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Orlando Magic Research Paper

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The Orlando Magic have had some very impactful players, and have experienced some pretty good success in their short history as an NBA franchise. It wasn’t always this way though, starting out as an NBA franchise the Magic struggled mightily The Orlando Magic entered the NBA as one of the two expansion teams that began play in the 1989-90 season, the other being the Minnesota Timberwolves. The early years for the franchise was disastrous with them being perennially one of the worst teams in the NBA. The Magic began a really quick turnaround when it selected Center Shaquille O’neal with the first pick in the 1992 NBA draft (“Orlando Magic”). The following years for the Magic under O’neal would be known as “The Shaq era” Shaquille O’neal was a star center in the NBA from 1992-2011 he was known for his strength and powerful slam dunks (Davenport). O’neal was drafted first overall by the Magic in the 1992 NBA draft out of Louisiana State University Aka LSU. …show more content…

The Magic really stopped being contenders once Howard left and they have been searching for a franchise player ever since. “Nikola Vucevic, the man tasked with filling the void left in the middle by Howard, took a step forward in 2012-13. He averaged 14.2 points and 12.9 rebounds per 36 minutes after going for 12.5 and 10.9 with the Sixers during his rookie season.” (Jones). Perhaps the closest thing to Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’neal that the Magic have found in the draft came in 2014 when they drafted Aaron Gordon with the 4th pick. Gordon has shown strengths in rebounding and scoring but lacks in playmaking and defense. Gordon burst onto the scene in the 2016 dunk contest when he took second in a jam packed Dunk Contest behind Zach Lavine. While Gordon is the current best player on the Magic he has not fully filled the void that was left by Shaquille O’neal and Dwight Howard left when they signed those lucrative deals with the Los Angeles

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