The Orlando Magic Are SMARTER Than You Think
trade season started before the actual season ended and to my surprise it was not with Kevin Durant the Magic and Grizzlies agreed to a blockbuster trade that felt completely out of left field with Memphis sending one of their core pieces in Desmond Bane to Orlando for a hall of players and picks i’d be lying to say Orlando didn’t pay a premium price but after thinking about it for a while I am starting to make sense of the move the Magic have been rumored for what feels like years at this point to make a move for a perimeter creator the presumed candidates were the likes of Trey Young and Anthony Simons but they just made a move I don’t think anyone expected if you told me Desmond Bane would become available this offseason I wouldn’t be totally shocked but with the lack of reporting around his potential availability this move was definitely shocking as I said the Magic definitely paid a steep price packaging KCP and Cole Anthony alongside four unprotected firsts and a swap for Bane but the more I think about this deal I don’t think it’s some unbelievably ridiculous overpay as Summer making it out to be in more scenarios than not to land a star-LE talent you’re going to overpay and if said talent hasn’t even been publicly made available you’re going to have to pay an extra premium combine this with how KCP’s contract is currently a negative deal as well as recent returns for players of similar caliber and I think the deal isn’t as ridiculous as I first thought after reading the words for unprotected first you more or less traded one pick to get off KCP and three to get Bane this being said if I had to pick a winner here I think I have to lean Memphis but if Bane fits how the Magic think he could this move could really elevate them the issue with targets such as Trey Young and Anthony Simons is the defensive end of the court as well as the fact that notably a guy like a Trey or a Darius Garland would inevitably take the ball out of Fron and Paulo’s hands it’s now totally apparent that the Magic want the offense to run through Paulo and Fron and acquiring Bane allows this to be the case while still being able to add that perimeter threat and best of all one who can thrive off the ball this trade was obviously made for offense but another thing it does compared to a move for a small guard is keep your defense intact i think Orlando has enough to be able to cover for a guy like a Trey Young defensively but this move allows you to have no size liabilities while also immensely improving your spacing for Paulo and France another thing this move does is take advantage of the final year of Paulo’s rookie deal this being said it does create an issue where starting in 2026 27 you’re paying four guys north of 30 million in Paulo Fran and Suggs but I think worst case scenario there you eventually move off Suggs for a depth center package should it not work out despite the looming cap situation for now the Magic still have a number of tradable salaries to make additional moves and I fully expect them to the East is also as wide open as it’ll probably ever be next season with Jason Tatum’s injury and I think this could potentially really have Orlando in the mix in the East next year this is obviously dependent on Paulo continuing his development which has been linear thus far but I don’t see how this doesn’t happen especially with improved spacing bane has shot over 39% from deep on seven attempts a game over his past three years and compared to a number of small creators you won’t have to sacrifice nearly as many Paulo and Fron possessions he changes the dynamic of the Orlando offense without having to totally revamp your approach and force Paulo and Fron to play off the ball again do I think a trade for a guy like a Trey Young could have worked yes but this move allows you to add that perimeter threat without having to completely change your identity on either side of the floor although it has limited their potential as a team over the past few years I feel like these spacing deficiencies this team has had will pay dividends for Apollo and Fron in the long run they grew in an environment where they had to make do with a pretty horrific offensive system and now with real spacing the game will be a lot simpler to them after giving it some more thought my main thought with this deal is if Orlando didn’t do this what should they have done not to say there weren’t possible alternatives but if Orlando wanted to take advantage of the final year of Pablo’s rookie deal to add a star level talent what player and package would have been that much better than this they trade what are currently two negative contracts and four picks for a seamlessly fitting star talent that helps them maximize their two cornerstones the cap situation going forward is something to monitor obviously but that would be the case with any major addition it’s almost the point of acquiring a star right before Paulo starts really getting paid worst comes to worse you would have a wide array of offers for any of the core four of Suggs Baines Fron and Paulo should any be offered to cut costs also KCP and Cole’s money basically made up Bane salary the Magic were a very interesting team last year despite Paulo missing 36 games Fron’s missing 22 and Suggs missing 47 they finished exactly 500 what makes it crazier than the injuries to me though is that Orlando was a bottom four offense this being said they were a top two defense and if they can be healthy and have even an average offense next year they could definitely find themselves near the top of the East i’m not the highest on Paulo but he will be 23 around the start of next season and already has had steady improvement year-over-year and this is with some of the worst spacing in the modern era this past season the Magic had the worst three-point percentage of any team in the last decade this was due to a number of factors such as guys having sudden steep drop offs with Wendell Carter Jr’s three-point percentage falling exactly 14% and Jaylen Suggs falling over 8% compared to the prior season there’s no way both of them should Wendell be here are going to be that bad again especially with the addition of Bane the value of a high volume three-point threat isn’t just how they can do it themselves but also how they open up the game for everyone should these guys at least return to respectable levels which there is reason to believe they could do that and more with Wendell shooting over 36% the prior two years and Sugg shooting just shy of 40% on good volume the year prior this team could really turn it around offensively you also had KCP who fell off a cliff he had shot 40% the prior five seasons and shot just above 34 in his one year in Orlando now is all of this just a weird coincidence absolutely not but having Bane now a guy who has averaged 20 a night since year two on nearly 41% from deep on exactly seven attempts the coaching will inevitably have to change somewhat you’d also like to think that maybe they’re looking at things that went wrong with Jamal Mosley potentially coaching for his job and I think the Bane move indicates an increased focus on spacing the floor for Paulo and Fron paulo and Fron are also not helping the spacing situation but that is the reason why they need to put such an emphasis on getting spacers this being said Paulo went from just shy of 30% his rookie year to just shy of 34% in year two this past season however he shot exactly 32% after increasing his volume from about 4 and a half attempts a night to about six if Paulo can become even a 35% guy on decent volume I think it would do wonders and I think there’s reason to believe it’s not impossible as for Fron it’s an interesting situation he was a respectable three-point shooter over his first two seasons shooting just shy of 36% over that span in comparison to just shy of 29% the past two seasons his jumper almost looks broken and while he could fix that potentially it’s obviously not promising this being said the lack of spacing also inevitably hurt Paulo and France in this respect despite them not helping the situation either all in all while I do like this deal for Memphis a ton I think how much Orlando gave up is being overexaggerated i highly value picks but if this is the going rate for a guy like that combined with the fact that you’re moving negative contracts in return I think the overall value of like three firsts isn’t some ridiculous package the main point in targeting Bane to me was wanting to keep the ball in Fran and Paulo’s hands while also adding a dynamic shooting talent bane is also a decent secondary playmaker and is far from a guy who can only put the ball in the bucket orlando’s defense was elite despite their offensive wos and with them winning 41 games with their three core pieces missing substantial time if they had decent health you’d have to think they could have won in and around 50 games this deal also allows Orlando to add offense without adding a liability on defense and while I can’t blame you if you thought they should have pursued a Trey or a Garland this is definitely a benefit compared to adding a small guard the cap situation will obviously be something to monitor but with any addition or even if they didn’t make one this would be a similar situation with Paulo next year with how open the East is next year with another move or two and continued improvement from Paulo and Fron I think the Magic could have opened their contention window earlier than most would have thought despite the weirdness of their season they were still a playoff team with a litany of key injuries and one of the worst offenses in the modern era should they retain anything close to the defense we saw last year and improved to even an average offensive unit with health they should easily be a 50 plus win team the ceiling of this team going forward lays entirely on the shoulders of Apollo and Fron and I think this move gives those two a better chance of success no matter how high or low you are on Po and Fron the Magic are in a situation where these are the two guys they have to maximize and I think this move does just that it’s going to wrap this one up if you’d enjoy please do like it up sub the channel let me know down below you know what do you think about this deal again uh you know I obviously understand objection to it it was a lot it was definitely a lot and it was shocking i think I think a lot of the objection comes from seeing the amount of picks and then the shock of the deal he was never rumored there was no you know inkling of anything suggesting this this was completely and totally random when it dropped someone was like “Oh NBA trade.” I’m like “KD?” Like cuz cuz like you know I would have thought they would have said KD if it was the KD trade and no um completely random deal but again for the reasons I explained I don’t hate it like what else were they supposed to do is is really the the point I arrived at and you know for people concerned with the future cap situation I get it uh but again as I said that was going to be a concern whether you made a move or didn’t right so you know now it’s basically yeah you you you have Bane instead of having you know KCP and Cole Anthony and then you know potentially you have to move KCP’s contract next offseason which you’ll definitely have to attach assets to do so it’s basically getting out ahead of that and with Jaylen Suggs on a descending contract I think this can be worked with again right jayen Suggs will be making you know his deal starts at 35 million and ends at 27 or you know like just below 27 million so I think this can work again I as I said I think they need some supplemental moves but if they can you know even somewhat transform the offense cuz you know like you know you’d want to think oh they want to stretch big shouldn’t Wendell be that wendell has been that right and with his contract I don’t know if they’re going to be able to get off him but again right I’m I’m not if if they can find you know another avenue I think that’s obviously what they should be looking at i think you know obviously their one through four is pretty set uh if they’re going to make any kind of other major addition outside of just stuff on the edges I think that’s what they should obviously be looking at but they have a ton of tradable salary they have you know Isaac who’s making 15 they have Mo Vagner who you know they could accept his team option for 11 although I don’t know if he gets moved obviously because of his brother but we’ll see you know they have Wendell who’s like near 11 million they have you know I mean I don’t think Anthony Black I didn’t talk about Anthony Black that much but again they have guys and they have picks they still have the 25th pick you know they didn’t empty completely everything obviously they emptied a good amount of stuff but they do still have flexibility and as I said I think they will make a couple more moves and depending on what those moves are again man I think this team could really be that uh like as I was saying for one the East is wide open uh and two I’m not the highest on Apollo and Fron i’m not like Fran or Apollo is a surefire he’s going to be a top three to five player in the NBA but as I said the reality of the situation for the Magic is right now you’re building around them no matter how high you are on either of those guys unless you’re like “Oh they should trade him but guys like I I know there’s some people that really don’t like Paulo.” And again as I said I’m not the highest on them there’s no scenario where they’re trading Paulo Bonero i think that’s obvious to anyone right um Fron potentially again if it right if this doesn’t work uh obviously you know you you know think Suggs Bane would be on the chopping block first but there there is a scenario where they do try and move off France uh I I I don’t think it’s Apollo but especially I again we’ll see right obviously if you know this is this iteration if this you know doesn’t work out obviously the next you know time will you know when they have to make a major swing it’s going to involve one of those four obviously so uh we’ll see what happens there but again right If you’re if you’re them all you can really do is create the environment for France and Paulo and try and help them become everything you know you believe they could become more but that’s going to wrap this one up if you did enjoy please do like it up sub the channel would appreciate it a ton let me know your thoughts on the deal down below and I will catch you on the next one pace
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