The Orlando Magic Should Be Chasing, Not Counting Stars

It’s time for the Orlando Magic to cash in their young assets to chase a real NBA star and, in the process, return to prominence

The Orlando Magic have been a basement team in the NBA since the departure of Stan Van Gundy and this has largely been due to poor coaching and a lack of talent.

Just a few years later, and this team now has a great deal of youth and a good coach who knows all the Xs and Os. However, despite having guys like Tobias Harris and Nic Vucevic, the team is mediocre. They are 3-9 against teams above .500 and they just seem to get outmatched and overwhelmed by any team with a star player.

This isn’t at all on Scott Skiles; the team just needs to take that next step. Whenever a star, such as DeMarcus Cousins, is linked with a departure, teams such as Boston, LA and Houston are always linked. This is understandable as they are large markets but players don’t really focus on the size of the market anymore: this was proven by Greg Monroe this summer when he rejected the Lakers and the Knicks for the Bucks.

DeMarcus Cousins should be a trade target for this team, they have enough pieces to be able to get him and he would allow them to take the next step in the Eastern Conference. Right now, the East is void of star players in good teams, Miami and Atlanta don’t really contain stars which means the Cavaliers are completely unchallenged, Orlando can change this.

Bill Simmons suggested a trade on his podcast whereby the Magic send two first rounders, Nic Vucevic and Mario Hezonja in exchange for DeMarcus Cousins.

The first reaction of many to this trade was that Orlando were giving up too much, but in reality they are not. The first rounder from this year will likely be in the region of 12-18, which isn’t getting you a player as good as Cousins. Vucevic is good but he has nowhere near the player that Boogie Cousins is.

Mario Hezonja is a player who could become an all star but with Tobias Harris, Evan Fournier and Victor Oladipo on the roster, they won’t really have minutes to send in his direction. He is a perfect fit for George Karl as he plays with a lot of energy and loves driving to the basket quickly which he can do in Karl’s offence which is usually top three in pace.

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At the moment, the Orlando Magic are in danger of mediocrity – they are a “good” team but they won’t be a great one with this group of players. Vucevic is their best player, but I am not sure a team with him as their best player could ever challenge in the Eastern Conference. At the moment, this group sits 13th in defensive efficiency and 17th in offensive efficiency which leaves them as a middling team. If they made the playoffs, no one would be surprised but at the same time their absence wouldn’t really make anyone question anything. DeMarcus Cousins or someone similar could push them to the next level.

The move also makes sense for Boogie himself, he clearly does not get along with Coach Karl and he probably needs a tough coach like Skiles to get him on the right path. Michael Malone was a disciplined coach and Cousins liked him, so there probably wouldn’t be an awful lot of traction between the two.

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What is really clear for Orlando is that they cannot become mediocre, at the moment their ceiling is probably that of the 2012 Denver Nuggets. They have enough talent to be good but they would not win anything with this group. Every team that has won it in the last 15 years has contained a star, and they don’t have one right now.

The whole point of putting together ‘young pieces’ is so they can be used as trade chips. Right now,the Orlando Magic has plenty of that. It is now time to cash these in to take the franchise to the next level on both ends of the floor.

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