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Orlando Magic: 3 goals for the 2019 offseason

By Luke Duffy

CLEVELAND, OHIO - MARCH 03: Aaron Gordon #00 Evan Fournier #10 Nikola Vucevic #9 and Terrence Ross #31 all listen to head coach Steve Clifford of the Orlando Magic during the final minutes of the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena on March 03, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers defeated the Magic 107-93. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - MARCH 03: Aaron Gordon #00 Evan Fournier #10 Nikola Vucevic #9 and Terrence Ross #31 all listen to head coach Steve Clifford of the Orlando Magic during the final minutes of the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena on March 03, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers defeated the Magic 107-93. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /

2. Continue trusting their youth

Now that the Magic have some sort of a core in place, as opposed to a random collection of players in previous years making up their roster, the temptation to go out and dramatically upgrade exists — either through overpaying for a big name to come to town, or by trading some of the young talent they have amassed to get some kind of star.

Doing this would be foolish, however, and would skip some of the valuable steps that all contending teams go through in order to get close to the top. Right now, the four young core guys of Isaac, Bamba, Gordon and Fultz have given the organization no reason to doubt that they can take the team to the second round and beyond.

Gordon was the standout player for the Magic in their first round loss to the Toronto Raptors, while Isaac showed real growth in year two of his career. Bamba’s rookie campaign was cut short due to injury, and although he is undoubtedly raw, there was actually a lot to like if you do some digging on his play.

Fultz has yet to suit up and play, so it would be silly to pass any kind of judgement on how good he can be in Orlando. On paper, this is such a promising young group with their best days ahead of them. Doubling down on that this summer is what the Magic should be doing to improve from within next season.

Gordon and Isaac should be starters, while Bamba may still back up Vucevic if he is brought back on a team-friendly deal. This can work for a couple more years though, with Vucevic’s prime coinciding with the rest of the young players around him getting better before he likely moves on to another team.

Fultz may not start the campaign, but at 32 years old, D.J. Augustin isn’t going to hold down the starting spot forever — even if he did just turn in arguably the best season of his career. Fans would love to see flashy big names added this summer, but the time for that will come. Instead, getting the young guys back into the gym, and soon, is huge in order to to ensure next year is even better.

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