In the case of Frye, I get it, in the case of Gordon and Ridnour, I don't. They also brought Evan Fournier in a trade, a young SG who had some nice moments for France in the FIBA World Cup, and picked up Peyton Siva for 1 unguaranteed year after he was cast off by Stan Van in Detroit. That gives them a back court of Payton, Oladipo, Fournier, Gordon, Ridnour and Siva. Again: unpredictable but promising.
Check out the guys that are already gone from last year: Big Baby Davis, Aron Aflalo, Jameer Nelson, Jason Maxiell, Solomon Jones, Doron Lamb, E'Twaun Moore. The sheep has been sheared to a few layers of intriguing young talent: Oladipo, Payton, Aaron Gordon and Frye are built to be the core going forward; we can already assume that Ridnour, Siva and Ben Gordon won't be back next year; Vucevic, Harris and O'Quinn did not get their long term extensions this off-season leaving them to audition for long term deals; and Harkless, Nicholson and Fournier are playing for their options to be picked up next summer. The roster is designed to make for a lot of hungry players looking for their next deal. Who will get to stay in the NBA and who will be joining Michael Beasley in China?
My guess is this team will be uneven all season long and be bottom feeders in the East but that may be unimaginative on my part. There are a lot of talented, hungry players here and some of them will have fine seasons (at least, you'd like to think so). I don't have any idea which will be the good ones and who will be the also-rans and how much of the development of Oladipo and Payton will matter to the rest of the the players. Also (a la the Sixers), how much of the core going forward will be judged by the team's record? Does the Magic management value wins or are there other value metrics that interest them? Are these guys free to pile up stats and highlights with little pressure to win or is a playoff appearance a necessity? I dunno. At best they could be in the hunt for a playoff spot, at worst they could be getting fleeced by the Sixers again next year. Either way, I'm betting that the Magic will be fun to watch this year, a regular on my League Pass.
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