It sometimes takes a lot of courage for a front office to admit that a rebuilding process isn’t working. Teams spend years obtaining high draft picks and selecting players they think can lead them to contention, and it’s natural to place lots of faith in those prospects if only because giving them the chance to prove themselves requires sacrificing any hope at staying competitive. Deciding that it’s time to start over when the previous plan never really took the franchise anywhere requires a combination of foresight and impressive self-awareness. Many general managers struggle to recognize their own shortcomings.
In at least one respect, then, the Orlando Magic deserve some credit.