Top Five What-Ifs in Orlando Magic History
What if…
V. Something out of Rob Hennigan’s control had gone Henny’s way.
What if the league didn’t trend away from dominant inside-scoring focused big men like Nikola Vucevic. What if outside forces didn’t force Rob Hennigan to give up on Victor Oladipo and Tobias Harris for an ill-advised playoff push earlier than expected for such a young team? What if the Magic had won the lottery when Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Deangelo Russell, or Henny’s beloved international prospect, Kristaps Porzingis, were the prize of the party?
Asking, “what-if Hennigan had made better draft choices with the picks he DID end up with?” is another topic entirely. Henny generally took the best defensive prospect available, and although he missed out on a few sleepers like C.J. McCollum, Devin Booker, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, so did everybody else. Well, except for the Magic’s new pair of J’s, of course. No, this what-if is dedicated to honoring Hennigan’s honorable attempt at pulling “the process” off right under everyone’s noses.
Rob Hennigan came to Orlando with basically just Dwight Howard, JJ Redick and Ryan Anderson as assets. He turned the roster upside down, waking up Orlando from its dwightmare, maneuvering until the Magic featured Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless, Tobias Harris, and a few leftover fun veterans from the 2009 NBA Finals’ days. The year after, the Magic won their only lottery in the five drafts after losing Dwight, winning the second overall pick. Sadly, this class didn’t offer any obvious locks at the top of the draft, forcing the Cavs to select Anthony Bennett before Henny brought Victor Oladipo into the mix. Before the season ends, Rob signed Dewayne Dedmon to a contract for the rest of the year after completing a 10-day deal. Henny would go on to flip a veteran scorer, Aaron Afflalo, for a relatively unknown prospect, Evan Fournier, the day after drafting two long, athletic prospects, Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton. The summer of 2014 served as both the peak of optimism felt by fans feeling out a rebuilding process and tipping point to the downfall of the Henny era, quite evidently the worst half-decade in franchise history.
From here on out, not a whole lot really makes sense. A dice roll on the exciting prospect out of Croatia, #PaperMario Hezonja, after missing out on the top four obvious prospects in the draft is one thing. Trading MoeHark for a 2nd round pick to free up minutes for five other wing prospects before moving two of said wing prospects within the calendar year is another. Moving Tobias Harris for cap space and a hopeful playoff push from Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova, before flipping off Magic enthusiasts on draft night by trading the pick, Ilyasova, and fan-favorite Victor Oladipo for Serge Ibaka, a withering, old PF who plays the same position as Orlando’s other best player, Aaron Gordon, is a whooooooole third thing. Something was out of whack.
Maybe Scott Skiles threatened to quit midway through his first season as Head Coach, and moves were made to appease his grumpy outset on player interaction. Perhaps ownership took the side of Skiles, one of the most recognized persons in Orlando Magic history, when it came to certain basketball decisions over Hennigan, relatively a novice in the profession. With Rob’s contract ending in a year, maybe the decision to go big by trading Ola for Ibaka was the only gamble Henny had left to zig while others zag, both in hopes of making the playoffs and potentially saving his job. By salvaging the expiring Ibaka for a late first round pick and Terrence Ross, who is either underrated because of his playing time in Toronto or overrated because of his outlandish dunking ability, Henny has another talking point in his next job interview on how he made smart, incremental moves to gain assets likely to increase in value while leaving the Magic a much cleaner whiteboard than the dirty, one-of-the-wheels-is-busted, creeky-sounding chalkboard Otis Smith left behind.
IV. T-Mac’s trade demands fell through forcing him to stay with the rookie, Dwight Howard.
Tracy wanted to win; he wanted to score, but McGrady wanted the grand prize. After four thrilling, tumultuous seasons in Orlando with Mike Miller as his only healthy sidekick, Tracy’s Magic held the worst record in the East; T-Mac was ready to move on. He demanded a trade in the year 2004, publicly announcing his lack of enthusiasm with the idea of waiting around for a rookie Dwight Howard or Emeka Okafor to develop to fruition; McGrady was hungry for his first ring, let alone any playoff success. After the trade went down, McGrady said, “I just knew it was going to take time. I’m happy and it’s time to move on. I can’t predict the future, but it definitely would be nice. The ultimate goal is to win a championship for the Houston Rockets. Bring me a championship, big man. Bring me a championship. I’ve led the league in scoring two consecutive years. As long as we win, that’s all that matters to me. I’m going to try to go in there and do what I do. If that consists of me sacrificing, giving Yao the ball and playing through other guys, that’s what I’ll do. I think both teams are going to benefit from this trade. I got want I wanted. Orlando got three solid players. Houston was definitely the number 1 team on my list.”
If only something had gone wrong with the trade, forcing McGrady to stay in the blue and white pinstripes for at least one more year. Dwight may have not been an All-Star like Shaq or Duncan were out of the gates, but Howard’s shoulder pads were seething with potential since day one. Throw in collegiate player of the year, Jameer Nelson, also joining the Magic at the time, and patience from Tracy might have gone a long way. It took the Magic five years to work there way back from the bottom; with T-Mac only returning a fading star in Steve Francis, plus Cat Mobley and Kelvin Cato, Orlando was basically starting from scratch with Dwight and Jameer. The Magic quickly brought in Hedo Turkoglu and smartly overpaid Rashard Lewis to build a three point monster slightly before its time. If the salaries worked out for all five starters, could you imagine the playoff battles between the Pistons, Celtics, and Cavs of the late 2000’s vs. a lineup of Jameer T-Mac Turkoglu Rashard and Dwight? Wait, no, you’re right… I don’t want to think about it, either.
III. Stan Van skips Jameer in lou of Rafer in the 2009 NBA Finals
This what-if is tricky. Jameer Nelson, Orlando’s beloved franchise point guard, Dwight’s little buddy, was recovering from injury during the NBA Finals after his lone All-Star season. Back when Nelson went down, Otis Smith had to act fast to keep the title contender afloat, bringing in Rafer “Skip to My Lou” Alston from Houston in a three-way trade with Memphis involving Brian Cook, Adonal Foyle, and a 2009 first round pick. Now, with Rafer on board, the Magic’s offense skipped everything but the beat; Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat, JJ Reddick, Mickael Pietrus, Keith Bogans, and Anthony Johnson were ready for anything. This squad would go on to takeover the basketball world, becoming the only team in the Eastern Conference to never lose a playoff series to LeBron James while knocking out the KG-less Celtics in the process of appearing in the franchise’s second NBA Finals. With the Lakers on the horizon, the 3-and-Dwight team built nearly a decade before the Warriors won with small ball was ready for anything. Stan Van, though, suddenly had to deal with a “good” problem; his all-star starting point guard had suddenly recovered from a season-ending shoulder surgery just in time for the Finals.
Most coaches wouldn’t mess up a good thing by jolting Jameer back into the starting lineup; that being said, it’s hard to blame Stan. Jameer had lit up the Lakers in the two games they face each other during the regular season, filling out the stat sheet with 27 PPG, 6.5 APG, and 5 RPG in seventy total minutes, shooting 58.8% from the field and 58.3% from three-point range during just two games. Albeit a microscopic sample size, Nelson had clearly proven to be able to embarass Derek Fisher in the only two opportunities he was given to do so. Jameer had grown with the core of this team, leading the squad as Co-Captains with Dwight, now years away from the desolate roster left behind by the T-Mac era. Stan Van may have felt pressure from fans, management, or players to reward Jameer with playing time for his accolades; the NBA Finals just might not have been the best place for to try to play back into game-shape after spending four months recovering from shoulder-surgery
Replacing Rafer Alston, the pass-first guard who succinctly managed the game and made all the right plays as the second ball-handler behind Hedo, with Jameer Nelson, the score-first guard who didn’t offer much if his shot wasn’t falling, would prove to be part of the downfall for the Orlando Magic. Fans can blame a missed behind-the-backboard layup attempt by C.Lee or be upset over yet another stupid Derek Fisher shot going in, but a basketball game is rarely actually decided by just one play. The good head coach makes decisions throughout the game and changes gameplans mid-series to gain any competitive advantage over a basketball god like Kobe in his prime. Stan Van rolled the dice with the hobbled, incumbent starter, disallowing Rafer Alston skip to his lou one final time.
II. Timmyyyyyyyyy
Tracy McGrady. Grant Hill. Tim Duncan. If John Gabriel had pulled this off, I can’t tell you how many bandwagon fans us real Magic fans would be dealing with in Orlando to this day. A healthy core of T-Magic, G-Money, and Timmyyyyyyyy might have eclipsed the five rings Duncan won with the Spurs. To put it in perspective, Tracy would put up 30ppg on his way to two scoring titles and an All-NBA team immediately after signing in Orlando. Grant Hill was coming off three straight 2nd-team ALL NBA seasons after a 1st-team All-NBA stint in 1996; Tim Duncan had played in the association for three total years up to this summer, making the 1st-team All-NBA in all three seasons.
Uniting a historically lethal shooting guard, an unbelievably elite play-maker, and a big, fundamentally-sound power-forward, all of whom are each capable of making an All-Defense team, can only be compared to two of the greatest teams of all time: Hyperbole aside, its not crazy to say the hypothetical 2000 Magic would resemble any Big-3 in history, ala MJ’s Bulls or Lebron’s Heat; a healthy Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady were that good, like “MJ and Scottie” or “Wade and LeBron” good, let alone Tim Duncan being way above the legendary ladder of power-forwards from Rodman, Bosh, or Horace, making up for the overall rating of this hypothetical trio. Potentially the biggest what-if in Magic history; sometimes injury and luck simply don’t go a team’s way. The rumor that all of this fell through because of Duncan’s wife is ridiculous; if someone in Orlando told Timmyyyyy that family can’t fly to away games with the team, then the Magic didn’t deserve Timmyyyyy. You buy Tim Duncan and his family their own private jet for away games if he’s willing to sign with your team; the man is the Greatest. Power. Forward. Of. All. Time.
I. SHAQ and Penny…or C-Webb and SHAQ?
The Shaq and Penny what-if is too obvious and sad to delve into; the Shaq-Attack obviously should have been paid as one of the ten best basketball players ever. The breakup of Shaq and Penny was inexcusable, making fans tear up to this day…sorry, I need a minute. Okay, okay, I’ll move on: What if the Magic had paired up C-Webb and Shaq?
This question does not imply the Magic should have necessarily kept Chris Webber over Penny Hardaway and three future firsts; it simply asks what could have been had Orlando paired the two most explosive big men in the association with a back-court home-grown in drafts prior. With Scott Skiles still in the fold at point guard, Nick Anderson and 3-D Dennis Scott on the wing, the hole in the roster at power forward seemed obvious for the Magic back in ’93. The logical choice to fill the void at the four during the 1993 NBA Draft was Mr. Fab Five himself, Chris Webber. However, back in the pre-draft hype period, Shawn Bradley and little-known Anfernee Hardaway stormed up draft boards, earning calls to be selected with the top pick themselves. Here’s each potential lineup:
Scott Skiles, Nick Anderson, 3-D Dennis Scott, Chris Webber and SHAQ
vs.
Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson, 3-D Dennis Scott, Horace Grant and SHAQ
Both units look perfect on paper; the biggest issue that arose back then concerned Shaq and C-Webb working together on the court. Orlando would have an insane advantage down-low; so much so that that it may have become difficult to consistently keep both bigs happy. Think of Kobe and Shaq fighting back and forth for touches, only in this situation its two scary seven footers hovering over the napoleon-complexed Scott Skiles, constantly pressuring him for the ball. Would play on the court smooth over time? Winning cures everything, so after this hypothetical squad makes the playoffs, seeing how easy it is to dominate the glass, maybe Shaq and C-Webb get along after all. As hindsight shows, Shaq and Penny were a force to be reckoned with in the mid-90’s, a true dynasty in the making. Something clashed and broke it all apart; Shaq left for purple and golder pastures while Penny stayed loyal to Orlando, practically willing his team back to the playoffs and tearing down his legs in the process.For now, Magic fans will have to ask “what-if”, not only to the moves Orlando made, but to all the possible maneuvers that could have been.
💸
