As teams complete their seasons, ESPN Insider's NBA team will take a look at the offseason picture and priorities for all 30 teams. Below, Kevin Pelton offers a snapshot of the Orlando Magic.
2014-15 record: 25-57
Pythagorean record: 26-56
Offensive rating: 99.6 (27th)
Defensive rating: 105.2 (25th)
Draft picks
Own first-round pick (fifth entering lottery)
Chicago second-round pick (51st or 52nd, pending coin flip)
Projected cap space
Maximum: $23.9 million
Minimum: $7.7 million
Likely: $16.6 million
What's returning
A core of young talent accumulated through the lottery, most notably the promising but flawed backcourt of Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo. Payton improved dramatically over the course of his rookie season, posting a fine 3.27 assist-turnover ratio after the All-Star break (it was 2.31 beforehand) and showing disruptive defensive ability. According to real plus-minus, he's already Orlando's best player despite his shortcomings as a shooter. Payton made 11 3-pointers all season and shot worse than 56 percent from the free throw line.
Oladipo thrived in a wide-open offensive attack after the break, averaging 20.3 points per game, though his scoring efficiency (.527 true shooting percentage) remains substandard. Oladipo must improve his finishing, having made just 56.2 percent of his shots within three feet as a pro, per Basketball-Reference.com. And his defense, touted as his signature skill coming out of Indiana, has yet to translate to the NBA.
Center Nikola Vucevic was the team's best offensive weapon, averaging 19.3 points on 52.3 percent shooting. Alas, Vucevic's weak interior defense prevented the Magic from pairing him with Channing Frye, a disappointment as the team's biggest addition in free agency. Instead, Orlando had more success with DeWayne Dedmon at power forward next to Vucevic. The Magic outscored opponents by 0.3 points per 100 possessions with Dedmon on the court, per NBA.com/Stats, the team's best mark.
Evan Fournier had promising moments in the first half of the season before missing 21 of the final 23 games with a sore hip. Talented young wing Maurice Harkless spent most of his season on the bench, as did Andrew Nicholson, while No. 4 pick Aaron Gordon's adjustment to the NBA and the wing were slowed by a stress fracture in his right foot.
Free agents
Having signed Vucevic to a four-year, $48 million extension, Orlando now must figure out what to do with restricted free agent Tobias Harris. Harris averaged 17.1 points per game and supplied needed 3-point shooting (36.4 percent) next to the team's poor-shooting guards. However, his defense caused RPM to rate him far below average, making it tough to justify matching the kind of offers Harris will likely get. Backup center Kyle O'Quinn, a favorite of advanced stats in limited minutes, is also a restricted free agent.
The Magic will likely free up $7.25 million in additional cap space by waiving veteran guards Ben Gordon and Luke Ridnour.
Biggest need: shooting
Orlando has drafted for athleticism and defense over shooting the last two years, adding Oladipo, Payton and Aaron Gordon -- all of whom are below-average shooters for their respective positions. They were only slightly below average from 3-point range thanks largely to the contributions of Frye, who supplied 136 triples at a 39.3 percent clip from the power forward spot. When Frye is on the bench, however, the court can get awfully small for the Magic offense. Alternatively, perhaps the problem is the athletes Orlando has drafted haven't translated enough defensively to cover for Frye's limitations at the other end.
Biggest question: When does potential become production?
This summer marks three years since the Magic traded Dwight Howard and commenced a rebuild, and Orlando hasn't progressed appreciably beyond the league's worst teams. The Magic's minus-5.7 point differential was closer to the league's bottom four than any team above them. Meanwhile, other young teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Utah Jazz coalesced into competitive outfits, particularly at the defensive end of the court.
Jacque Vaughn paid for the lack of tangible results with his job at midseason, but Orlando was only marginally more competitive under interim replacement James Borrego (minus-4.6 point differential). We'll see whether a new coach can move the Magic away from rebuilding and toward competing.
Ideal offseason
Tom Thibodeau parts ways with the Chicago Bulls and decides to take the coaching job in Orlando. Harris leaves via free agency and the Magic replace him with Duke forward Justise Winslow, whose 3-point shooting carries over from his lone college season. The elite athletes on the perimeter help Thibodeau improve the Orlando defense into the league's top 10, and the team gets just enough shooting to scrape by while taking full advantage of transition opportunities.