Speaking today to reporters following an eventful trade deadline, Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said that he believed the team could be a top-four seed in the East entering the season.
That may sound bullish, but considering the 22-21 Hornets currently rank fourth in the conference, it certainly wouldn’t have been out of the question. However, after a 6-2 start, injuries decimated Orlando’s roster, ultimately forcing a change of direction (Twitter link via Keith Smith of RealGM).
As Weltman explained today, the Magic still considered trying to make win-now moves to improve this year’s roster, but when they realized that there would be more buyers than sellers, that helped guide their direction (Twitter links via Smith). The club also had to come to terms with the fact that it didn’t have a championship-level roster and had no clear path to get there with the existing core, Smith tweets.
Orlando ended up moving Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier, and Aaron Gordon in three separate deals on Thursday. Without those veterans on the roster, the 15-29 Magic, who already have the fourth-worst record in the NBA, are in position to nab a high pick in the 2021 NBA draft, which Weltman acknowledged.
“You win with stars in this league. We’re in position to add talent through the draft” he said, per Smith (Twitter link). “We’re not focusing on that too much because it’s not something we have full control over. But we’re in a good position for this year’s draft.”
Here’s more from Weltman on the Magic:
- According to Weltman, the Nuggets were initially hesitant to include R.J. Hampton in their offer for Gordon, but those talks gained traction once Denver relented (Twitter link via Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel). “I can’t tell you how excited we are about him,” Weltman said, adding that he believes Hampton can play alongside Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony (Twitter link via Smith).
- Asked if he felt the Magic got a strong enough return for Vucevic, Weltman replied, “Obviously we thought we got enough, because we did the deal.” He also pointed out that the Magic were on the receiving end of the only three first-round picks that changed hands on Thursday, and said the team has received “glowing reports” on Wendell Carter (Twitter links via Smith).
- Although the Magic valued Fournier’s Bird rights, they felt as if it didn’t make sense to trade Vucevic and Gordon while hanging onto Fournier, and decided to take the best offer available, per Weltman (Twitter link via Smith).
Magic are on restart mode
It hurts Wolves and Rockets chances to target Top draft picks
Why didn’t the following teams upgrade the roster this week？
Wizards
Cavs
Kings
Magic
Rockets
Pistons
Thunder
They compete for something
Bamba – Bust
Isaac – Bust
Fultz via PHL – Bust (The pick the sent was Maxey and he looks better)
Anthony – Road to bustville
Hey it’s not a perfect science, look in the mirror sir.
Almost all of the process pieces have turned into something valued.
Embiid and Simmons are studs.
MCW Noel (via Muscala) and Shamet led to Tobias Harris
Fultz led to Maxey
Saric led to Butler which led to Seth Curry
They have turned some garbage into gold with every lottery pick. 2 All Stars and 1 should be All Star. A 40% 3pt shooter, and a high ceiling combo guard.
Magic haven’t turned their picks into much of anything other than Aaron Gordon being okay.
Wait til the realize how bad carter is, he makes 1 mistake in a game and has to be sat for the rest of the game and the following game he’s so weak minded, that trade was about the picks no doubt but those glowing reports they received are wrong
Issac is certainly NOT a bust. Jury is out on Bamba. The other two, yes, but the trade of the pick for Fultz was well before the teams knew it would even vest.
Philly only hit with top 3 picks (Embid and Simmons) which few teams get. They also blew a top 1 (Fultz) and a top 3 (Okafor) and a top 6 (Noel), which arguably makes them the worst drafting team of the past 20 years.
Bamba is a bust, so far, can change if he gets his act together.
Isaac is a bust, totally, no way back there.
Fultz not a bust, is a good player, maybe he hasn’t lived up to the #1 pick, but has been injured, so far he is good, no way he can be considered a bust right now.
Anthony not a bust, are you kidding me? He was been one of the best rookies so far when he got injured, IMO a 1st All-Rookie team, so if that for a guy taken in the middle of the first round is a bust… SMH!
The busts caused the decent ones to be traded out eventually for the tank.
Glowing reports on Wendell? Not from the medical staff that’s for sure.
LOL
Carter just is a bit small for a center
If he stays within his skillset he is ok
Stop him from shooting 3s and give him the greenlight on open midrange tell him to focus on rebounding and you have a serviceable backup. Come to think of it, if you combined him and Gafford, you would have a very good traditional center.