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Polling each fan forum to get their take on the upcoming season

40-44

43

I keep changing my mind. The truth is that this team added 2 role players and a rookie, so expecting a 20 win improvement is creating very high expectations. On the other hand, this team is the definition of potential, so many players could breakout this year which could easily transition into 20 more wins. If the team stays healthy, I'd say 40 wins is a good guess.

I went with 25-29. I nearly voted 30-34 but I think we're more likely to finish at 28 or 29.

I'd say our range is 27-33.

People expecting a 20 win improvement will be disappointed. Unless hezonja is lbj I don't see how 40 wins happens.

I selected 25-29 wins. The team didn't make any moves to get better. Sure, some of the young guys are going to improve and the Magic have a decent coach. But, that's not going to make for a 20 win improvement like some people seem to think.

purpleswordfish wrote:I selected 25-29 wins. The team didn't make any moves to get better. Sure, some of the young guys are going to improve and the Magic have a decent coach. But, that's not going to make for a 20 win improvement like some people seem to think.

*cough* your avatar *cough*

edit: I put 40-44. I thought this was a mid 30 win team last season but didn't realize how terrible Vaughn was as a coach. Expect at least one of our young guys to make the leap to all-star.

UCFJayBird wrote:

purpleswordfish wrote:I selected 25-29 wins. The team didn't make any moves to get better. Sure, some of the young guys are going to improve and the Magic have a decent coach. But, that's not going to make for a 20 win improvement like some people seem to think.

*cough* your avatar *cough*

edit: I put 40-44. I thought this was a mid 30 win team last season but didn't realize how terrible Vaughn was as a coach. Expect at least one of our young guys to make the leap to all-star.

So, it all comes down to coaching I suppose? Vaughn was why this team was awful last year and Skiles will be the reason the team will be respectable? I just don't see it. People have tried over the years to come up with statistics to analyze a coach's worth to no avail. I guess I'm odd and think that the five guys on the floor have a lot more to do with winning and losing then the guy on the sideline holding a clipboard.

But, most NBA fans - and even the Magic GM - like to use the coach as the "problem." If things don't go significantly better under Skiles, is he going to get run out of town as well? I'm really trying to understand the rationale on this message board. At some point, you have to also look at the guy building the teams and the players on that team.

The interesting thing about polling all teams is that we will learn that teams win more than they lose (or in other words, we all expect the best). That said, I see Orlando as about a 41-win team, and to be a Homer, I would have to go with something like 50 wins.

If everything breaks for Orlando (Payton gains a jumper; Oladipo lowers his TOs; Harris emerges as a 23+ ppg guy; Frye and Vučević fit in a team defensive scheme; the bench emerges as a lot better with fit, upgrades, and personal improvements of Gordon, Hezonja, Watson, Smith, and Dedmon: Orlando could win a lot more than 40 games.

A truly healthy Magic that plays perfect team ball could win 50 games. For me, this is the maximum upside for the team.

On the low end, Orlando declines only through massive injuries. Three or four long-term injuries and Orlando cannot win 30 games. I have their absolute low end at 24 games. There is actual depth now so the team cannot tank it to another very high draft pick.

..

No significant roster upgrade. Most probably the starter will be pretty similar as last year: Payton. Oladipo. Harris. Frye. Vucevic This produced a measly 25 wins. I say they will not win more than 34 this time. Well good enough for 7th pick.
Silver: With the 7th pick of the 2016 NBA draft; the Orlando Magic select ............

Anything less than 30 is a big disappointment and shakes our FO, anything over 35 should be considered as success. With practically same team as last season, the result is almost exclusively on Skiles, but if he fails, Henny takes the heat for not assembling better fitting pieces. If we are on the same ol' road around trade deadline, anything might happen.

I voted 35-39. This is good enough progress for me to be happy. If we win less then 35, I'll be the first to call for major changes. But now I wanna see how this team performs under Skiles and his staff compared to how they did under JV and Ray Romano. People tend to underestimate our internal growth and Watson's signing. Many eyes will be on this squad led by youngins and I think they will deliver.

I think the Magic will win between 38-44 games (barring major injuries). The signifigant upgrade at coach, internal growth from our young players, and much MUCH improved bench from new pieces (thank you God for no Willie Green) should all make a difference.

purpleswordfish wrote:

UCFJayBird wrote:

purpleswordfish wrote:I selected 25-29 wins. The team didn't make any moves to get better. Sure, some of the young guys are going to improve and the Magic have a decent coach. But, that's not going to make for a 20 win improvement like some people seem to think.

*cough* your avatar *cough*

edit: I put 40-44. I thought this was a mid 30 win team last season but didn't realize how terrible Vaughn was as a coach. Expect at least one of our young guys to make the leap to all-star.

So, it all comes down to coaching I suppose? Vaughn was why this team was awful last year and Skiles will be the reason the team will be respectable? I just don't see it. People have tried over the years to come up with statistics to analyze a coach's worth to no avail. I guess I'm odd and think that the five guys on the floor have a lot more to do with winning and losing then the guy on the sideline holding a clipboard.

But, most NBA fans - and even the Magic GM - like to use the coach as the "problem." If things don't go significantly better under Skiles, is he going to get run out of town as well? I'm really trying to understand the rationale on this message board. At some point, you have to also look at the guy building the teams and the players on that team.

why are you disregarding tanking completely?

statistics do play a huge role in rationalizing why a coach has the potential to make a huge leap with a certain team. for skiles, it's all about defensive efficiency. how can you say it's "to no avail"?

if things don't go better with skiles (which isn't going to happen), then our pieces don't fit and we need to make a trade. all of this is fluid as we're still trying to find out who we are as a team and what fits.

NBAchamps2017 wrote:No significant roster upgrade. Most probably the starter will be pretty similar as last year: Payton. Oladipo. Harris. Frye. Vucevic This produced a measly 25 wins. I say they will not win more than 34 this time. Well good enough for 7th pick.
Silver: With the 7th pick of the 2016 NBA draft; the Orlando Magic select ............

that lineup makes me want to throw up. I expect to see changes in lineups soon since we have hezonja and AG who potentially have a legit case to replace Oladipo and Harris respectively.

Payton / Oladipo / Gordon / Harris / Vuc

Payton / Hezonja / Gordon / Harris / Vuc

Oladipo / Hezonja / Gordon / Harris / Vuc

Any one of those is much better. Bring Frye off the damn bench, Skiles. . .

44-38. Book it.


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I think realistically around 35. Marginal improvement, but like last year when people were predicting 40+, we're not there yet.

I voted 30-34 (still an improvement), but wouldn't be surprised if it somewhere in the mid twenties. The team still lacks an interior presence on defense. Game plans will eventually devolve into the same impossible choice they did last year: Sag to take away the paint and give up the three, or play straight up and allow a ton of points inside.

Skiles will give us more discipline on both ends, enough for a few more wins, but not enough to make us a .500 ball club.

NBAchamps2017 wrote:No significant roster upgrade. Most probably the starter will be pretty similar as last year: Payton. Oladipo. Harris. Frye. Vucevic This produced a measly 25 wins. I say they will not win more than 34 this time. Well good enough for 7th pick.
Silver: With the 7th pick of the 2016 NBA draft; the Orlando Magic select ............

You don't always need significant roster upgrades to get better. Given the rumors out of JV's training camp last year, just having a real and tangible defensive scheme in place that all the guys understand should give us a huge boost. If you remember how bad the team defense was last year, that's on the coach.

But the big thing is with young teams, they aren't usually very good. It takes time to learn the NBA. Every year our guys are together they will get better, so even if the team added NOBODY you should expect an improvement. But we didn't add nobody, we added Mario, CJ and Jason. We lost Harkless, Ridnour, BG and KOQ. I think that's a pretty significant improvement over the guys we lost.

Anyway, if you had to pin me down on a single number, I'd say 39 and 8th seed.

I went 40-44.

This team definitely underachieved last year when you look at teams in similar situations to The Magic like Boston, Milwaukee and Utah.

An experienced head coach and another year of improvement and cohesion for the team's young core is going to mean more for this team then many think.

The team did make a few improvements too at...

Small Forward with Mario Hezonja replacing Maurice Harkless and getting one of the league's best backup point guards in C.J. Watson.

I really like both and their three-point shooting is really going to help this team.

The Magic are going to make the playoffs this year. Book it!