Why Orlando Magic's Free Agent Signings Are Not Enough

The Orlando Magic find their road through the Eastern Conference to be much more difficult as the latest free agency landscape has played out.

Teams around the conference have upgraded, and the Magic did not have such luxuries because of the limitations of being in the first apron. 

In a recent episode of the Full Court Magic Podcast, I detailed how various moves have strengthened competition around the East and how the Magic’s signings are good, but do not move the needle in comparison to other teams they will face:

“Well, the Magic are in a situation where they are dealing with financial constraints. I've talked about that on this show ad nauseam, and they did, in a way, what they could with their free agent signings. I thought the reunion with Nikola Vucevic was really good. I thought that he could have commanded a little bit more than the veteran minimum, but he wanted to come back to Orlando. 

He has a fondness about Orlando and about his time with the Magic. Despite when he was playing for the Magic, those were some of the worst years, only had a winning record just one time, only made the playoffs twice during his tenure here. But, you know, he made it clear he wanted to be back. It's a decision that goes beyond him. You know, it extends to his family, comforts, you know, things of that nature. So, that was good because, you know, Vooch is still a productive player.

Is he the All-Star that he once was? No, not at 35 years old as a big man, but he could still give you a double-double on any given night and is a surefire upgrade for a bench that, you know, was not great at all last season. But outside of Vucevic, like, bringing back Jevon Carter, bringing back Jonathan Isaac, those are not moves that really elevate this team. And, you know, I guess an argument can be made that there were no moves that they could make to really elevate the group without trading away, you know, one of their core guys.

But I also think that that's going to be the Magic's Achilles heel, especially, you know, with this signing by [LeBron] James to go to Philly, is the fact that the Eastern Conference has undoubtedly gotten better. You know, whether it be the transition of star players from the Western Conference to the East, such as James, you know, shuffling of the deck within the East, you know, you look at the Jaylen Brown trade to Philadelphia that obviously, or at least seemingly, had seismic implications when it came to swaying James to come to Philly. You know, Indiana's going to be healthy again.”

Full Episode Below:

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