In 2010 when forward LeBron James left The Cleveland Cavaliers to sign with The Miami Heat, it let the smaller-market teams in The National Basketball Association know that they had to change. James went to The Heat as a free-agent while The Cavaliers got nothing in return except for a yearly invite to participate in The NBA Draft Lottery. The Orlando Magic did not want the same fate that Cleveland suffered. The Magic organization had gone down this route in 1996 when center Shaquille O’Neal bolted as a free-agent to sign with The Los Angeles Lakers. All-Star center Dwight Howard had an on-again, off-again relationship with The Magic’s front office during his last few years with the team. By 2012, Magic owner Richard DeVos had seen enough as he fired head coach Stan Van Gundy and general manager Otis Smith. New Magic general manager Rob Hennigan tried to patch things up with Howard, but to no avail. The Magic were not going to let Howard depart from Disney World in the same fashion as O’Neal did without getting something in return. Howard’s heart was in New York as he wanted to be a member of The Brooklyn Nets, but the finances didn’t work out for The Magic. Hennigan held his ground as he wanted The Nets to take on the contracts of Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon, and Hedo Turkoglu, but Nets general manager Billy King would not agree to that proposition. Ultimately, Hennigan found a deal that worked for The Magic.
A four-team trade was struck as The Magic, Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Denver Nuggets played “Let’s Make A Deal”. The Magic sent Howard to The Lakers while they also freed up salary cap space and got younger.
With a record of 18-49, The Magic are out of playoff contention this season but Hennigan has found a building block in center Nikola Vucevic.
During his collegiate days at The University of Southern California, Vucevic was a one-man wrecking machine in The Pac-10 Conference as he averaged 17.1 points per game along with 10.3 rebounds per game during his junior season. The 76ers saw potential in Vucevic as they drafted him with the 16th overall pick in The 2011 NBA Draft.
As a rookie, Vucevic only averaged 15.9 minutes per game behind Sixers starting center Spencer Hawes. From the four-team trade, Philadelphia would receiver center Andrew Bynum and Vucevic was shipped to Orlando.
Vucevic has made the most of his time with The Magic as he is currently fifth in The NBA in rebounding as he averages 11.5 rebounds per game. Vucevic has had 13 games this season where he has recorded 15 or more rebounds which was highlighted by a 29-rebound performance against The Heat on New Year’s Eve. Not even Howard or O’Neal were able to achieve this during their time in a Magic uniform.
There is nothing flashy about Vucevic’s game as he just shows up on a nightly basis and makes things happen for The Magic.
Hennigan knew what he was doing in acquiring Vucevic. Henningan learned his trade in the front offices of both The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. Neither The Spurs or Thunder play in big media-markets which makes it that more paramount to install a system of drafting players and developing talent. Henningan was able to part with a disgruntled player in Howard while obtaining young and hungry players such as Vucevic that want to be in Orlando. With this formula it won’t take The Magic that long to once again become a playoff team.
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