Blueprint For Rebuilding The Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic are hitting the reset button following a succession of unsuccessful moves. Here’s how they should proceed moving forward.

This coming June will mark the five-year anniversary of the partnership between the Orlando Magic and general manager Rob Hennigan. With a 21-37 record, the Magic are on course to miss the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season under Hennigan’s watch. Over this time, the Magic have posted a combined 124-262 record.

Orlando is now under its fourth head coach in five seasons with the appointment last offseason of Frank Vogel. And just last week, Hennigan jettisoned Serge Ibaka, his key acquisition of the past summer, to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for a future first round pick and forward Terrence Ross.

Despite the obvious struggles of the Magic this season, just weeks ago during a radio interview on ESPN Orlando with Scott Anez, Hennigan said among other things:

"“We’re not that far away.”"

But in making the Ibaka trade just last week, this was clearly not the case. Following his latest move, Hennigan stated:

"“As we’ve watched our team play, clearly, something’s amiss… We felt like it was necessary to shake things up somehow, some way and we’ve been active in our discussions on the trade market. When this opportunity came to the forefront, we felt like it helps our team and it was worth doing.’’"

Hennigan further noted, in reference to acquiring Ibaka just last summer and the current status of the Magic:

"“It was a calculated risk and with where we’re positioned, we’ll continue to make calculated risks if they address needs and push the team forward.’’"

So despite Hennigan earlier stating that “We’re not that far away”, this was clearly a fanciful assertion. But the trade news hasn’t ended there. This past Saturday, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that the Magic have been in talks with the Detroit Pistons. The proposal involved the Magic dealing Jeff Green and D.J. Augustin to the Pistons in exchange for point guard Reggie Jackson.

If this were to go ahead, it’d make little sense for the Magic. Green’s $15 million salary comes off the books at the end of the season, and Jackson shouldn’t be the player the Magic target as their future at the point.

With that in mind, Hennigan and his team are going to need map out how they are going to return the Magic to the postseason.