Magic make HUGE move… This has SERIOUS implications | Orlando Magic News

This just in. Now, former Orlando Magic wing Caleb Houston has signed a one-year deal with their division rivals, the Atlanta Hawks. The Magic declined Houston’s $2.1 million option a few weeks ago and retained his bird rights, but he will not be returning to the team next season. As one of Orlando’s better three-point shooters, where does this leave the Magic in terms of a key concern for this team last season? We are going to get into all of that here, but first, what’s going on, Magic fans? This is Sam Rodriguez here for Magic Digest, back to chat with you about all things Orlando Magic. If you are not subscribed to the channel, do me a favor, stop, hit the subscribe button because 67.5% of you not subscribed will just not do. This is going to be such a fun season for this magic team. So, you are going to want to stay locked in and following along with us for every step of the way. Let’s get into it. As reported by Michael Scott, Caleb Houston is signing a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks who also continued to be super aggressive in this off season. Uh they’ve made some significant moves and now they add a young player with a ton of upside in the way of his shooting. He shot 40% from three last season, 50% from three on 3.3 attempts after the All-Star break, uh, which is pretty impressive. Uh, he didn’t get a ton of minutes and was in and out of the lineup for Orlando, but he’s going to have to earn those minutes in Atlanta as well. This is a really good pickup for them though, and it also puts to bed some trade rumors involving uh, Houston. For context, Orlando Magic on Sports Illustrated recently reported on a potential three-team trade between the Magic Hawks and Lakers that would have sent Houston to the Hawks. Anyway, Jonathan Isaac to the Lakers and Doling Connect gave Vincent and several picks to the Magic. You can see the full details up here. It’s a pretty interesting trade. Obviously, not going to happen now given the Houston news, but I do want to circle back to this. Uh, but in terms of where this leaves the magic in terms of their shooting woes, uh, they’re more or less in the same spot than they were a few days ago, right? But I’m going to say less. And, uh, we’re going to get into that. But NBA.com recently released an interesting report on continuity rankings, which is basically just a report um on each team’s roster turnover and moreover how that continuity correlates between how good they were the previous season, the following season, and how improved they were at the following season, which is kind of a key word here. Uh it’s a pretty interesting uh report, but in terms of how a continuity affects um how much a team improved, there’s definitely some holes, and I want to get uh this ranking up here for you. Pay attention to those teams that are at the top of um the list there. So, last season, the Magic ranked fifth in continuity, but they did little in the way of improving from the season before. Uh granted it did not take into account the team’s injuries which are obviously significant. Uh but they ranked 15th in this current report. You can kind of see them at the bottom there. Uh so let’s just review quickly from last season. Uh the Magic have parted ways with Contavius Caldwell Pope, Cole Anthony, Gary Harris, and Corey Joseph, and uh now officially Caleb Houston. Uh excuse me there. Um, but for a team who’s been super patient uh over the years, the front office is kind of throwing continuity to the wind and whatever correlation there might be between that and the team success and they are making the moves that they believe are going to help them win right now. So, what’s even more interesting about this report is the amount of shooters. And by that, I’m referring to players who shot 36% or better on at least 100 three-point attempts last season uh that each team has going into next season relative to how many they had the previous season. Uh the teams that have the most probably won’t surprise you. It’s probably very similar to this this continuity ranking. Um let’s see if I’m right there. Yep, there you go. There is the the rankings right there. Um, but after parting ways with Caleb Houston and Corey Joseph, uh, as I mentioned earlier, Caleb Houston was shooting 40% from three and Cory Joseph shot a little over 36%. Uh, the Magic replaced that three-point production though with Desmond Bane, who was shooting 40% from three last season. Um, absolutely insane. And more specifically in terms of volume, this is really important here. Desmond Bane made 64 threes last season and Taius Jones made 166 threes last season relative to Caleb Houston 64 and Corey Joseph’s 39. So while they only have two of these types of shooters uh again who shot over 36% uh from three, they’ve still doubled in production. uh significant upgrades have been made and I don’t want that to go unsaid which is why I said they are less in the position than they were a couple of days ago in terms of their shooting wolves but again if the proof is in the pudding then the Magic need more shooting to be quite frank so let’s take a look back at that list of teams and how many shooters uh they have relative to last season OKC has eight players on their roster who shoot above 36% from three the same amount that they had last season season. They’re also number one on that continuity list. They’re the reigning champs. So, that obviously makes a ton of sense, even though, as we’ve seen over the years, it’s incredibly hard to repeat. But Cleveland has seven, Denver has seven, Milwaukee and New York have six of these shooters. So, you kind of see where I’m going with this. But unfortunately, the Magic do not have a ton of cab space. You can see the cab sheet here. They’re paying their guys a ton of money. The reason they even declined Houston’s team option in the first place was to get access to their non-t taxpayer mid-level exception, which they used to sign Taius Jones. So, unless the Magic have another trade up their sleeves, um they’re going to have to rely on their guys to step up. But let’s address that first part. While the theme the three team trade, excuse me, I mentioned earlier no longer works, the trade involving the magic and the linker still potentially could. I did fire up the trade machine here just to make sure that it works. And you can see that uh if they did this trade, both teams would be hardcapped at the first apron if there is definitely some upside to it. Now, if you’ve been keeping tabs on Lakers Summer League, uh Daltton Connect has not been performing particularly well. He’s being outperformed by Bronny and Cole Swider. Not really what you want from a secondyear player uh in summer league, but he is on that list of players that shot above 36% from three last season. He tied the rookie record for most threes in a game with nine. And in the month of November, he made 28 threes in the span of two weeks. And the thing about Dalton is that he’s kind of been going through it, right? Between the Lakers trying uh to trade him in that failed Mark Williams trade and uh his summer league woes, he could really really benefit from a change of scenery at this point and give the Magic another shooter that they so desperately need. Uh, granted, I understand Magic fans uh might be sad to see Jonathan Isaac go. He’s the longest tenure Magic player at this point. Top 10 pig in the 2017 draft. Um, I totally get it. I get pretty attached to players as well. Um, but if they are concerned about how much he’s getting paid and maybe some of the health issues, health issues that he’s had over the course of his career, then this could be an option they consider. As for Gabe Vincent, I don’t really see a place for him on the Magic at this point. uh with Taiish and Jace Richardson um at PG on the dev chart and I know Magic fans are definitely going to want to see Jace get some burn especially considering how well he’s been playing in summer league um but he’s on an expiring contract Gabe that is so you can get rid of that contract later you can buy him out and and the Magic can gain some of that financial flexibility back so this is just something to think about in terms of the existing guys on the roster as I mentioned Jay could be a real factor if he can come in and contribute right away. Bleacher Report just released an article yesterday on five rookies playing in summer league who look like absolute steals and of course Jace was on that list. Um let’s get that quote up here for you. Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report said the younger Richardson is undersized at 6 and 1/2 ft without shoes, but he can really shoot and has some serious pedigree. So, even though he fell to the bottom third of the first round, his summer shooting performances for the Magic probably shouldn’t be all that surprising, and they aren’t. Uh, he shot 42% from three in college. He went two for three in the Magic’s first summer league game against the Kings and followed that up with a 19-point performance. So, again, if he can come in and be a shooter off the bench, he’ll certainly replace some of the production lost from Caleb Houston, right? So, there’s also Tristan Dilva who um has the ability and just needs to be a bit more consistent. He shot 33.5% last season and has shown some flashes in summer league. Uh he opened up the game against Toronto pretty hot. Knocked down three threes no problem. So, we just need to see some significant improvement in the regular season from Dilva. Then there’s the Magic stars. You see Paulo, you see Jaylen Suggs up there. Paulo shot 34% from three two seasons ago. and Jaylen Suggs actually shot 39% from three two seasons ago. Uh these two guys uh were out for a significant amount of time last season. Both of them played less than 50 games. So I’m thinking that this shooting conundrum for the Magic may come down to health more than it comes down to ability. Right? Even with all of the injuries to their stars, including Fron, uh the Magic were still a top defense in the league. Uh, and despite their loss in the first round of the playoffs, they were considered by many to be the blueprint for how to beat the Boston Celtics, right? So, keep the defense, um, which they did. Um, add some shooting if possible. They’ve added star power and depth. Um, and just stay healthy. If they can do all of that, then the Magic look pretty scary in the East to me. So, we are going to be monitoring the Magic’s moves throughout the season, throughout the offse. So, make sure you are subscribed, following along, and I will be back with more Orlando content for all of you.

Sam Rodriguez breaks down Caleb Houstan news and the Orlando Magic’s 3-point shooting concerns.

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