Orlando Magic: The Tragic Kingdom

           This is gonna hurt. Not Nikola Vucevic he'll be fine. "Nikola Vucevic returned from a one-game absence due to back injury on Sunday vs. the Raptors, scoring 10 points with nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block in 23 minutes". See he's good, but what is not good right now are the Orlando Magic. The Magic are bad a basketball and can't play at all. There is no hope here for the Magic at all. There is no rising star in the Magic uniform right now. The Magic were a respected franchise now they are a joke.This team is the poster-child of agony. When the Magic were good in the 1990s they ran into the Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler Rockets team in the 1994 finals getting swept in 4 games after blowing Game 1. Then the Magic ran into Michael Jordan and the dynasty Bulls team and got swept in the Eastern Conference Finals the following year. 

          I've seen this team overpay for an injured Grant Hill and put nothing around Tracy McGrady. I've seen this team draft Fran Vazquez in the 2005 draft instead of Danny Granger. Danny Granger had a pretty good career averaging 16.8 ppg during his career while Fran Vazquez never plays for the Magic. Then the Magic got good again in 2009 and beat the Celtics and Cavaliers in the East to get to the NBA Finals only to lose to the Kobe and Pau Gasol dynasty Lakers. Instead of keeping Hedo Turkoglu for the next season they traded him for Vince Carter and don't get past the Celtics in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals. 

         There is a master mind for the Magic being a laughing stock and that guy is Rob Hennigan. Rob Hennigan went into his tenure with his rebuilding plan and botched the living crap out of it. First, he traded Dwight Howard to the Lakers for Nikola Vucevic, Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, 2 2014 Nuggets first-round picks and Lakers 2017 1st-Round pick. Let's look what he did with what he got in the Dwight Howard trade. He trade Dario Saric who has become a good player for a point guard in Elfrid Payton who can't shoot. By the way the Magic never got that 2017 1st-Round Pick from the Lakers, they got a 2017 2nd-Round Pick. Rob did make a good trade in getting Tobias Harris for J.J Redick, but then undid that by trading Tobias Harris for Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings. 2 players who didn't help the Magic get into the playoffs and then left the following year. 

         Rob Hennigan out does himself in the off-season by trading Victor Oladpio and draft rights to Domantas Sabonis for Serge Ibaka who they trade away by the trading deadline for Terrence Ross who can't shoot and a 1st-Round pick. Victor Oladpio goes on to become an all-star for the Indiana Pacers. I'm willing to give John Hammond a chance because he inherited a bad roster from Rob Henningan, but his 1st 2 draft he took Jonathan Issac and Mo Bama when the Magic need guards not bigs in a NBA that is 3-point reliant. 

          Overview: Rob Hennigan set this rebuild back for another 5 years by trading away players like Tobias Harris and Victor Oladpio. The Magic have no shot to land free agents like LeBron James, Paul George, Chris Paul or even trade for Kawhi Leonard. There is no hope here with this team. It's hard for me to be a Magic fan these days knowing there is no hope and this team will be bad again next year. The Magic used to be up there with the Pacers, Trail Blazers and Jazz as respected franchises. Now they are in bad franchises category with the Suns, Kings, Nets and Knicks. This is not baseball where players chase the money. In the NBA players go to good teams which the Magic are not now. I hope Mo Bama becomes the next franchise star and Jonathan Issac becomes a good player. Right now all of us Magic fans can do is hope.