With another season drifting aimlessly along, have the Orlando Magic become an NBA purgatory for players who end up there?
This may be a negative take on things, but in some ways the Orlando Magic have the least optimistic outlook of all teams in the NBA.
A season that promised so much sees them with a record of 12-17 and their absolute best-case scenario would be a first-round exit from the playoffs.
This despite adding a proven head coach in Frank Vogel along with Serge Ibaka, a host of veterans and re-signing Evan Fournier.
The team also added Bismack Biyombo through free agency and alongside fellow center Nikola Vucevic, the Magic should in theory have two starting-caliber big men on their roster.
Only it hasn’t quite worked out like that, with the pieces failing to gel together so far.
What makes this situation even more bleak is the fact that Ibaka can leave as an unrestricted free agent next summer too.
Dec 10, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Will Barton (5) drives past Orlando Magic forward Serge Ibaka (7) during the second half of an NBA basketball game at Amway Center. The Nuggets won 121-113. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
It’s something he should seriously consider, as a look at some of the other players to leave the Magic in the last couple of years shows us that the grass is usually greener for them elsewhere.
Which leads us to the question, is playing for the Orlando Magic the equivalent of basketball purgatory for a player’s career? If so, exactly how and when can that change?
Before looking at some case studies, it’s important to look at why the Magic may have the worst outlook of all teams in the league today, as outlined above.
If we take all of the teams that did not make the playoffs last season, we can easily see at least one reason why each has reason to believe they are trending in the right direction.
East
West
In comparison, while the Magic have their own draft picks, a lot hinges on Ibaka’s decision, as well as the worryingly slow development of Elfrid Payton.
Next we need to examine the types of players who have played for the Magic in recent seasons, and how they’ve played once leaving the team.
Victor Oladipo, the second pick in the 2013 NBA draft, is the best place to start. Heralded as the player who could help turn their fortunes around, he was gone before his rookie deal ended.
His numbers with the Oklahoma City Thunder aren’t much better than they were in Orlando, but the 38 percent he’s shooting from long range is by far a career high.
My boy @VicOladipo Euro-Stepping all over James Harden. Let's go @okcthunder #ThunderUp
— Aaron Andrews (@Barphalemew) December 10, 2016
It’s hard to stand out when you play next to the human wrecking ball that is Russell Westbrook, but a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 13.7 (ties career low) and defensive plus/minus of -1.1 (career low) are a concern.
He’s been fine for the Thunder, occasionally going off but mostly just staying in his lane. He’s a nice complimentary player alongside an alpha like Westbrook.
This is essentially what he was in Orlando, even though they needed him to be much, much more. So we can chalk this one up to team expecting too much from a player (but also using their draft pick badly), a kind of purgatory of it’s own.
Next up is Tobias Harris, the most puzzling move of all. The Magic received Ersan Ilyasova (gone) and Brandon Jennings (gone) in exchange for him from the Detroit Pistons when they let him go last year.
In Detroit, he has settled well and is posting career highs in free throw percentage (89.3 percent), effective field goal percentage (51.8 percent) and field goal attempts (13.2).
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With this uptick in shot taking, his 15.9 points per game is above his career average of 13.4. He is the player the Pistons hoped he would be, slotting in seamlessly as a starter there.
Perhaps the worst part about that move from the Magic’s perspective is how well Harris could have benefited from being coached by Vogel (who helped turn Paul George into a star).
Harris was drifting in Orlando, but he has a clearly defined role with his new team, and this has helped him play more consistently. There is surely more to come from his as well.
Turning to the previous veterans of the team, Channing Frye (a cousin of Harris) was a stalwart for the Magic for a while.
He was their leader and played accordingly. On a number of occasions I felt sorry for him being left on this team though.
Here was a guy who came back from a heart condition which forced him to miss the 2012-13 season, and he was left trying to get this team going.
I was delighted to see him join the Cleveland Cavaliers and win a championship and despite playing alongside three All-Stars, his numbers haven’t dipped.
If anything, he’s become extremely effective with his playing time (his 17 minutes a night is right in line with his averages in Orlando).
This season he has a ridiculous effective field goal percentage of 60 percent and he’s averaging 9.6 points a night (highest mark since before arriving with the Magic, higher than career average of 9.2).
He’s the perfect floor-spacing big for the Cavaliers and his 47 percent three-point shooting (on 4.7 attempts a night) is remarkable.
May 27, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) celebrates the win with Cleveland Cavaliers forward Channing Frye (9) at the end of game six of the Eastern conference finals of the NBA Playoffs against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. The Cleveland Cavaliers won 113-87. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Frye also boasts a win share of .169 (career high), offensive plus/minus of 2.9 (career high) and PER of 17.7 (career high).
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While Harris, and to a lesser extent Oladipo, have had some success away from the Magic, Frye is a real success story.
Two of the role players who have gone on to better things since leaving the team are big men Kyle O’Quinn and Dewayne Dedmon.
O’Quinn we’ve covered in detail here and he’s got a strong case to be the full-time starter for the New York Knicks.
Dedmon is a curious case. Although Magic fans loved his hustle, he was never given much of a chance to shine.
He’s seeing more time now (14.8 minutes per game) than he did in Orlando, which is especially interesting when you consider his current employers, the San Antonio Spurs, have LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol on hand as well.
With three last night, Dewayne Dedmon has a team-high 12 of the #Spurs' 20 alley-oop dunks this season, per the club. He ranks 9th in NBA.
— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) December 16, 2016
His numbers aren’t particularly impressive, but he’s averaging career highs in points, rebounds, effective field goal percentage and defensive plus/minus (3.3).
In actual fact, he’s doing a serviceable (and some would say better) impression of Biyombo, the player the Magic signed to a four-year, $72 million deal during the offseason.
Dedmon was the odd man out to allow Biyombo to come into the fold and while the former Toronto Raptors player has struggled since coming to Orlando, Dedmon is flourishing in his small, yet defined, role.
Which all points to the same, sad reality. It doesn’t matter if the Orlando Magic draft a player, (Oladipo), trade for them (Harris) or stumble upon them (Dedmon), each has failed to live up to expectations or else has surpassed them with their next team.
It’s not just about skill level, however, as each of those players was better suited to the new role on their new team.
How would guys like Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon fare if they were to switch organizations? Recent history would suggest well and when combined with the fortunes of every other team in the league, it makes for pretty tough reading.
Welcome to Orlando, the home of the NBA player’s career purgatory. Get out as soon as you can.
