Vučević's Legacy in a Magic Uniform

[Kent]

Vooch has been our guy in the AD (After Dwight) years, as we all know, and while he hasn't been a superstar, he's been a rock and holds some impressive franchise records since he was traded here after his rookie season.

...

Currently, he's...

4th all-time in games and minutes played

2nd in made field goals (exactly 21 behind Nick Anderson)

2nd in total rebounds

9th in assists (less then 30 behind 8th-placed T-Mac)

6th in steals

4th in blocks (trailing Bo by 14 and third place)

3rd in points (behind Nick at 2 and Dwight at 1)

3rd in triple-doubles (at 2, needs one more to tie Hedo —crazy, right?)

Holds game-high in rebounds of 29 (Shaq's career-high was 28 and came while in a Magic uniform)

...

So how do you think his legacy or body of work will be remembered when it's all said and done?

The easy thing to say would be he put up great numbers over a long stretch on one team but never doing so on winning teams.

For me, he'll be considered a guy we didn't appreciate enough for the talent he had (has) and all the great things he accomplished here.

...

I suppose I'm just really stopping to appreciate him while I can and figure I'm not the only one who wants to join me.

And I am curious what your opinions are, of course.

[Ducklett]

He is one of the best human beings to have put on the uniform.

[fendilim]

He is pretty good unfortunately he doesn’t make highlights reel stuffs, so he doesn’t appear to be good.

Like the blocks stat, I’m surprised he only needs 14 more blocks to be 3rd all-time.

[RookieStar]

You guys hate me all you want but if he still resgins with us after his contract, I wouldbt mind if his jersey will bethe first to be raised up for this organization.

[MoMM]

You guys hate me all you want but if he still resgins with us after his contract, I wouldbt mind if his jersey will bethe first to be raised up for this organization.

If he gets re-signed and kind of finishes the career here he should get his jersey retired. That's a lot of accomplishes, he is a good person, loyal to the team and very skilled.

[drsd]

If he gets re-signed and kind of finishes the career here he should get his jersey retired. That's a lot of accomplishes, he is a good person, loyal to the team and very skilled.

Vučević is signed through 2022/23. If he plays 66 games per season at 30 mpg over the next three years - his career average of games per season, he will finish his current contract with:

745 games played - All time leader over Anderson
23231 minutes played - All time leader over Howard
5440 FGs made - All time leader over Anderson (he achieves this record in only approx. three more games played)
Already first in most 2 pointers made
6372 total rebounds - All time leader over Howard

He is top-10 in essentially all categories already (excerpt Its made )

....


Most games played. Most points scored. Most records. Yes he will have his Magic jersey retired if/when he plays in these 198 games over the next three years. If he were to resign from there, it would be stat-padding from the all-time lead perspectives.

For me his legacy has already been built and he is just adding to his importance as the All-time great for this team. The only deficiency in the feathers in his cap is an absences of a role in the playoffs.

..

[MagicStarwipe]

A guy that was able to stay for a long time on a bad team and rack up big total stats making him appear better than he ever was because of horrible management in the darkest era of our franchise's history. Probably not even top 10 all time talent wise. I'll never buy into the narrative the team will no doubt try sell us once his career here is over. I'm sure many will though. Good luck to them. When I hear the name Vucevic all that will come to mind is the worst era in Magic history. That's his legacy to me. If we retire his jersey but not Dwight Howard's it will cement this franchise as joke.

[Xatticus]

It's not good at this point. That can still change, I suppose, but I don't think that's very likely. I can't think of any player that has featured as prominently with one organization for so long yet whose teams enjoyed such little success on the court. It just doesn't happen. Time isn't kind to the legacies of players of Vucevic's ilk. I could rattle off a lot of names of better players on better teams that I grew up watching that many on this board wouldn't have any familiarity with. I'm sure he will enjoy some lingering popularity with the current bubble of Orlando Magic fans, but he'll otherwise be largely forgotten.

[Bensational]

I was long a Vuc hater, but over the past two seasons he has won me over with his improved play and consistency. I think he's continuing to improve as well with more confidence and experience, and I genuinely value his presence on the court now. Like all of us, I still long for the day another player can overtake him as our leader and star player, but his game is very complimentary of all players now. He will always be more valuable to us than another team, so I think he's here for the duration of his contract at least and probably still retained beyond that unless something big changes in the short term.

[drsd]

I was long a Vuc hater, but over the past two seasons he has won me over with his improved play and consistency. I think he's continuing to improve as well with more confidence and experience, and I genuinely value his presence on the court now. Like all of us, I still long for the day another player can overtake him as our leader and star player, but his game is very complimentary of all players now. He will always be more valuable to us than another team, so I think he's here for the duration of his contract at least and probably still retained beyond that unless something big changes in the short term.

Orlando needs to go to the Eastern Finals in one of the next three years to cement his legacy.

And who here does not want that ???


..

[p0peye]

Yeah, not many of us have seen that when he joined as throw-in in Dwigth trade. Looking back, we should've given Cliff chance a lot sooner instead of going Jacque Vaughn / that guy coaching Lakers now route.

[rcklsscognition]

I think a few years ago I said something along the lines of Vuc will be the greatest forgotten Orlando Magic player of all time. I think that has changed over the last couple of years because we have gotten into the playoffs and he made all-star, I think he's easily going to be remembered now. I still think his accomplishments and stats will be overlooked down the road because the team never achieved another level of success, but this guy is a franchise cornerstone and will live forever in the record books.

[Skin]

His legacy will be tied to the success/failure of this era of Magic basketball.

[MagicFan101]

I truly believe that if we had a “Kobe” type of a super alpha killer on this team people would talk about Vuc the way people look at Pau Gasol.

Sadly, Vuc has always had to be used as much more than he is.

I do hope we can find that franchise star and give Vuc one great season for his resume.

[purpleswordfish]

Personally, this far into his career, I view Vucevic as a very good player who brought some form of stability to the Magic after a period of turmoil. The Dwightmare was real for a lot of fans. We were tired of seeing the Magic placate Dwight Howard at their own expense. Howard got traded and the Magic got a lot of spare parts and picks back, but not much that actually showed on the court. I remember going to the season opener in 2012-2013 excited about Vucevic and Harkless as future prospects. Vucevic worked out, Harkless not so much.

Since then, I am certain he's had opportunities to go elsewhere - either in free agency or requesting a trade. He's always stayed and I think most Magic fans appreciate that since we are used to anyone remotely resembling a star wanting to leave - Shaq, Penny, T-Mac, Howard, etc. It also helps that he's put up solid stats every year, stayed healthy for the most part and been a part of a few playoff berths.

That's worth something, I think. I don't know that you retire someone's number for that. But, I'm probably in the minority because I always thought retiring numbers should be reserved for exceptional players that played all - or almost all - their career in that city.

[Max Power]

To me Vucevic should really be appreciated by the fan base as one of the rocks of this franchise. He’s only behind a couple guys in total time here, he’s been an all star level player pretty much the entire way. His contributions are muted due to record though and being the third best center to play here behind Shaq and Howard. But he’s been phenomenal and has practically owned Dwight since he arrived. I’d like to see the Magic flirt with contendership while Vuc is still in his prime so his legacy gets some more shine with people. I for one appreciate the world class play, loyalty and stability he’s brought.

[Kent]

A guy that was able to stay for a long time on a bad team and rack up big total stats making him appear better than he ever was because of horrible management in the darkest era of our franchise's history. Probably not even top 10 all time talent wise. I'll never buy into the narrative the team will no doubt try sell us once his career here is over. I'm sure many will though. Good luck to them. When I hear the name Vucevic all that will come to mind is the worst era in Magic history. That's his legacy to me. If we retire his jersey but not Dwight Howard's it will cement this franchise as joke.

I get what you're saying if you associate this worst era with him.

Personally I don't think we should blame Vooch for the lack of success in the last 8 years. He can only be as good as he can be. It's not his fault the team built around him didn't come close to his talent.

Vooch and T-Mac have some similarities in the sense that they were the best (healthy) players on their team but couldn't get the help they needed to advance deep in the postseason.

Obviously, T-Mac was a superstar and clearly a more impactful player. But only a handful of guys can carry a mediocre team far (LeBron and his Cavs teams come to mind).

We can't penalize Vooch for that lack of success relative to the best he could give us despite no help.

He would likely have more all-star nominations if he had another quality running mate because then we're looking at more playoff runs and voters base their decisions on that, and fairly so.

Let's face it: Vooch stood out big time in the first round this past summer and backs that last statement up.

He's done more relative to the team compared to, let's say, other leading players on underperforming teams. Frankly, no comparisons come to mind who have been on a team as long as Vooch as. But, for example, a Kevin Love or KAT for the Wolves or the brief run Lavine has had with the Bulls, with respect.

I'm also not saying he deserves a pass and should be the first to have his jersey retired.

If his number is the first to officially hang in the rafters, I wouldn't bemoan it. I think it shows respect and honor to a player who was the team's best over a long stretch of time and showed loyalty for the first time.

We can look at guys like Jameer and Nick who logged the numbers over the years and had the loyalty, but they weren't as valuable to the team as Nik has been.

For me, it's not about whether his jersey is retired or he's recognized in the same breath as Dwight and Shaq.

It's more about giving him the credit and appreciation for his commitment and contribution to a franchise that hasn't had much of those things in the last almost 10 years.

[MagicStarwipe]

A guy that was able to stay for a long time on a bad team and rack up big total stats making him appear better than he ever was because of horrible management in the darkest era of our franchise's history. Probably not even top 10 all time talent wise. I'll never buy into the narrative the team will no doubt try sell us once his career here is over. I'm sure many will though. Good luck to them. When I hear the name Vucevic all that will come to mind is the worst era in Magic history. That's his legacy to me. If we retire his jersey but not Dwight Howard's it will cement this franchise as joke.

I get what you're saying if you associate this worst era with him.

Personally I don't think we should blame Vooch for the lack of success in the last 8 years. He can only be as good as he can be. It's not his fault the team built around him didn't come close to his talent.

Vooch and T-Mac have some similarities in the sense that they were the best (healthy) players on their team but couldn't get the help they needed to advance deep in the postseason.

Obviously, T-Mac was a superstar and clearly a more impactful player. But only a handful of guys can carry a mediocre team far (LeBron and his Cavs teams come to mind).

We can't penalize Vooch for that lack of success relative to the best he could give us despite no help.

He would likely have more all-star nominations if he had another quality running mate because then we're looking at more playoff runs and voters base their decisions on that, and fairly so.

Let's face it: Vooch stood out big time in the first round this past summer and backs that last statement up.

He's done more relative to the team compared to, let's say, other leading players on underperforming teams. Frankly, no comparisons come to mind who have been on a team as long as Vooch as. But, for example, a Kevin Love or KAT for the Wolves or the brief run Lavine has had with the Bulls, with respect.

I'm also not saying he deserves a pass and should be the first to have his jersey retired.

If his number is the first to officially hang in the rafters, I wouldn't bemoan it. I think it shows respect and honor to a player who was the team's best over a long stretch of time and showed loyalty for the first time.

We can look at guys like Jameer and Nick who logged the numbers over the years and had the loyalty, but they weren't as valuable to the team as Nik has been.

For me, it's not about whether his jersey is retired or he's recognized in the same breath as Dwight and Shaq.

It's more about giving him the credit and appreciation for his commitment and contribution to a franchise that hasn't had much of those things in the last almost 10 years.

I don't blame Vuc, I blame the front office and ownership. But I'm not going to pretend that Vuc was better than he was. He should have never been gifted as big a role on as bad a team for so many years. It's a failure of the front office that he was.

The Clifford era seems to have softened many people here's views of him, but to me he's had one good season... in a season that we just dipped above .500 and then got demolished in the first round of the playoffs where he was dominated. The next season he was up and down and finished decently in a season where the team was pretty bad but was able to make the playoffs because the east was so bad that year. The years before that he was simply putting up inefficient numbers on a bad team.

You mention Jameer and Nick, but both were better players than Vuc. If they were gifted leading men role's on teams bereft of talent for a decade they would have put up better numbers too. Jameer made the all-star team in a season where we made the Finals playing on a team with talents like Dwight, Hedo and Rashard. Nick was able to put up a 50 point game and would have been a 20 ppg scorer with better defense in Vuc's role. The team wouldn't have had much success but they would have put up numbers too.

[shadrock]

You guys hate me all you want but if he still resgins with us after his contract, I wouldbt mind if his jersey will bethe first to be raised up for this organization.

That would be the most Magic thing ever. Celebrating mediocrity. Being a nice guy means more than winning around here.

[RookieStar]

You guys hate me all you want but if he still resgins with us after his contract, I wouldbt mind if his jersey will bethe first to be raised up for this organization.

That would be the most Magic thing ever. Celebrating mediocrity. Being a nice guy means more than winning around here.

With how our past 3 superstars acted against our team ( Shaq, Tmac and Dwight ) I wouldn't be surprised if they value loyalty.