2011-2012 Finish: 38-28

Season Highlight
Playoffs!! The Magic bit the bullet and went hard to turn this team around. Sick of the losing, GM Laddas took a few risks and it paid off with a 5th seed in the Eastern conference, a first round win against the Nets and an 2nd round appearance against the eventual title winners the Cavs. Fans were doing anything to jump on the bandwagon. The success was mostly built on the acquisitions of Pau Gasol and Deron Williams. Two big names capable of leading a team far - an inside and an outside option. There were risks involved - Gasol aint getting any younger and Deron had opt out cloud hanging over him, but Gasol proved to be a winner and Deron has chosen to return - so that's a damn good season for the Magic.


Season Lowlight
Overall it was a very successful season for GM Laddas and the Magic. A 31-51 previous season record turned into a 38-28 success story, so not much must have gone wrong. Probably the main low in a successful season was losing young gun Kyrie Irving - but it got them Deron Williams, so in the end not such a lowlight after all. There could have been a lowlight with Lamar Odom having a brain explosion, but the Magic dodged a bullet and moved him on just prior to his melt down.


Best Trade
It didn't come cheap, but the trade to acquire Pau Gasol was probably the main turning point for the Magic's fortunes. Gasol is an aging player, but he still has plenty to offer, especially on a team where he is a dominant player (such as the Magic). They sent Louis Williams, an undersized guard but a pocket rocket, Andrey Blatche, a young guy with potential, yeah potential to turn into a basket case (2nd bullet dodged, though he was still solid at the time) and their 1st round draft pick to the Wizards for Gasol, so it didn't come cheap. But Gasol was a championship winner the season before with the Wizards, so the Magic took a well calculated risk on an ageing star - and it paid off.


Worst Trade
The Magic made several trades, but they did pretty well out of just about all of them. In all it was a well managed season and they were probably one of the big success stories of the NLL 2011/12 season. But if you had to pick a trade as the worst, it may be the trade that sent Jerryd Bayless, Trevor Booker and Larry Hughes to the Nuggets for Martell Webster, Telfair and Gray. NBA Bayless started to make a name for himself after a favourable trade, so it was a shame to lose a player starting to show potential. But Webster put in some good performances, so it was hardly a big loss - so yeah, more the worst of a season of good trades than anything really bad.


Other Notable Trades
It was a season full of trades. Other than acquiring Gasol, the other big success was getting Deron Williams - it cost them young star Kyrie Irving and Marcus Camby, and Deron was a big risk of bolting at the time, but Deron is still a youngish mid-career star himself and he will be returning to the Magic, so it was another big success. Lamar Odom came in for Barbosa, then went out for Battier and Mike Miller, who then went out for Andre Miller - keeping up? Richard Hamilton went bye-bye in a package for Mikael Pietrus who then put up just as good numbers. Deltone West came in for effectively cash. It all turned out pretty well tbh!


Best FA Signing
There were quite a few comings and goings, but there wasn't really a standout. Lets go with Gary Forbes - he's nothing major, but he scored lots of points in a summer league game once.


Worst FA Signing
Lots of low key signings - but no one expected much from then, so meh .. Mickell Gladness, Solomon Jones, Ronny Turiaf, Sean Williams, Chris Johnson, Ryan Hollins. None of them cost much or offered much or contributed much.


Star
Pau Gasol - PF/C - he isn't getting any younger, but he's still got what it takes to be a dominant inside presence and he led the Magic to the playoffs. Gasol has good playoff pedigree in the NLL, having led the Wizards to a title the season before, so the Magic were really risking their future for short term success - but who can predict the future, so winning now isn't a bad option. Gasol led the team with 25.2 ppg at 59% and 8 rpg to go with 1.8 bpg. Big numbers for a big success story.


Surprise
Mikael Pietrus - G - Pietrus was effectively traded for Richard Hamilton (there were others from both sides in the package, but these were the main figures in the trade). Hamilton was probably still considered the stronger player, and had the bigger salary to match, but Pietrus slotted right in and provided a great outside shooting presence and was a more than adequate replacement for Hamilton at a better price tag.


Goat
Rashard Lewis - F - OK, so he never played a game for the Magic this season and his departure made cap room for the big names/salaries that turned the Magic's season around, BUT his whopping salary meant the Magic had to bit the bullet and use their amnesty on the failing old guy. I really couldn't find any other goat - they got rid of Odom before he went berko.


Draft Report Card
Some might say the Magic never really featured in the draft - having traded away their #1 pick in the Gasol trade and their #2 in the Hamilton/Pietrus trade - but those people would be wrong. With pick #50 the Magic signed Ognjen Kuzmic - look out!


Looking to the Future
So in some ways the Magic gave up some future success by trading Kyrie Irving, Louis Williams, their 1st pick (and at the time Blatche). But it was well worth it. Deron isn't too old and he has opted to hang around, so it all turned out well. The best part of all their moves is that they managed to keep hold of Greg Monroe. Monroe will continue to learn next to Gasol and should develop nicely. Deron will be around for many seasons to come and Gasol still has some kick in him, but you'd expect him to fade in the next couple of seasons.

The advantage of a win now attitude is that it will help make the team more attractive when re-signing players and trying to sign free agents. Without regular season success, the Magic could have continued to be mediocre and not attracted any decent quality players. They currently only have 5 players under contract for next season, so there is some work to do to keep the team in a winning situation, but if they continue as they did last season the magic are heading in the right direction.


Upcoming Free Agents
Deron Williams will return as should Delotne West, Andre Miller and Terrel Harris. That will actually eat up a lot of their salary cap room, so it's hard to imagine they will figure heavily in free agency unless they can snag a cheap quality player. Unfortunately, Martel Webster may well bail and Mikael Pietrus' status is very much up in the air, so they will need to find a replacement at SG.