2018 Tanking Rankings: Memphis Grizzlies and NBA’s Best of the Worst
By AJ Salah
6. Orlando Magic
The Magic certainly did a fantastic job of harpooning themselves after looking like a bonafide playoff team for the season’s first month. But they’re being graded on a bit of a curve here as a team with absolutely no business in the lottery.
Rebuilds don’t always go as planned, but at a certain point the birds need to leave the nest. Orlando has been stuck in ‘Failure To Launch’ mode since they traded Dwight Howard. In 2012. Over that span, they’ve squandered assets and cap room in just about every way imaginable, leaving their current roster of grossly-maligned niche players.
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Few things went right in Orlando this year: Elfrid Payton still couldn’t shoot. Everyone thought Aaron Gordon could for a month, until he violently regressed to the mean. The whole rotation was injured (Evan Fournier’s 57 starts led the team). Efforts ranged from inconsistent to non-existent. Even Mario Hezonja waited until after Orlando finally declined his rookie option to show signs of life.
Misfortune aside, Orlando can’t commit to a direction. For a half-decade they’ve been stuck with just enough talent to avoid being the NBA’s worst team, but not enough common sense to improve.
In a couple months they can add another mid-lottery pick and pray he fits into their challenging identity. It’s the only way for them to break this rinse-repeat cycle.