Vooch?
Really?
Why?
Why did they have to trade Vooch?
Why did the Orlando Magic have to trade their only All-Star — beloved, loyal, true-blue, Magic through-and-through center Nikola Vucevic?
Welcome, Magic fans, to rebuild No. 57.
Or is it 58?
Whatever.
Over the last decade, beleaguered Magic fans have endured rebuilds and rebuilt rebuilds and rebuilding the rebuilt rebuilds.
And, now, here we are once again with nothing to show for it except a concrete slab.
No walls. No floors. No roof.
And no Vooch.
The Magic are starting over once again.
I get trading Evan Fournier to the Celtics for a couple of second-round picks and a Traded Player Exception (yippee!) worth $17 million. Fournier was on the last year of his contract and the Magic had no plans to re-sign him.
I get trading Aaron Gordon (and forward Gary Clark) for a first-round draft pick, young combo guard R.J. Hampton and shooting guard Gary Harris. Gordon has been inconsistent, hasn’t really lived up to his enormous potential and actually requested a trade because, as he said the other night, there has been an enormous amount of frustration — “frustration with the losses, the injuries, the way we’ve been playing, how we’ve been playing and how many losses have accumulated over the years.”
But Vooch?
Did they really have to trade Vooch (and veteran forward Al-Farouq Aminu) to the Chicago Bulls for a package that includes young big Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and his expiring contract and two first-round draft picks? Vooch is just one of four players in the league to average 21 points and 11 rebounds over the last three seasons. Vooch is top 20 in the league in scoring (24.5 ppg) and top five in the league in rebounding (11.8).
And No. 1 in the league in franchise loyalty.
Yes, I understand the strategic reasoning for trading Vooch, but it doesn’t mean we have to like it. Logically it might make sense, but historically and emotionally it stinks! We all know the Magic’s sordid history of trying futilely to keep their All-Stars (see Shaq, Penny, T-Mac and Dwight) who ended up leaving anyway. Vooch actually wanted to stay and the Magic traded him anyway.
I did a column on Vooch just a couple of weeks ago and he told me that even though he has endured nearly a decade of failed rebuilds, fired coaches, injured teammates and constant losing (the Magic have a collective record nearly 200 games below .500 in Vooch’s nine seasons), he still “loves it” in Orlando.
“I’m happy where I am,” Vooch said. “When I re-signed with the Magic, I knew it was going to be a process and I knew we weren’t going to turn into a championship team right away. It’s unfortunate we’ve had all of these injuries. I think we are headed in the right direction, but we have lost two very important players — Markelle (Fultz) and J.I. (Jonathan Isaac) — for the season. If we were healthier, our goals would be much different and we could achieve much more. But that’s just part of the journey. Unexpected things are going to happen.”
Like what happened on NBA Trade Deadline Thursday when the Magic traded Vooch and blew up the roster. The rationale of Jeff Weltman, the Magic’s president of basketball operations, and GM John Hammond is pretty clear: The current version of the Magic, even with Vooch and even when healthy, was a borderline playoff team.
Give Weltman credit for at least being honest about this roster. He has said all along that the Magic are trying to build a championship contender and, quite frankly, the current team was not headed in that direction. Unfortunately, the accepted and unproven strategy in the NBA is that you have to tear it down to the ground before you can build it back up. You supposedly have to tank to rebuild. And if you’re going to tank, you better go all in.
And that’s exactly what the Magic did Thursday. They traded most of their big contracts, cleared the books and now have four future first-round draft picks and tons of cap flexibility. The problem for Magic fans is that this is the same roll of dice the team tried nine years ago when they were forced to trade Dwight Howard. Eight losing seasons and just two playoff appearances later and those dice obviously came up snake eyes.
Don’t kid yourself, this is a similar long shot. The hope, of course, is that the Magic hit on their draft picks, Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz return healthy from serious knee injuries and blossom into stars, and other young players (Cole Anthony, Chuma Okeke, Mo Bamba, Wendell Carter Jr. and R.J. Hampton) start to bloom as well.
Even if all of these things do happen, the Magic are still years away from being a championship contender.
If some of these things don’t happen, the Magic could be years away from even becoming a borderline playoff team again.
If you’re an Orlando Magic fan today, all you can do is hope for the best, dig in and get ready for another potentially long, losing rebuild.
As sad as it is to see Vooch go, maybe we should all be happy for him that he doesn’t have to endure what the Magic are about to embark upon.
Godspeed to you, Vooch.
Thank you for being a consummate professional.
Thank you for being loyal.
Thank you for never publicly complaining.
Thank you for never criticizing your teammates or the front office.
Thank you for never trying to get the coach fired.
Thank you mostly for actually wanting to be in Orlando.
But sadly, for your future and the Magic’s future, it’s probably best that you’re leaving.
