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I know this has been discussed a lot. Many people think we are one year away from being competitive thinking about a loaded 2023 NBA Draft and prove of concept of young Magicians playing well together.

But IMO I think Magic needs to make the leap this year by winning a lot more games. I know the argument, we are still a young and bad team. And we won't improve in winning column that much.

However, I disagree. We didn't have Jonathan Isaac this past season and we didn't have a fully healthy Fultz plus the young rookie Paolo Banchero wasn't even on the roster. That is 3 impactful players plus I think Jalen Suggs will improve a lot also.

We brought it back with Gary Harris and Mo Bamba. Plus Cole Anthony is in his 3rd year and he will make improvement in his inconsistent shooting.

If you follow the league and especially followed Cleveland and Memphis, you know a young team can make a leap in a season and become competitive and promising in their own development.

I think Magic could become just like that. Don't forget, we have Paolo Banchero and a loaded roster.

That is why fans follow this team. Because it brings in excitement and unlimited possibilities.

Don't forget, next year's offseason, we not only have draft picks, we have cap space. We can make a run at a star. But also, we might already have a star on our team already!

Good luck! Magic wins!

Is 2023 draft really "loaded" ? It's Victor Wembanyama or bust. Other 3 players mocked to be drafted top 5 are point guards. And NIck Smith... is Kyle Anderson of shooting guards. Slow, methodical, very skinny. Long, but not uber athletic.

MasterGMer wrote:If you follow the league and especially followed Cleveland and Memphis, you know a young team can make a leap in a season and become competitive and promising in their own development.

You'll likely need Isaac healthy and back in form to pull a Cleveland like surprise. Remember that it was the Cavs defense that really caught everyone off guard with their twin tower look of Mobley/Allen, and they kind of struggled when Allen went out with injury. If Isaac is healthy, then maybe him and Franz can really form a good defensive duo with their length.

Also, Garland became a legit all-star. I don't know if you can expect that from anyone in the Magic backcourt. Bottom line is there needs to be much better and consistent play from the backcourt. If Anthony and Suggs both shoot < 40% FG and < 35% from 3 again, that's gonna be tough to overcome. They have to shoot better.

I like Paolo a lot, though. I don't think it'll be long before he becomes a real load for opposing defenses to handle.

Marginal gains for 2022/23.

That is my fan-expectation!

MasterGMer wrote:But IMO I think Magic needs to make the leap this year by winning a lot more games. I know the argument, we are still a young and bad team. And we won't improve in winning column that much.

Starting night 2021/22
Anthony/Hampton
Suggs/Ross
F-Wagner/Brazdeikis
Carter/M-Wagner
Bamba/Lopez
(and there was only these 10 players healthy!)

vs

projected starting night 2022/23
Fultz/Anthony/Cannady
Harris/Suggs
F-Wagner/Okeke/Ross/Houstan
Banchero/Isaac/Bol
Carter/Bamba/M-Wagner
(flip Suggs and Harris if you think so)

This is comparing a G-league to a NBA-league roster.

If Orlando stays healthy, the Magic will win at least 10 more games than last season. It is only that the East is improving that a 40-win season is impossible.


..

No.

I think they win under 30 games and then make the “leap” next year when they add better veteran talent through free agency and trades to supplement the young core.

They won’t be good this year.

Banchero will be learning the pace and system of the nba structure.

Franz and Suggs will be better, but they are still two years in.

Isaac is coming off a major injury and hasn’t seriously played in forever.

I give it one more season until Orlando starts surprising people with consistent wins.

Orlando will be a top choice for league pass amongst non-Magic fans. That’s a positive direction since Dwight left.

I counted about 32 games last year that we lost by less then 10 points. Maybe 20 of those were 5 or less. Some of those being intentional for tanking the last of the season. We saw games where you know our starters could have won, but the let the end of the bench finish the game.
You don’t think with Paleo and internal improvement, not to mention getting 2 good players back, that we can’t at least win 20 of those 32 games? That would mean only scoring 5 to 10 more points. That’s only 2 to 4 more buckets.
Assuming our defense gets better, that could mean we don’t have to score any more points?
I don’t see why it’s not possible?
Maybe doesn’t happen, but you have to believe that it is possible.

Suggs hopefully increases his shooting % enough to make up those buckets all by his self. You gotta believe that he is going to be better this year. So making 2-3 of the shots he took last year and missed.
If every member of this team just makes one more shot per game that they missed last year, we win those games. Internal improvement baby!

Which teams have two forwards that can handle the ball as well as Franz and Banchero? Off the top of my head I can only think of the Clippers (PG & Kawhi) and the Bucks (Giannis & Middleton).

Hopefully, Banchero makes everything fit together.

I think there will be less broken plays and Suggs jacking up shots at the end of the clock.

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magickingdom wrote:You don’t think with Paleo and internal improvement, not to mention getting 2 good players back, that we can’t at least win 20 of those 32 games? That would mean only scoring 5 to 10 more points. That’s only 2 to 4 more buckets.

You are predicting a 42-40 record with an extra 20 wins. No I don't think that is a reasonable expectation for Orlando.

The East is getting better collectively. Internal improvements + Banchero will not mean 20 extra win.

magickingdom wrote:I counted about 32 games last year that we lost by less then 10 points. Maybe 20 of those were 5 or less. Some of those being intentional for tanking the last of the season. We saw games where you know our starters could have won, but the let the end of the bench finish the game.
You don’t think with Paleo and internal improvement, not to mention getting 2 good players back, that we can’t at least win 20 of those 32 games? That would mean only scoring 5 to 10 more points. That’s only 2 to 4 more buckets.
Assuming our defense gets better, that could mean we don’t have to score any more points?
I don’t see why it’s not possible?
Maybe doesn’t happen, but you have to believe that it is possible.

This, to me, is what the glass-half-full rationale looks like. We weren't trying our hardest last year and we're significantly better this year personnel-wise. It makes a ton of sense to the point it's frankly hard to disagree with.

But the idea our offense doesn't have to get better is crazy. We are constantly bottom 5 in the NBA and there's a reason we pick in the lottery so often.

The glass-half-empty rationale is that there are no obvious, demonstrable reasons to believe we won't be bottom 5 or 10 in offense again this year.

If everything goes well we could take a leap. between Wendell, Suggs, Franz and Cole there's plenty of room for internal improvement and the additions of Fultz, JI and Paolo we could be a much better team.
Harris and Ross had bad years as well and could rebound.

But, this is still a young team that could struggle to score in the half court so I'm guessing a significant improvement but not really a leap, something around 32-36 wins.

I was just making the point that we only lost almost 30 games by just a couple buckets. If we make those this season, we’re much better.
Will it happen? Can it happen, yes!
Heck if just Ross is engaged this year and makes 2 more shots, we’re there.

Don’t you think this is what the Magic organization and players are thinking?

magickingdom wrote:Don’t you think this is what the Magic organization and players are thinking?

Well: Ross' recent podcast has a NSFW thought on the issue. Let me translate, he thinks the team will be better, all the ways to the playoffs.

We’re Fans! We can only hope.

I think tanking will do more damage to the team culture than the other way landing a top pick.

Internal development is key but that depends on trying to win and winning culture.

I don't think the lottery is that important this upcoming year since it is a lottery and we could land from anyway between 1 and 7 if so we have one of the worst records

Our goal from the beginning of the season should be "making a leap this year than last" and try to win as many games as possible. That develops culture and that creates chemistry.

I know we may miss the playoff but at least we are making a leap!

The Magic will absolutely make a leap this year.
This year we will see who leads us to wins and who doesn't.
We will also have future picks incoming, and financial flexibility to sign free agents going forward or be players in trades for any missing pieces. The Orlando Magic future is brighter than it has been in some time

MasterGMer wrote:I think tanking will do more damage to the team culture than the other way landing a top pick.

Internal development is key but that depends on trying to win and winning culture.

I don't think the lottery is that important this upcoming year since it is a lottery and we could land from anyway between 1 and 7 if so we have one of the worst records

Our goal from the beginning of the season should be "making a leap this year than last" and try to win as many games as possible. That develops culture and that creates chemistry.

I know we may miss the playoff but at least we are making a leap!

I agree on the goal of the team. I disagree that this roster "is loaded". but I definitely hope we can continue on player development, something we havent been too great with for awhile