RealGM

Assuming no significant moves are made, what is the most significant ( but plausible) internal improvement that could propel this team into a legitimate playoff team?

There are a lot of candidates, but which, in your opinion, is really the one to watch for?

One or both rookies stepping in quickly?
Fultz, Suggs, or Paolo’s 3 pt shooting?
Cole Anthony emerging as a complete, starter level PG.
Team 3pt shooting creeping up with several guys filling the role (Ingles, Howard, Houstan…) and better scheme
Team rebounding improving…particularly with our bigs
WCJ grabbing his share of the spotlight with improved scoring & rebounding, to elevate his complete game?
Fultz breaking out as another WestBeast, racking up triple doubles and running the show with authority?
Mose re- working schemes to improve on both ends, create easy scoring & team rebounding- confident, poised COY?

I’m going with…
Isaac being healthy and reminding the league what defensive impact he can have…playing 20mpg, backing up all 3 frontcourt spots

I am thinking of two things and definitely one of them is yours, Skybox. One of which is that Isaac finally surprises with good health and like 24 MPG of almost 60 Games, like a later career Grant Hill but at Isaac's current prime age. And rested to 100% for any potential Playoffs.

The second thing to me, is genuinely Paolo Banchero and/or Franz Wagner just taking the next big step. In my mind, the X factor still needs to be these two. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think they need to be bordering more on Point Forward roles, and exploring every type of offensive action meaningfully. Finding their stardom.

Team 3 point shooting IMO. Specifically from the guards.

Suggs to me. if he can find his shooting, he will be that wing 2-way player that we really need.

Honestly, we're going to need more than one x-factor.
We need 3 point shooting, a rim protector, a great rebounder... If one of those players can do all three things, that would be amazing.

The greatest X factor here is time/experience. Most of our notable problems are stereotypical issues faced by young rosters. I expect a leap in both defense and offense just on the basis of our players gaining more experience in the game and working together.

Ball movement and 3pt shooting, which go hand in hand. We need to have better offence which finds the open guy quicker.

Isaac staying healthy is #1 for me.

WCJ staying healthy is #2 for me.

Fultz increasing his 3 ball volume and decreasing his turnovers is #3.

I think that Franz and Paolo trending up are baselines.

Plausible or more precisely probable internal improvement that will set us as 1st round fodder are Franz and Paolo. That will also be our ceiling until we bring good guards in.

The X factor is our youth. Markelle Fultz is the oldest guy in our stable of young talented players at 25 years old. These kids are going to get better. Before the late tank last year, the team had 29-24 record since 12/7. We were 5 games over .500 for 65% of the season. Every one of these kids is going to get better next season...assuming the the y factor...health.

We added Joe Ingles, Anthony Black, and Howard and lost Bamba, Ross, and Bol...Ingles is the definition of a smart basketball player ou outperforming his physical limitations. Black can step into the rotation immediately as a connector that can keep the ball moving. Bamba, Ross, and Bol might be three of the most physically gifted players on the planet that have failed to live up to expectations, and didnt contribute much to winning basketball, at least anymore.

The Magic are a team full of good, young basketball players. Sure there are weaknesses, like shooting, but some of these guys are going to turn into shooters. This team is going to win a lot of games next year by just playing fundamental basketball and being good teammates. If our shooting regresses to the mean (3pt% and attempts)...look out...last year we were 24th in % and 27th in attempts.

The whole team to stay healthy. I don't want to see Suggs limping around all season.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

>>One or both rookies stepping in quickly?
No chance

>>Fultz, Suggs, or Paolo’s 3 pt shooting?
None will shoot for volumn. So percentage increases will not really lead to scoring increases.

>>Cole Anthony emerging as a complete, starter level PG.
Nope.

>>Team 3pt shooting creeping up with several guys filling the role (Ingles, Howard, Houstan…) and better scheme
Orlando migh get to 2oth best 3-ball team. And every additional point helps win games. But this is not in X-factor territory for me.

>>Team rebounding improving…particularly with our bigs
Maybe. And every posission matters. Indeed Orlando has lacked elite defensive rebounding since Vučević departed.

>>WCJ grabbing his share of the spotlight with improved scoring & rebounding, to elevate his complete game?
Nope.

>>Fultz breaking out as another WestBeast, racking up triple doubles and running the show with authority?
Nope. He is not a big assist guy.

>>Mose re- working schemes to improve on both ends, create easy scoring & team rebounding- confident, poised COY?
Slight improvements can be expected.

>>I’m going with… Isaac being healthy and reminding the league what defensive impact he can have…playing 20mpg, backing up all 3 frontcourt spots
I agree that the only real "X-factor" on the roster is Isaac. But I can;t put my eggs-of-hope in that basket.


In conclusion: I think Orlando needs a huge, huge number of tiny improvements. If every player on this roster is 1% better at everything, then the team could carve out an additional 5 wins. If the whole team just gels, then why-not say 10 win improvements.

One of the most important indicators of W/L record is points-differential. For a 45+ season, Orlando needs to score 2 more points per game AND give up 2 less points per game (i.e. be +4 differential per game; averaged over the season). That seems doable, if every moon is in alignment.



My X-factor: incrementalism.


..

There’s a good argument for all of those things mentioned as the X factor for the Magic leveling up. But to me, it’s gotta be a significant improvement in rebounding the ball, on the defensive side. Last year that drove me nuts watching this team give up offensive rebounds.

Maybe it’s just being a bit spoiled having great rebounders here over the franchises history (Shaq, Horace, Drew Gooden, Ben Wallace, Dwight and Vucevic) but right now this team is missing a ball hawk up front. Not to say all is bad, Wendell is solid and our guards actually mix it up well in the paint.

X-Factor will be health.

If we’re going by individual, I think Jalen can fit that role. If he continues to improve his shot, decision making, and ball handling he’ll play more minutes for us. If not, he’ll continue to play off the bench but I believe he makes the most sense as our starting SG even though our spacing will be horrible lol.

Youth development.

Health #1.

#2 is actually Paolo and Franz taking that next next step. Both have been great, but the NBA is a heavily star driven league. If you had 1 or 2 stars, all the 50 pages of debate of other players is cool and all, but they're the actual engines. You need the right role players next to them to actually make noise in the playoffs, but them being all-stars will make us solidly a playoff team. We saw how hard it was having #3-5 options lead the team.

For me Paolo is the biggest X factor. Not so much that his production is in question, but how he develops. The more his game develops and refines the better sense we’ll have of who specifically to surround him with. Ie, what will be the balance of him operating in the paint vs perimeter, etc

Otherwise, health is obviously the biggest x factor for the season. Next would be PG play and He Who Shall Not Be Praised.

I think Jonathan Isaac will be the X Factor to us. Another one is Jalen Suggs. If he is about to elevate his career, he can do it this season!

SOUL wrote:Health #1.

If Orlando has 10 players that log more than 60 games each, that will be a minor miracle!

2022/23: five players with 60 games, only three with 70 games.
2021/22: nine players with 60 games, three with 70 games. This is almost a normal NBA season for a team.
2020/21: one player with 60 games, and this was Bacon with 70+ games.
2019/20: six players with 60 games, and this was Fultz with 70+ games. Yes Fultz was Orlando's healthiest player!
2018/19: eight players with 60 games, and six with 70 games (four on 80!).
2017/18: six players with 60 games, only three with 70 games.
2016/17: nine players with 60 games, five with 70 games. A normal season for health.
2015/16: seven players with 60 games, six with 70 games. Almost a normal season for health.
2014/15: five players with 60 games, four with 70 games.
2013/14: eight players with 60 games, five with 70 games. Almost a normal season for health.

The Magic has been historically injured these last ten years. The 2020/21 season is the all-time NBA record. The Magic AVERAGED 5.5+ players missed per game!

Here's the iron-man list for Orlando these last 7 years:
2022/23: F-Wagner on 80 games
2021/22: F-Wagner on 79 games
2020/21: Bacon on 72 games. The next highest is Birch n 48 games. Sad.
2019/20: Fultz on 72 games
2018/19: Biyombo on 82 games. This is the Shelvin Mack assist champion season; he was on 69 games
2017/18: Payton on 82 games. Biyombo on 81 games. Gordon on 80
2016/17: Fournier/Hezonja on 79 games. Gordan on 78 games and Jason Smith on 76.

I was gonna take this to 10 seasons, but I feel like "Jason Smith" is a perfect way to end this post.

Better fans