RealGM

Hi everybody

I'm taking a course in the university about solving problems in uncertain scenarios. These year's capstone project puts us in the role of a NBA team GM. Every student group has to deal with a different team, and the goddess of fortune has gifted us with Orlando Magic, which, by the way, is out teacher's favourite, which puts us under extra pressure. Although we love this game and this team, we're no NBA experts, so we are struggling with many sources of information to get as many insights as possible.

The first part of the research, is to identify the franchise's problems, and for us it is fundamental to understand what do the fans feel about the team:
- Do you think which has been the franchise's main problem during the last years? Lack of money? A lack of consistent project? Excessive player/coach rotation? Or just maybe the bottom part of a cycle waiting for draft opportunities?
- Are you satisfied with the team owners? Do you think that DeVos family is really committed about the future of the franchise? Is the franchise capable of retaining talent with appealing salaries?
- Has the franchise lost interes in the communityt? Or does the fan base remain strong?

The second part is to define some clear goals and the strategy to achieve them. Again it is interesting to evaluate the fan's point of view:
- As fans, what do you consider that should be the goal? Reaching play-offs consistently? Maybe fighting for a ring in a near future?
- What should you change if you were in the role of Anthony Parker?
- Do you think that it is feasible to build a long-lasting team around our talented young assets (Banchero, Franz, Black..)?
- What kind of player needs this team to be well-balanced?

Every comment, idea or reference to other places will be very welcome. Thank you in advance!

insert chatGPT

do you think which has been the franchise's main problem during the last years? Lack of money? A lack of consistent project? Excessive player/coach rotation? Or just maybe the bottom part of a cycle waiting for draft opportunities?

A combination of being a small market team that no big name free agents are running to, since the last 10 years has been nothing but every major free agent wanting to join a super team, has really hurt small markets like us.

It also doesnt help we got unlucky/made some terrible decisions in a few drafts. We were mocked the entire year to draft Trae Young, and ended up with Mo bomba who did nothing for us, literally didn't even net us a player. We traded Damontas as a throw in, who is a perennial allstar now. We took Jonathan isaac, who has missed like 80% of his games, over guys like Markkanen, Donovan Mitchel, Adebayo.

- Do you think that it is feasible to build a long-lasting team around our talented young assets (Banchero, Franz, Black..)?

Honestly, this team is in the best position its been since 2009, so I am not sure why this is even a question.

We have 2 allstar caliber players that are not even in their prime and are both new gen type of players. 6'11 sized guys that play like guards/wings, that can handle the ball, push on the break, shoot, drive, post up and create. Just a few years ago Giannis was a freak for being the only one in the league to do this. (well he couldnt shoot, but could do everything else)

Most teams dont even one of these type of players.

Put players that can create spacing and defend around these guys, and we could compete for a championship one day.

Hi.

My brief resume, which I hope helps.

Orlando Magic is something of an anachronism.

On one hand it's a small market team. Small markets don't get media coverage, don't attract corporate dollars and dont sell big outside of the local community in an average season.

Big market teams get laughed at when things aren't going well. For small market teams it's worse than that. They just get completely ignored.

So, small market teams find it hard to attract free agents of note, because noteworthy players have big agents and big agents want to make money for the players and themselves. Noteworthy players want a profile, which again can be turned into cash or post-NBA career opportunities.

Small market teams get worse officiating crews and worse calls, tougher schedules (back 2 backs etc), fewer primetime games etc. So winning percentage is also affected.

However, Orlando for its relative young existence, has had both star players and success. However, for the reasons above, most of the stars didn't stick around.

So, there's interest and history in Orl Magic basketball. Tourists also help fill the arena, which other small markets don't benefit from. The owners are ok, depending on your political inclinations I guess.

What the current and former front offices, taking the above into account, have decided to do is be really bad for a long time to get awarded good players in the draft.

Draftees dont really get a choice where they go and teams can effectively control them for up to 7 years. Choose a draftee with less interest in personal profile and more interest in being a great player and maybe a small market isnt so bad after all. Get good coaches in who the players respect and want to learn from and you migh just have a small market recipe for some success. Add top class facilities, be overly generous with contract extensions and the like and the players might even love it here.

However, basketball has consistently shown its a sport about craft, manipulation and savvy every bit as much as jumping high and shooting well. So young teams dont tend to win much.

The last front office kind of panicked too early and consolidated promising youth for experienced vets. They made a complete hash of it.

The current FO is treading so cautiously with trading for players that its in danger of missing the window of success (after all, the salary cap doesn't let you have an unlimited number of highly paid players).

So, while the overall.approach by.the last 2 FOs has been pretty good strategy-wise, tactically one is going too slow and one went too fast.

Add in the fact that the league, big teams and markets dont like bad teams to be rewarded so well. So now the odds of getting great players when you draft are smaller.

Finally, marketing matters. You can be relevant with sharp logos and unis, rocking stadia, good strategies for attracting fans amd media. Orlando has had than in the past, not so much now. Theyd be at rhe bottom of.the league in that respect, i.think.

Just read and regurgitate all of my trade ideas...easy A

I can answer the second part of the questions:

This Magic team is built for contention for a Championship. The strategy is simple, which is to build through the draft. Since the Vuc, AG and Fournier trade, we've drafted Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Anthony Black, which laid the foundation for tooling with future All Stars or even Superstars.

My philosophy of team building relies on Star players, which if you follow the NBA for years, you will find out that the team building science revolves around getting Superstars, whether it is through Draft, trade or even Free Agents. I am a fan of superstar model. But it is not the right approach all the time. "Money Ball" works also and that is how we got Jonathan Isaac on the contract. That is why we went for a trade for Markelle Fultz

If you watched the NBA Finals for the past 20 years, you will find out that Finals teams always have a Super Star duo on the team. And that is probably why this league is superstar oriented and Super Stars get you RINGs

And we've already got two, Paolo is very likely to be an All Star this year and Franz will be an All Star. That is our foundation for the future. I kept telling Orlando Magic could be a dynasty if the Front Office makes the right moves in the near future. We are just SOOOO young. Paolo is only 21 years old and Franz Wagner is only 22 years old.

But that is not enough. We need more. And this upcoming Offseason Orlando Magic is going to decide on Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz contracts, plus Gary Harris. We could have as much as 65M in cap space. But the problem is who we after?

Also Orlando Magic has all the Draft assets plus 25 DEN first round pick. We have as many chips and assets than anybody in the league and if we want a super star, we can get one. But the question is WHO?

The FO has been very conservative since they took over after Rob Hennigan.

In my own Point of View, we could go after LeBron James. First of all, I am a fan of him. Secondly, he is averaging the same Stat line when he was in Miami Heat. And he is 39 years old, which is amazing. But if we want to do that, we probably have to draft Bronny James from USC. Anyway, this is a long shot.

We could also go after Malik Monk, who torched us when we played the Kings Wednesday. He will be an UFA.

Anyway, the team building is at a crossroad right now, since we are all in in making the Playoff this year. And improving the team roster is only going to get tougher since we do not have high draft picks anymore. Yes, it takes patience and that is why we need to be very selective coming Trade Deadline Feb 8th. I'd rather sacrifice Win Now for Future Contention. Why? Because I have faith, we could have a dynasty!

Main problem was lack of top end talent. Its very hard to win without someone to break opposing defenses. You can do it with skill, you can do it with tools, ideally both. Its not a coincidence we build both of our past finals teams around draft. Hard to sign a star without being in a big market and hard to build a good team when you use all assets to get a star. Raptors traded for a star and had 1 year championship window.

Goal is having possibly big and long championship window.

Since Weltman arrived i am pleased with front office. I dont think i would change the strategy, rather have enough willpower to continoue. It will be harder and harder to keep our powder dry for a meaningful trade. Its easy to use assets for small upgrades which doesnt change much outside of pleasing the crowd. Personally i would make faster decisions on players like Bamba or Fultz, but in the end it doesnt matter that much overall.

We have a very good young core. Its not only our homer opinion but also people around the league notice it too. Its tiers above what we had with Vucevic. Our second best player in Franz would be our best player then. Banchero is who AG wanted to be all his carrier.

We need a guard who can orchestrate pick and roll. You can easly switch Franz/ Paolo pick and roll, we need someone faster who will create matchup problems. Its amazing how good we are without being able to perform nba most basic action at a high level. We dont have to do it this year but it needs to be a conscious decision. Tyus Jones and Monte Morris seem like a good target at the deadline or in the offseason.

Wow! That was a lot of info!

Very elaborate responses with solid arguments. There are many spanned interesting questions, or, as we say in Spain: 'open melons'. A rich source of info to start our research

Thank you all!!

BlueDreamer wrote:Wow! That was a lot of info!

Very elaborate responses with solid arguments. There are many spanned interesting questions, or, as we say in Spain: 'open melons'. A rich source of info to start our research

Thank you all!!

Mucha suerte con el proyecto!