I like this team and I'm pumped for this season!

[Knightro]

Summer League is officially over and outside of some German Olympic Team games, we've got no Magic-adjacent basketball to hold us over for the next 11 weeks.

That said...

I'm pumped!

This team is gonna be very good. They have all-star and all-defensive talents in their starting lineup. They have intriguing young players still developing off the bench who could become more. They added and retained some veterans with extensive playoff experience. They have really depth everywhere to float injuries and work through the grind of an 82-game season.

I admit, I have been as guilty as anyone of being negative towards the front office, but that doesn't change the fact that this team has a chance to potentially make some noise in the Eastern Conference.

LFG.

[pepe1991]

We now have 3 full months of nothigness (aside from preseason games ).
Season starts at October 22th.

[Knightro]

We now have 3 full months of nothigness (aside from preseason games ).
Season starts at October 22th.

First preseason game is exactly 11 weeks (77 days) from today on October 7th.

[eyriq]

I'm pumped as well!

By removing Fultz and adding KCP we've improved availability, perimeter defense, and shooting.

Ingles will be missed but this cleared a path for one of AB, Jett, or TDS to play, helping player development at a small cost.

The defensive foundation remains the same. We are long, switchable, and tenacious. We were middle of the pack in opponent eFG%, and are trending in the right direction. This is the category I'll be watching to see if we can improve defensively.

The offensive foundation is built on Paolo and Franz. Shooting and turnovers are problems for Paolo. We lack proven playmaking guards, so Paolo and Franz will have to lead the charge, with Suggs & Cole stepping up and AB developing.

I expect the offense to be better. The benefit right now is that we are young, and by nature are on a positive growth curve due to internal development.

[RichCollab]

I’m excited. We did release 2 of our playmakers in Joe and Fultz but who is counting?

It’s kind of crazy we have only moved on from one of our chronically injured players but I see the vision.

I’m curious how we balance the parallel paths. Black and Jett need minutes and TDS seems like a rotational player from the get go.

Playoff Paolo shows up during regular season we will be an improved team.

Franz being an average shooter we will be an improved team.

JI playing 5 to 7 minutes per game more we will be an improved team.

WCJ getting his confidence back and playing at his previous peak we will be an improved team.

Losing Ingles seems costly during the regular season but not during the playoffs.

Ingles composure and playmaking were actually pretty important to winning a lot of regular season games last year.

My predictions

52 wins
4th Seed
2nd round playoff exit
Franz an all-star
Paolo all nba

[The-Stallion70]

I'm not convinced KCP will make us demonstrably better but on paper he is a nice upgrade at the 2.


The team will improve if Paolo and Franz improve. The franchise is in their hands now. The Magic management have done their job of finding young stars and now they are evaluating just how much better our two stars can get before deciding if we need to try to bring in a third star/make other changes, etc.

[JoshuaPotter]

Current thoughts are this team only goes as far as Paolo + Franz + Suggs develop.

The next "hidge your bets" players is between AB and TDS.

The dark horses are still Jett and Houstan although I am losing faith in both fast.

I do not think it has quite settled in that we potentially have the best defensive backcourt in the league. If we assuming KCP - Suggs - Black - Cole, that is pretty insane minus Cole. Harris, also is underrated and unlikely to lose minutes. It does make me wonder if the real endgame is KCP - Suggs - Harris - Black? Who knows but that is at least balanced between floor and ceilings.

WCJ / Goga / Isaac injuries, and overall the Center position remains in contention and hopefully that breeds hungry play making.

[eyriq]

What do we think the key growth drivers are?

What do we think the key headwinds are?

[VFX]

This team will only be successful right now because of its defensive identity.

Paolo + Franz + Suggs have to be insurmountably better offensively for anything to be vastly different than last season.

The FO doubled and tripled down on the position-less no lead ball handler/ initiator at the point of attack and re-upped on the dual defensive guard 3-D back court that don’t create much off the dribble.

We know the defense is going to be A+ top 3-5 in the league. The bigger question is going to come down to the offense and whether it looks as garbage as it did most of last season.

[The-Stallion70]

What do we think the key growth drivers are?

Can this man become an MVP candidate? This is the main question Management is asking themselves over the next few years.

[basketballRob]

We have more depth at SG, SF, and PF this season. We also have assets to get someone at the trade deadline.

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[eyriq]

What do we think the key growth drivers are?

Can this man become an MVP candidate? This is the main question Management is asking themselves over the next few years.

Agreed. How soon does he develop out of the Siakam/Randle tier?

[Residual-Heat]

Paolo: "We have a lot of guys [like Wagner and Suggs] who have winning in their DNA, and it’s only a matter of time before it translates to success in the league. People need to watch out. They’ll see eventually. We’re trying to come for it all."

[Knightro]

This team will only be successful right now because of its defensive identity.

Paolo + Franz + Suggs have to be insurmountably better offensively for anything to be vastly different than last season.

The FO doubled and tripled down on the position-less no lead ball handler/ initiator at the point of attack and re-upped on the dual defensive guard 3-D back court that don’t create much off the dribble.

We know the defense is going to be A+ top 3-5 in the league. The bigger question is going to come down to the offense and whether it looked as garbage as it did most of last season.

The good news on this front IMO is that there are some clear areas from Franz and ESPECIALLY from Paolo where things can and should improve.

If Franz changes literally nothing from last season and simply shoots 36% from 3PT like he did in year 2 instead of 28% in year 3, he will make 27 more threes on the season and the Magic will score 81 more points across his 72 games played.

That alone would bump the Magic's offensive rating from 22nd to 19th. And that's if literally nothing else improves for him.

Despite being obviously skilled, Paolo was a below average shooter from basically everywhere on the court the last two years. Heading into year 3, is it time to see some positive efficiency momentum from at least one area of the floor out of him.

People bemoan the lack of shooting, but all that really means Paolo and Franz aren't good enough shooters yet. Time for them to grow up and make threes. A bounce back from Cole would be really helpful as well.

Suggs, Black, Isaac, Carter and Harris all were above average 3PT shooters last year. KCP is an above average 3PT shooter. TDS and Jett project to be above average shooters if they crack the rotation.

[Knightro]

I'm not convinced KCP will make us demonstrably better but on paper he is a nice upgrade at the 2.


The team will improve if Paolo and Franz improve. The franchise is in their hands now. The Magic management have done their job of finding young stars and now they are evaluating just how much better our two stars can get before deciding if we need to try to bring in a third star/make other changes, etc.

The theory behind KCP making the Magic better is that he's a much healthier version of Gary and the Magic played very well with a solid but unspectacular 3&D shooting guard last year.

How will they do with a slightly better version who only misses 5-10 games instead of 20-25 games?

[basketballRob]

I'm not convinced KCP will make us demonstrably better but on paper he is a nice upgrade at the 2.


The team will improve if Paolo and Franz improve. The franchise is in their hands now. The Magic management have done their job of finding young stars and now they are evaluating just how much better our two stars can get before deciding if we need to try to bring in a third star/make other changes, etc.

The theory behind KCP making the Magic better is that he's a much healthier version of Gary and the Magic played very well with a solid but unspectacular 3&D shooting guard last year.

How will they do with a slightly better version who only misses 5-10 games instead of 20-25 games?

That and you have Harris coming off the bench instead of Fultz or Caleb.

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[The-Stallion70]

I'm not convinced KCP will make us demonstrably better but on paper he is a nice upgrade at the 2.


The team will improve if Paolo and Franz improve. The franchise is in their hands now. The Magic management have done their job of finding young stars and now they are evaluating just how much better our two stars can get before deciding if we need to try to bring in a third star/make other changes, etc.

The theory behind KCP making the Magic better is that he's a much healthier version of Gary and the Magic played very well with a solid but unspectacular 3&D shooting guard last year.

How will they do with a slightly better version who only misses 5-10 games instead of 20-25 games?

Sure I get it, he's a better player on paper. But how often does this kind of optical upgrade really result in tangible results?

It's a little similar to the argument for Demarcus Cousins being a great player on paper.

27ppg 11rpg, must be a great player right? Not necessarily. Scouts and execs around the league agreed that DMC didn't "move the needle" and they were right. The team was no worse once he was traded.

Now, I think KCP is a better player than GH but he also doesn't necessarily add a new dimension to the team or new skillet that broadens the team's ceiling. Instead he is more if an intended enhancement on Harris' preexisting skillets, and he was a low impact player.

[anothermagicfan]

It's pretty cool expecting a winning season for once!

To the guys underselling KCP addition to the team he's not just a little bit better than Gary. He's got a few pretty astounding numbers.

1- 2 NBA championships with 2 different teams in recent years.

2- played a ton of minutes on both of those NBA championship teams as a starter.

3-He is almost always guarding the opponents best player.

4-Is available way more than Gary Harris is.

The counting stats don't jump off the chart for him so on paper he doesn't necessarily look like much of an improvement but he is a significant addition. Add into that the affect that Gary Harris has on our win/loss record when he did play and consider now that he will bring that level of play to the bench. Our SG rotation might be our strongest position behind the PF spot.

I do want to clarify that adding KCP isn't like adding Luka or LeBron, but he is a significant addition.

Obviously, essentially we only go as far as PB/Franz/Suggs takes us.

Additionally I think meaningful minutes for AB and less minutes for Cole will lead to steadier play as the game hopefully slows down for him.

JI being back at full strength for 22-25 mpg and only sitting out b2b would be massive.

I'd be really happy with TDS or Jett getting some solid rotation minutes on a regular basis and looking like NBA players. Id be ecstatic if both did.

My biggest ❓ is the center rotation. Is WCJ going to play good consistently and not miss 20 games or more? We know what Moe is going to give us but how's he going to look without Ingles feeding him? Can Goga deliver in more than a 10 game sample? Or do we move some pieces for an upgrade at the center spot?

I said in the thread with the poll question about our record this year and Magicmatic basically reiterated the same sentiment-we know we're going to be a top defensive team. Can we be a good offensive team?

[SOUL]

Agreed, can't wait to watch this upcoming season.

BTW, championship or contender level teams are built over the course of multiple seasons. There's reasons why guys like Bron, Giannis, Jokic aren't contending super early and their teams are slowly added to and tinkered with. Of course we're not going to have the most optimal lineups and team just yet, but we've positioned ourselves nicely to be able to pivot or consolidate if players or fit doesn't work out.

[VFX]

This team will only be successful right now because of its defensive identity.

Paolo + Franz + Suggs have to be insurmountably better offensively for anything to be vastly different than last season.

The FO doubled and tripled down on the position-less no lead ball handler/ initiator at the point of attack and re-upped on the dual defensive guard 3-D back court that don’t create much off the dribble.

We know the defense is going to be A+ top 3-5 in the league. The bigger question is going to come down to the offense and whether it looked as garbage as it did most of last season.

The good news on this front IMO is that there are some clear areas from Franz and ESPECIALLY from Paolo where things can and should improve.

If Franz changes literally nothing from last season and simply shoots 36% from 3PT like he did in year 2 instead of 28% in year 3, he will make 27 more threes on the season and the Magic will score 81 more points across his 72 games played.

That alone would bump the Magic's offensive rating from 22nd to 19th. And that's if literally nothing else improves for him.

Despite being obviously skilled, Paolo was a below average shooter from basically everywhere on the court the last two years. Heading into year 3, is it time to see some positive efficiency momentum from at least one area of the floor out of him.

People bemoan the lack of shooting, but all that really means Paolo and Franz aren't good enough shooters yet. Time for them to grow up and make threes. A bounce back from Cole would be really helpful as well.

Suggs, Black, Isaac, Carter and Harris all were above average 3PT shooters last year. KCP is an above average 3PT shooter. TDS and Jett project to be above average shooters if they crack the rotation.

Yes I think internal development is really the only avenue to get significantly better offensively, on a player to player basis, based on the fact they added nobody new to the mix other than KCP.

My much bigger concern is less about the young guys getting collectively better as shooters and more about the system. That to me is more important than guys having slightly elevated fg% and 3p% on the same volume.

What I mean by all that boils down to:

Is the offense easier or more difficult to produce?
Is the ball moving well or is it getting stuck whenever Paolo touches it?
Are guys standing around on offense ball watching?
Are defenses still not keeping players honest because its too predictable?
Is Carter more or less productive standing on the perimeter than in the dunkers spot?
Has any of this improved since last season?

Those kind of questions.

I'm not too concerned with the defense or the natural progression of player development from guys that are 19-24 years old. I care more about whether Mosely's offense is answering those questions.