Post-Mortem: 2021-22 Orlando Magic

[ElectricMayhem]

The moment the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday, the Orlando Magic became the first team to mathematically bow out of the race for the 2022 NBA Championship. 28 more teams will suffer a similar fate and all will be featured here when the calculator-wielding reaper deems their time has come. For today, let us look at the corpse of this Orlando Magic team.

Here is the data from last year's Post-Mortems:
Post-Mortem Results I: GM Confidence Meter
Post-Mortem Results II: Coaching Confidence Meter
Post-Mortem Results III: Performance Compared to Expectations
Post-Mortem Results IV: Rising/Treadmill/Waning

Team Name: Orlando Magic
Record at Time of Death: 18-50 (.265)
GM: John Hammond (2017- )
Coach: Jamahl Mosley (2021- )

Offensive Rating: 29th
Defensive Rating: 19th
Rebound %: 22nd
Turnover %: 25th

GM: Change or keep?
Coach: Change or keep?
Relative to expectations, how did they fare this year?
Rising, falling, or treadmill?
If you were in charge, what would you do this offseason?

Notes:
Players under contract next year:
Jonathan Isaac ($17m)
Markelle Fultz ($17m)
Wendell Carter Jr. ($14m)
Terrance Ross ($12m)
Jalen Suggs ($7m)
Franz Wagner ($5m)
Cole Anthony ($4m)
Chuma Okeke ($3m)
R.J. Hampton ($2m)
Mo Wagner ($2m) (Partially Guaranteed)

Team Options:


Player Options:

Free Agents:
Gary Harris
Mo Bamba
Robin Lopez
Bol Bol
Ignas Brazdeikis
Admiral Schofield

[Ice Trae]

keep
keep
to expectation
treadmill

let free agents walk, absorb expiring/bad contracts for assets and just round out the team with vets on 1 year deals

[ElectricMayhem]

They have a nice collection of young talent and they'll be adding another pick (likely top 5) this year and have their own first and Chicago's first next year. They should have incremental improvements but need time for their youth to grow. Hopefully they can hit with Smith/Holmgrem/Ivey/Banchero etc. Orlando fans, what do you think you have in Suggs? I think most Magic fans were thrilled when he dropped to you although Barnes is looking better now. Maybe some of you now wish Orlando also avoided the common opinion and went for Giddey instead. Suggs is young, though, and could still develop. He definitely needs to improve his efficiency.

I think Anthony and Wagner are both great players with room to grow. Carter is solid and locked in at a fair price. I'm guessing Orlando doesn't mind if vets like Harris and Lopez leave if they get can get some good locker room vets in their stead.

Hammond recently got an extension as GM, so I don't see them moving on from him. He's been there quite a while and the team has done nothing but stagnate. I think they at least have hope with this recent tear down/rebuild, though. It's too early to judge Jamahl Mosley. Firing him for being bad with this roster would be absurd.

[Gorilla Monsoon]

[JTG_92940618]

Coach Mose is good, he balanced this season very well in that we didn't win much (which was the goal) but the guys developed nicely and nobody lost the plot due to losses (except maybe Terrance Ross early in the season).

Franz looks like he'll have a good career and I'm optimistic about Suggs. I think he'll end up with a decent jump shot and he's already an excellent defender, albeit a bit foul prone right now. What I didn't realize about Suggs was that he's actually lightning-quick and very strong. That combination is quite rare.

Wendell went from a helpful acquisition to a guy who has locked down a starting spot for a long time. Cole is being pushed down the order a bit but he can help and is still developing. There are also other prospects on the roster too - Okeke and RJ Hampton - who could provide some upside as 3&D players. Moreso Okeke who's could end up a high-tier defender.

Sadly, I don't think we keep Bamba. We'll probably be drafting a big and we have Isaac to come back, so it's a logistical thing.

I would be trying to keep Garry Harris but a win-now team that is smart should be looking at him closely. I would let T-Ross go for free to a good home but he has 1 year left.

I'm a big Mo Wagner guy - instant offence off the bench and provides a lot of drama. Shame he isn't much of a defender or rebounder. Finally, Markelle is the X-factor. Is he as good as he's been in these 4 or 5 games this season? Probably not, but if he keeps it up we're onto something.

[BloodNinja]

Suggs sandwiched between Barnes and Giddey. Hope it works out otherwise they'll get eternally roasted.

[pepe1991]

As every rebuild it will come down to ability to find star or trade for one.

Hammond as GM never was able to built roster for anything but deep lottery runs. 15 years as GM, 0 playoff series win and sub .500 record.

Untradable peaces are Franz Wagner and 2022 pick. Everybody else should be up to grabs.

Wildcard is still Isaac but at this stage he looks more like dead cap space than player, being out of nba for two full seasons.

In future ,it's pretty obvious that one of Suggs-Fultz has to go as non of them can shoot from outside and in modern basketball it's impossible to have multiple nonshooters on good team.
This rebuild loooks fairly similar to 2013-2014 one. That one went nowhere after awful trades. Time will tell.

No to firing coach, it's not his fault team lacks talent.

[Statlanta]

GM: Change or keep?
Coach: Change or keep?
Relative to expectations, how did they fare this year?
Rising, falling, or treadmill?
If you were in charge, what would you do this offseason?

Keep
Keep
Fared To normal expectations
Treadmill/stay the same
Trade one of Suggs, Anthony or Fultz for a vet. Sign Bol Bol.

[MrGoat]

Keep GM. Keep coach. Performed as expected. Rising team, only place to go is up

[RookieStar]

Keep
Keep
Expected
Rising

We knew this was a blow-it-up rebuild so gettinf anothwr top pick consecutively was to be expected.

We are pleasantly surprised with Franz success and hopefully optimistic with Suggs improvement.

Hopefully next season we have a chance to fight with the playin especially if we get JI back, make some vet additions and resolve our glut of guards ( consensus is we wanna trade Cole). Oh not to mention whoever our top pick will be.

[sca]

The moment the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday, the Orlando Magic became the first team to mathematically bow out of the race for the 2022 NBA Championship. 28 more teams will suffer a similar fate and all will be featured here when the calculator-wielding reaper deems their time has come. For today, let us look at the corpse of this Orlando Magic team.

Here is the data from last year's Post-Mortems:
Post-Mortem Results I: GM Confidence Meter
Post-Mortem Results II: Coaching Confidence Meter
Post-Mortem Results III: Performance Compared to Expectations
Post-Mortem Results IV: Rising/Treadmill/Waning

Team Name: Orlando Magic
Record at Time of Death: 18-50 (.265)

GM: Change or keep?
Coach: Change or keep?
Relative to expectations, how did they fare this year?
Rising, falling, or treadmill?
If you were in charge, what would you do this offseason?

Notes:
Players under contract next year:
Jonathan Isaac ($17m)
Markelle Fultz ($17m)
Wendell Carter Jr. ($14m)
Terrance Ross ($12m)
Jalen Suggs ($7m)
Franz Wagner ($5m)
Mo Wagner ($2m) (Partially Guaranteed)

Team Options:
Cole Anthony ($4m)
Chuma Okeke ($3m)
R.J. Hampton ($2m)

Free Agents:
Gary Harris
Mo Bamba
Robin Lopez
Bol Bol
Ignas Brazdeikis
Admiral Schofield

It would be much better if you named the teams’ GMs and coaches and stated how long has it been since they were appointed.

For example:

PoBO: Jeff Weltman (2017-present)
GM: John Hammond (2017-present)
Coach: Jamahl Mosley (2021-present)

[DSN1423]

Keep
Keep
Met expectations
Rising

This season will only be successful if we manage to get even more pieces in the off-season for the 22/23 season.

Other than our draft pick, what can we do with Ross’ contract what happens to Bamba? Who do we sign in FA?

I think WeHam are just collecting assists to load up on a trade in the 23 offseason for a disgruntled or available star or up and coming star, if we don’t hit pay dirt on this years pick.

This year is about setting up the pins to knock down in the next two seasons.

This year will be considered a failure if we do any of the following;

- reach on a player with our draft pick (say pick AJ griffin at 2)
- whiff on the draft pick (no matter if it’s a reach or not)
- sign long term deals to older players with no upside using up our cap space for years to come and taking away minutes from guys like Chuma, Cole, Suggs, RJ, Bol in the hopes of winning 30 games thus showing improvement.

I think most Magic fans have enjoyed the year for what it’s been. Rough patches with new and younger prospects and enough flashes of potential to be excited for the future.

This is how I see some of our prospects shaping out to be (in regards to comparisons to current NBA players)

Suggs - Marcus Smart combo guard
Fultz - Poor man’s but more athletic Rubio
Franz - Gordon Hayward
WC - Richaun Holmes reliability/productivity
JI - bigger Matisse Thybulle
cole - Lou Will’s bench scoring
Chuma - J Crowder

Will be interesting to see who survives the rebuild come 2023

[jezzerinho]

As befits the team they play for, almost all of the Magic roster are talented, maddeningly inconsistent and overall underperforming.

Guys like Franz Wagner, Gary Harris and Carter Jr have many more good games/moments than bad but there's still room for better performance.

Anthony looked like he was learning not to be such a black hole but then he regresses into hero ball mode and chucks absolute bricks.

Okeke has one game where he looks like an all-star and then 6 or 7 where he's largely anonymous.

For Bamba it's more like 10 mediocre games for every great one, even though with more application it's clear he could be a much better player.

Fultz can't shoot, but the rest is pretty good. He just constantly gets derailed by injury.

Isaac? €20m p.a. down the toilet.

Suggs is a case apart. He's not inconsistent so much as very raw. His defensive nous (which is upper echelons of the league for a guard), allied to his hustle both give hope, but he does play a bit like a footballer playing basketball. Needs to slow down and work on the subtleties.

I wouldn't blame the coaching for the inconsistency of the players. The offensive scheme is pretty rudimentary but it's the players who are the ones swaying wildly from good to bad. At least there is some good tho, makes the season somewhat watchable.

[Eli Babak]

It would be much better if you named the teams’ GMs and coaches and stated how long has it been since they were appointed.

For example:

PoBO: Jeff Weltman (2017-present)
GM: John Hammond (2017-present)
Coach: Jamahl Mosley (2021-present)

Agree!

Team Options:
Cole Anthony ($4m)
Chuma Okeke ($3m)
R.J. Hampton ($2m)

All of them are under contract for 2022-23. Orlando has to decide what to with the 2023-24 team options before the next season though.

I voted:
- Keep the GM
- Keep the coach
- Performed as expected
- Rising team

[hippesthippo]

Keep
Keep
As Expected
Treadmill/Stay the course

Y'all discount Suggs at your own peril.

And who you planning on finding to trade for Fultz @ $17m [per this thread]

Let go of Mamba, try to trade Fultz but good luck on that, convince Cole that he's a 6th man, let Suggs and Wagner develop.

All of those team options are worth picking up.

Draft a stud.

[somerandomdude]

Keep the GM

Performed as expected

How are these getting top votes?

[ElectricMayhem]

It would be much better if you named the teams’ GMs and coaches and stated how long has it been since they were appointed.

For example:

PoBO: Jeff Weltman (2017-present)
GM: John Hammond (2017-present)
Coach: Jamahl Mosley (2021-present)

Thank you for the idea. I'll adopt it, but only GM & Coach because I'm lazy.

[ElectricMayhem]

Team Options:
Cole Anthony ($4m)
Chuma Okeke ($3m)
R.J. Hampton ($2m)

All of them are under contract for 2022-23. Orlando has to decide what to with the 2023-24 team options before the next season though.
/quote]

You are correct. I didn't realize basketball reference kept showing them as team options but put the info on whether they were picked up down below in the notes. It is fixed now.

[zike_42]

I like the direction the Magic are heading, but one question always pops in my head: what are they going to do with all their young guards? Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Markelle Fultz and RJ Hampton all have the potential to be good/great players. What's the plan with them? Play them all and see who blossoms and then trade the others?

[Clav]

I think the Magic are in a good spot, if things work out for them in the Lottery they will have a top 3 pick and no worse than 6, so they should be expected to add one of the top talents in the draft to their roster next year, and this is a great draft to have that.

Mission Accomplished, honestly. Fultz returning has actually helped their team look better the psat few games and Isaac isn't back, so this should be back to play-in contention next year or better, if they can get a good streak under their belt and avoid injuries. Keep the team together and let expiring contracts go, or try to get assets, add one or two veterans and aim for a good competitive season...