Rebuilding franchises conjure up a wide spectrum of emotions. They prompt hope for a brighter future, frustration that wins will likely be hard to come by in the immediate future and, sometimes, disappointment that tangible progress isn’t being seen quite quickly enough for increasingly rabid fan bases — specially in this instant gratfication digital era.
Orlando is an interesting case study. The Magic have what seems like a decent enough young core in shooting guard Victor Oladipo, double-double machine Nikola Vucevic, rookie point guard Elfrid Payton and swingman Tobias Harris, but the team’s apparent lack of year-to-year progress—among other factors— led to the recent ouster of head coach Jacque Vaughn.
SheridanHoops recently spoke to two of Orlando’s franchise cornerstones, Oladipo and Payton, and Magic legend Penny Hardaway to help take a quick snapshot of where the franchise currently stands.
Orlando is 18-39 after 57 games, one game better than its 17-40 start last season. They’re 3-2 after firing Vaughn, a measure they wouldn’t have taken if they were satisfied with the team’s progress.
Hardaway, who discussed Orlando’s lack of progress, knows a thing or two about this franchise during his heralded six-year tenure with the club.
“Yeah, I guess that’s why the coach got fired,” Hardaway told SheridanHoops in a one-on-one interview over All-Star weekend in New York. “I think it’s tough to get a young locker room, and once you start losing, you lose the locker room because they’re dejected and they’re looking for something new. Hopefully this next time it’ll work for them.”
This next phase began with assistant James Borrego, the former Spurs staffer who will lead the team for the rest of the season. Conversations with Orlando’s young, developing backcourt indicate that they’re quite comfortable with this arrangement.
“JB was with us from the beginning and the team has rallied around him,” Payton told SheridanHoops, adding that the team didn’t want to leave Borrego out to dry. “We’re just moving forward now,” he said.
Oladipo said that the team is very familiar and comfortable with Borrego. “We know what he wants from us,” the shooting guard said.
Conversely, the team was quite uncomfortable with the rampant rumors and speculation surrounding Vaughn’s firing, which occurred after the team’s 10th straight defeat.
“Yeah, it was difficult,” Oladipo said. “Getting asked questions and stuff like that, not really knowing what was going on.”
The questions that will now be directed at the Orlando Magic should be focused on the direction for this franchise in the future.
“Right now it’s tough because you lose a coach, but they’ve got some really talented players, young players, that can get it done,” Hardaway said. “It just takes time when you have a young team.”
The team’s core of Oladipo, Payton, Vucevic and rookie Aaron Gordon are all under team control through at least the 2017-2018 season, but is there really a dominant, star player in that group?
“We were fortunate to have a dominant player,” Hardaway said of his playing days in Orlando. “They don’t have one dominant player like we had with Shaq, but they have a collective crew of guys that could really get it done.”
After sitting out Thursday’s trade deadline, the Magic will have to wait until the draft and free agency to upgrade their roster. They could choose to pay Harris, who will be a restricted free agent, or test its luck on the open market in their search for their first perennial All-Star since Dwight Howard.
What Orlando does not have to wait to do is hire a coach that will better develop the young roster and get the team better results next season.
“That’s not really up to me, we’re just taking it day by day,” Payton said in reference to the coaching situation. “He’s [Borrego] the guy right now, so that’s the guy I’m backing right now.”
“I don’t have no clue,” Oladipo replied after being asked who he thinks will coach this team in the long term. “I know I’m gonna go out there and play as hard as I can for whoever is coaching me on the sideline.”
Orlando is a market that probably won’t be an attractive free agent destination until it develops or obtains a superstar player through the draft or trades. Until a dominant player emerges for Orlando, chances are they’ll stay near the bottom of the Southeast Division.
Shlomo Sprung is a national columnist for SheridanHoops who focuses on analytics, profiles and features. He is also the web editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, The Sporting News, Business Insider and other publications. You should follow him on Twitter.