The Orlando Magic are an unattractive franchise. They have a star who doesn’t want to play for them. They had (until recently) a General Manager who consistently collected half-talents and retread ex-stars, signing them to deals for more money than they were worth. (Quick poll: would you rather pair Dwight Howard with three borderline bench players like J.J. Reddick, Glenn Davis, and Jason Richardson or one max-salary all-star caliber player? If you are Otis Smith you want the three borderline bench guys rather than a star. That’s why Otis Smith isn’t a General Manager anymore.) They have never been good enough to really be considered title contenders but they’ve always been good enough to ensure they won’t have any young superstar talent fall in their lap via the draft. And make no mistake, with Otis Smith at the helm it would have taken the talent falling in their lap (as Howard did) for true transcendent talent to have landed in Orlando.
Howard will be gone by the end of next year. This is almost undeniably true. Smith and Magic ownership begged, groveled, prayed that Howard wouldn’t ruin the team by leaving in free agency only to overlook the fact that Howard’s waffling and hijacking of the season had already ruined whatever was left of the team after Smith’s terrible moves. Further, the teams that Howard wants to go to are all devoid of any game changing young talent to give back to Orlando. This means Orlando will either have to take back (1) middling talent (Brook Lopez and change, etc.), (2) Andrew Bynum, or (3) just let Howard go. I suppose taking two years of Bynum wouldn’t be a terrible idea, but at the same time, doesn’t it just seem like it won’t work out? Bynum’s youth and talent are intriguing but I don’t see him leading a franchise anytime soon.
Orlando may yet still have a trick up its sleeve and stay semi-relevant. Maybe newly minted 30 year old General Manager Rob Hennigan will know just what to say to make Howard stay. Maybe he’ll know just what to say to other teams to regain some of the leverage Orlando lost by not trading Howard earlier. Maybe a “player friendly” coach will get introduced into the mix and will be the kind of pacifier that Howard has been waiting for. I suppose a call to the Los Angeles Clippers to discuss Blake Griffin plus other pieces is worthwhile but something tells me that with Howard’s recent back surgery Donald Sterling is more likely to rent a clean, safe, low-rent apartment to a family in need than give up on his worldwide media darling/meal ticket Griffin for the chance at a few more wins with Howard.
In the meantime, there is a draft to think of. If I were Orlando I would not look at “need position” and would draft the best player available at pick 19. No one you have beyond Howard is so talented and essential to the team that he should have an unchallenged starting spot. Even though the power forward position is fairly crowded in Orlando, Terrence Jones is the right pick. Jones is an athletic, inside-outside forward whose statistics suffered in his sophomore campaign because of the presence of presumed #1 pick Anthony Davis and presumed Top 3 pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Some see this as a sign that Jones is nothing but a complimentary player. I see it as evidence he can work and adapt his skills to fit what his team needs. There were times this past NCAA season where Jones was the best player on the floor for Kentucky. Without him they would not likely have won an NCAA championship. Orlando should stockpile talent wherever they can, because there’s no point in picking positional need when the center (no pun intended) of your team’s universe, the player that all other pieces were built around, is likely out the door in the coming year. Think of Howard’s departure as Orlando’s own personal impending fiery apocalypse. Orlando shouldn’t spend their savings putting window treatments on a house that’s about to burn to the ground. They should get in their emergency shelter and bring with them anything they can get their hands on that will help best when all hell breaks loose. Jones at 19 would be a decent start.
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