Prediction Thread: Guess the Magic's Opening Night Rotation

Post #1 » by **Knightro** » Sun Oct 1, 2023 10:30 pm

Assuming everyone is healthy, I'll say they start the year with a 10-man rotation...

Fultz, Harris, F. Wagner, Banchero, Carter

Anthony, Suggs, Ingles, Isaac, M. Wagner

The only thing up for debate to me is whether or not they force feed Black onto the court with a small ball lineup off the bench at the expense of Ingles.

VFX · Post #2 » by **VFX** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 12:08 am

Knightro wrote:Fultz, Harris, F. Wagner, Banchero, Carter

This is it.

Nothing changes from last seasons starters. It doesn’t matter until a move is made.

Post #3 » by **eyriq** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 12:11 am

WCJ/Paolo/Franz/Suggs/Fultz

Moritz/JI/Ingles/Cole/Black

Post #4 » by **Knightro** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 12:21 am

eyriq wrote:WCJ/Paolo/Franz/Suggs/Fultz

Moritz/JI/Ingles/Cole/Black

Maybe I'll end up dead wrong, but I can't imagine a team purportedly with playoff aspirations (I know you don't really feel this way) taking their best 3PT shooter and not playing him at all.

Would be a big shocker to me.

Residual-Heat · Post #5 » by **Residual-Heat** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 12:24 am

Im stilll hoping we make see a trade :waaa:

Post #6 » by **eyriq** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 12:31 am

Knightro wrote:
eyriq wrote:WCJ/Paolo/Franz/Suggs/Fultz

Moritz/JI/Ingles/Cole/Black

Maybe I'll end up dead wrong, but I can't imagine a team purportedly with playoff aspirations (I know you don't really feel this way) taking their best 3PT shooter and not playing him at all.

Would be a big shocker to me.

Harris just isn't that good.

RichCollab · Post #7 » by **RichCollab** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 12:36 am

Fultz, Suggs, Franz, Paolo and WJC. Cole 6th man

Cole, Harris, Ingles, JI, Mortiz

Post #8 » by **Knightro** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 1:01 am

eyriq wrote:Harris just isn't that good.

I didn't say he was good. But he did make 43% of his threes last year.

Replacing him with a rookie who projects to be a terrible range shooter early in his career, and also moving a guy who was very good in an on-ball role last season to an off-ball role just to accomodate said rookie seems like a recipe for disaster.

davey_wavy · Post #9 » by **davey_wavy** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 1:07 am

McClung
Houstan
Howard
Schofield
Goga

Post #10 » by **Def Swami** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 1:13 am

Knightro wrote:Assuming everyone is healthy, I'll say they start the year with a 10-man rotation...

Fultz, Harris, F. Wagner, Banchero, Carter

Anthony, Suggs, Ingles, Isaac, M. Wagner

The only thing up for debate to me is whether or not they force feed Black onto the court with a small ball lineup off the bench at the expense of Ingles.

This is it. Only thing I question is whether Suggs or Harris starts.

Post #11 » by **eyriq** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 3:43 am

Knightro wrote:
eyriq wrote:Harris just isn't that good.

I didn't say he was good. But he did make 43% of his threes last year.

Replacing him with a rookie who projects to be a terrible range shooter early in his career, and also moving a guy who was very good in an on-ball role last season to an off-ball role just to accomodate said rookie seems like a recipe for disaster.

Plugging Black into the rotation is a recipe for disaster? At the expense of a terrible player like Harris? What am I missing here...

Ralof · Post #12 » by **Ralof** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 10:56 am

Fultz-Suggs-Wagner-Banchero-Wcj

Anthony-Black-Ingles-Isaac-Wagner

Harris maybe,but i said maybe, will get minutes early,in first 3-4 games,then he's gonna be 11th man,playing when someone is injured or resting like ingles and isaac.

Black and probably howard will get minutes anyway,magic will try to make everyone happy as they always do.

drsd · Post #13 » by **drsd** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 11:23 am

I am assuming G-Harris will win the 5th starting slot for "spacing" reasons, and that M-Wagner wins the backup C slot because, well, he "got paid".

This means:

Fultz/Anthony
G-Harris/Suggs
F-Wagner/Ingles
Banchero/Isaac
Carter/M-Wagner

Orlando thus goes with a classic 10-man rotation. The 11th man will be Black and the 12 Bitadze. Both will get only spot minutes most games. Okeke, Houstan, and Howard will not be in uniform.

Caveat: all players are healthy on opening night.

drsd · Post #14 » by **drsd** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 11:25 am

RichCollab wrote:Fultz, Suggs, Franz, Paolo and WJC. Cole 6th man

Cole, Harris, Ingles, JI, Mortiz

I wouldn't be shocked if we see this.

Skybox · Post #15 » by **Skybox** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 11:26 am

Black was picked higher but probably takes more time to contribute than Howard…who can, ostensibly, come in and shoot right away…possibly as well as anyone on the team (which isn’t saying much). I expect that, at the very least, Jett gets the Houstan level opportunities to come in and show whether you’re a factor or not.

I just don’t know what the vision is at PG…two pending free agents and neither looks like a top 20 starter. Fultz is the best PG, the highest paid, and the worst fit-even with some projected improvement…I’m sure he’ll start, but is he being showcased to trade or is their real belief that he’s moving into $20m/yr “ take us to the next level” territory? At some point, the tight-lipped FO will make an unexpected move (ANY move from them is unexpected)that will reveal their vision. Saying “we’re ready to win” is a reason for continuity makes no sense…winning of any significance will require some established roles, not these open tryouts/evaluation seasons we’ve been watching…

Fultz, Harris, Franz, Paolo, WCJ while Suggs, Cole, Black, Jett quietly percolate until something Bold happens. I expect Ingles and Isaac to get 10-15 mpg while being watched closely (Isaac for health, Ingles for impact). There’s just not enough minutes for the guards…I don’t see Fultz losing the starting spot without being injured or traded…even if he’s the ceiling for our team. They could, at the same time, declare Suggs ready or “ready enough” to move Harris…if offensive guard play doesn’t even marginally improve, I expect them to bring in a scorer, rather than just move out limiting factors blocking the way for others.

As far as lineups, the Fultz and Cole re-ups are the biggest stories…how long will the FO wait to decide rather than let FAs walk or get in an auction?

drsd · Post #16 » by **drsd** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 11:27 am

davey_wavy wrote:McClung
Houstan
Howard
Schofield
Goga

This could actually be the Magic's starting roster on opening night; in Kissimmee!
(( actually it would be Wilson over Bitadze; but that's a detail! ))

Osceola could be an outstanding G-league team this year with that starting-5.

JojoSlimbiid · Post #17 » by **JojoSlimbiid** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 1:52 pm

I don't have Issac in the rotation on opening night. I think there is an outside shot that they start Suggs. I think ultimately Suggs will take over the 2 spot at some point early in the season hopefully due to good play and not because he was a draft pick.

Post #18 » by **eyriq** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 2:06 pm

JojoSlimbiid wrote:I don't have Issac in the rotation on opening night. I think there is an outside shot that they start Suggs. I think ultimately Suggs will take over the 2 spot at some point early in the season hopefully due to good play and not because he was a draft pick.

I was thinking about this. Expecting Isaac to make the opening night rotation is a risky bet! If he doesn't, things get interesting. Do we go big with Mo at the 4 and Goga at the 5? Go small with Ingles at the 4 and Howard at the 3?

yoyojw17 · Post #19 » by **yoyojw17** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 2:56 pm

Def Swami wrote:
Knightro wrote:Assuming everyone is healthy, I'll say they start the year with a 10-man rotation...

Fultz, Harris, F. Wagner, Banchero, Carter

Anthony, Suggs, Ingles, Isaac, M. Wagner

The only thing up for debate to me is whether or not they force feed Black onto the court with a small ball lineup off the bench at the expense of Ingles.

This is it. Only thing I question is whether Suggs or Harris starts.

My thoughts too. I think harris starts and hopefully additional value is established for a trade later on with suggs becoming the eventual starter. But yeah... could go both ways. If suggs is taking large strides they might declare him the winner of the starting position which could be a great confidence builder going into year 3.

Post #20 » by **Knightro** » Mon Oct 2, 2023 3:21 pm

eyriq wrote:Plugging Black into the rotation is a recipe for disaster? At the expense of a terrible player like Harris? What am I missing here...

Offensively? Yes.

The Magic were already one of the worst shooting and worst spaced teams in the league last year and replacing their only proven 3PT shooter in Harris with a guy who projects to be a horrible 3PT shooter at least early in his career in Black appears primed to only exacerbate the problem.

And that is not even factoring in your desire to move Cole from an on ball role (a role he thrived in last year) to an off ball role (a role he’s always struggled with) just to accommodate Black as well.

It’s gonna be a clogged toilet offensively if they do that.