The age-old philosophical question came to mind Wednesday night as we waited for the Orlando Magic to make their first-round pick in the NBA’s draft:
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
Likewise, if an NBA team makes its first-round draft pick and no one is around to cheer, does it make a difference?
The answer is a resounding NO!
And, if you’re a Magic fan, that’s a reason in itself to celebrate.
The Magic typically have a party at the arena on draft night, but not this year. You see, by the time they picked Brazilian-German forward Tristan da Silva out of the University of Colorado with the 18th pick, a draft party Wednesday night wouldn’t have started until after most people’s bedtimes. This year the Magic, who weren’t in the lottery for the first time since 2020, should have had a party before the draft to celebrate the fact that they weren’t having a party during the draft.
Rule Of Thumb: When teams host a draft party, it means they stink and all their fans have to feel good about is who is the latest hope du jour acquired with a lottery pick.
Rule Of Thumb II: When your team doesn’t host a draft party and the fans aren’t giddy and gung-ho about your late-round selection, it usually means your team is pretty good, coming off a playoff appearance and already has a roster filled with stars and potential stars.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not at all saying the da Silva pick is irrelevant for the Magic; I’m just saying this draft isn’t as integral to the team’s championship hopes as drafts in the past. Finally, the Magic have gone from perpetually rebuilding their roster to tweaking and fine-tuning it.
It’s no secret the Magic are at a point now where the free-agency-negotiating window and signing period that starts on Sunday is more important than the draft was Wednesday night.
The fact of the matter is, this draft didn’t have much buzz from a local or national standpoint. What does it tell you when seemingly 99 percent of the pre-draft media coverage focused on whether the Los Angeles Lakers would use their second-round pick to draft Bronny James so he can play with his father LeBron. That’s right, the No. 1 storyline heading into the draft was whether a borderline second-round pick would get chosen by a mediocre play-in team.
Who would have ever thought the Magic’s future would be brighter than the Lakers? Even though the Magic lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Cleveland Cavaliers, they pushed the series to a Game 7 and proved they could compete with the No. 4 seed in the East. And they currently have the cap space to pursue a star free agent who could quickly elevate the Magic into a potential championship contender.
However, when I asked Jeff Weltman, the Magic’s president of basketball operations, earlier this week whether the draft has become secondary to free agency in the team’s development, he wasn’t quite ready to go there. He intimated that drafting and developing talent is still the “North Star” that will guide this team down a potential championship path.
“We’re not going to lose the North Star of our team,” Weltman said. “That said, I want to really emphasize this: There’s no one in this building — no one, [including] players, coaches, staff — that’s patting themselves on the back right now. We haven’t done anything yet. We’ve got to work to get back to where we were last year. And it’s going to be hard to do that. … If we have an opportunity to add veteran players who are like-minded to what we’re trying to do; who understand the overall scheme of where we’re trying to take the team; who add to our talent base and experience level while blending in then, yeah, we’ll pursue that.”
Weltman — and no GM, for that matter — will ever come right out and say that the draft just isn’t as important as it was last year or the year before. However, he did acknowledge that the Magic have had to “recalibrate” their draft-night expectations with the 18th pick.
“It’s always important to get your draft picks right if you can,” Weltman said. “And it’s a chance to add a good young player who will continue on the legacy of what you’re trying to build on the court, off the court, in the locker room. And the beauty of the draft is you get to bring somebody in who becomes what the Orlando Magic are about from Day 1. If that person and player can grow into that, and become a meaningful player for your team, it’s worth its weight in gold.”
Translation: It would be great if the Magic were to find a Joe Dumars with the 18th overall pick like the Detroit Pistons did three decades ago, but statistics tell us that most No.18 picks don’t turn into stars.
And then there’s this: Do the Magic really need another young, developmental player on a roster that still has last year’s two lottery picks — Anthony Black and Jett Howard — trying to work their way into the rotation?
Then again, da Silva is 23 years old — older than the Magic’s three leading scorers Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs — and played four years of college basketball. He is certainly more developed than the traditional one-and-done lottery pick. In fact, Weltman says da Silva has “shooting, skill, IQ and positional size. To check all of those boxes with the 18th pick is a good days’ work.”
Having so much young talent on an up-and-coming playoff team is a great situation to be in although it certainly took away much of the drama and anticipation from Wednesday night.
A tree falls in the forest and makes no sound.
The NBA holds a draft and creates no buzz.
For Orlando fans, this is a reason to celebrate, raise a glass and propose a toast.
Here’s to a boring and quiet draft night because it means Magic are poised to make some exciting noise in the days, months and years ahead.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen
