Orlando Magic: Can Aaron Gordon become an All-Star in 2018-19?
By Chris Murch
Fresh off of signing a four-year, $84 million deal, Aaron Gordon has become the face of the new look Orlando Magic. Can he make the jump this year into being an Eastern Conference All-Star?
The Orlando Magic have been a rudderless afterthought since Dwight Howard’s exit in 2012. It’s a brutal truth, but a truth nonetheless. Since 2012-13, the Magic have not been top-20 team in offensive rating, have never been in the top half in defensive rating, have not won more than 35 games and have not had a player average more than 20 points per game.
They have also consistently ranked in the bottom five for nationally televised games, including a low point in 2016-17 and 2017-18 when they did indeed rank dead last with four each. They also saw a 25 percent decrease in local TV ratings in 2017-18 after already dropping another 25 percent the year before. In 2016-17, they had the NBA’s third-worst local TV ratings and last year they had the second-worst, just edging the Brooklyn Nets.
Why do I bring all of this up? To emphasize how the lack of consistent star power has affected this team both on and off the court. The Magic haven’t had a go-to guy in so long that it’s easy to forget guys like Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris and Moe Harkless once played for the Magic. They basically gave up on these players early in their careers for no reason other than a lack of vision or direction.
All of this can be put in the past soon, however. I don’t think the Magic’s future has looked brighter since Howard’s departure than it does right now. With the continued development of 2017 lottery pick Jonathan Isaac, the drafting of human giant Mohamed Bamba and other young talent like Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross, the Magic have some promise.
The brightest light in sunny Orlando, however, comes at the power forward position with the 22-year-old, newly $84 million richer Aaron Gordon. Coming off a career season where he averaged a career high in basically every offensive statistical category, AG finally made the jump necessary for the Magic to put some trust (and some cash) in him.
Now the real question is, can Aaron Gordon go from good to great? Can he become an All-Star, and the star that the Magic have craved since Howard’s departure?