Orlando Magic: 3 big questions heading into 2018-19 NBA season
By Luke Duffy
The Orlando Magic find themselves trying to continue their road to redemption in 2018-19. Here are the three big questions they have to answer this coming year.
Whisper it quietly, but the Orlando Magic have put together back-to-back summers in which they have dragged themselves from an aimless existence and back on the long path to contention.
This began with the firing of incompetent general manager Rob Hennigan, who got them into much of the mess that they found themselves in to begin with. This was followed up with the hiring of two guys in John Hammond and Jeff Weltman to bring stability to their front office.
On top of that, the Magic’s lottery picks in 2017 and 2018 were used on two players in Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba, respectively, who have the kind of potential to thrive in the league as we know it today.
Orlando’s most likely player to be their next All-Star, Aaron Gordon, was also re-signed to a four-year extension, bringing added stability. Even the veterans added last summer in Jonathon Simmons and Marreese Speights, although underwhelming at times, were safe and smart choices.
Despite all of this, and though the Magic deserve more credit for taking the franchise out of the tailspin it was in, there is still much work to be done. That will continue into 2018-19, when they will be hoping to put a few more people on notice as to what they can become one day.
Success won’t happen overnight here (or even by the end of the decade), but these are the three most pressing questions for Orlando this season — ones that we will look back on as defining their 2018-19 campaign.