I feel like the Orlando Magic put all their eggs in the “Aaron Gordon is for sure gonna bust out really hard” basket. Look at their roster, look at the moves they made in the offseason. It’s like they’re building around some sort of centerpiece, a franchise cornerstone. But who is that cornerstone? It can’t be anyone but Gordon. Signing Ibaka and Biyombo for defense, signing Rudez for some reason, trading away Harris to open up Gordon’s position (some may call it the “tweener” position), it all adds up to the Magic FO having a very high opinion of the dude. They would know best, I guess.
Gordon is a good young player, maybe slightly inflated in the eyes of the average fan because of his insane dunking prowess. I don’t know if he’s yet the kind of player you can rely on night in and night out. Either the Magic have detected something we haven’t seen yet, or they are in for a rough season.
Also they got rid of Andrew Nicholson. He was the only reason I ever predicted that the Magic would make the playoffs, and now he’s gone. You know what that means!