From 5-20 to 5-4 (2022 to 2023)

[Residual-Heat]

Great start, but i want to see us face a great team. Portland, Houston and Utah wins were against lottery teams. Lakers arent great. Bucks were missing Lillard.

Im looking forward to see what they do against the Nuggets and Celtics.

LOL… Den and Bos are expected losses. Beating the bad teams is the first step in learning how to win. Sprinkle some wins over good/average teams and then you start to have a positive outlook. Houston, BTW, is 5-3 so they are better than you’re giving them credit for. The lakers are ok, and the Bucks are an ok team right now as well. If you’re expecting us to beat Boston and Denver, I’m sorry but you’re going to have a rough year watching this team. We might win a game here or there against the elite but don’t expect it… and losing to them doesn’t mean this team sucks either.

Great start, but i want to see us face a great team. Portland, Houston and Utah wins were against lottery teams. Lakers arent great. Bucks were missing Lillard.

Im looking forward to see what they do against the Nuggets and Celtics.

The second Lakers game was a huge win. In fact, it was the biggest game of the year so far. The 2-game series was very close to each other. It was a championship team of much more experienced veteran players and stars, and we took the tape with the scouting, and came back with adjustments for a revenge win. And the Lakers were better rested for the Game 2 than they were for Game 1 even. Incredible.
The Bucks game was also a huge win because Giannis Antetokounmpo is still a top 2 player or so. We haven't beat him in like 2.5 years I think.
The record and the projection it sets speaks for itself.

3-1 against the Celtics last season. 1-1 vs Denver. Still, i dont expect us to win, and thats not what i said. I just hope we can compete.

Maybe im underestimating the Rockets a little bit, but i still highly doubt they'll be a top 5 team in the west. They could fight for the play ins though.
Lakers and Lebron were half-assing it.
Bucks were playing Giannis and a bunch of scrubs TBH. Middleton is nowhere near what he used to be. Yeah theyre still a good team because of Giannis, but not great.

Like i said, we're off to a great start considering where we were last year, but i we have not faced the Warriors, Suns, healthy Bucks, Nuggets, Sixers, even the Heat.
The 2 best teams we faced were the Mavs and Clippers and we got blown out by 15 points both times.

[MasterGMer]

Great start, but i want to see us face a great team. Portland, Houston and Utah wins were against lottery teams. Lakers arent great. Bucks were missing Lillard.

Im looking forward to see what they do against the Nuggets and Celtics.

LOL… Den and Bos are expected losses. Beating the bad teams is the first step in learning how to win. Sprinkle some wins over good/average teams and then you start to have a positive outlook. Houston, BTW, is 5-3 so they are better than you’re giving them credit for. The lakers are ok, and the Bucks are an ok team right now as well. If you’re expecting us to beat Boston and Denver, I’m sorry but you’re going to have a rough year watching this team. We might win a game here or there against the elite but don’t expect it… and losing to them doesn’t mean this team sucks either.

Great start, but i want to see us face a great team. Portland, Houston and Utah wins were against lottery teams. Lakers arent great. Bucks were missing Lillard.

Im looking forward to see what they do against the Nuggets and Celtics.

The second Lakers game was a huge win. In fact, it was the biggest game of the year so far. The 2-game series was very close to each other. It was a championship team of much more experienced veteran players and stars, and we took the tape with the scouting, and came back with adjustments for a revenge win. And the Lakers were better rested for the Game 2 than they were for Game 1 even. Incredible.
The Bucks game was also a huge win because Giannis Antetokounmpo is still a top 2 player or so. We haven't beat him in like 2.5 years I think.
The record and the projection it sets speaks for itself.

3-1 against the Celtics last season. 1-1 vs Denver. Still, i dont expect us to win, and thats not what i said. I just hope we can compete.

Maybe im underestimating the Rockets a little bit, but i still highly doubt they'll be a top 5 team in the west. They could fight for the play ins though.
Lakers and Lebron were half-assing it.
Bucks were playing Giannis and a bunch of scrubs TBH. Middleton is nowhere near what he used to be. Yeah theyre still a good team because of Giannis, but not great.

Like i said, we're off to a great start considering where we were last year, but i we have not faced the Warriors, Suns, healthy Bucks, Nuggets, Sixers, even the Heat.
The 2 best teams we faced were the Mavs and Clippers and we got blown out by 15 points both times.

Are you serious? This Bucks team without Dame is still a good team. Plus we gave away the Mavs game while leading by more than 10 in the fourth Q. Clippers was a tough one. But we could easily beat the Hawks team if we hang on in the last 4 mins.

We are a good team, maybe fringe Playoff Caliber, but we are better than last year.

I agree though. We will see how we do in this road trip and Tuesday against Nets is going to be a good test.

[SOUL]

There are no real easy wins in the NBA anymore outside of 2-3 teams, and even those teams can go off. Any win is good.

[drsd]

Orlando is currently on a +4.0 differential in points per game. Averaged over a season, that would be worth way more than 50 wins.

Another way to look at this is that Orlando is between the 9-11 best team. Last year that was from 44 to 45 wins.

The Magic is +4.3 in offensive rebound differential and +4.8 in FT attempts differential. Second chance and "free" points will win a lot of games.

[MasterGMer]

If Magic wants to keep winning, we need to cut down TOs and Fouls. Instead last night, we went to the line 35 times vs 15 from Bucks. That is how we win.

We are one of the leaders in the league in second chance point, which means our players have the drive to win. It is all effort.

Our bench and depth is probably among elite in the league right now. It is killing other teams

But we have to learn how to win in the 4th Q and not let bad offense effect our defense. Our defensive rating is Top 5.

Right now, our spacing or 3 point shooting hasn't been a deciding factor. But it will come and haunt us one day.

[TheChaser]

Lots of negative Nancy's out there after the Mexico City loss.

This is the NBA and it is a marathon not a sprint.

Same injury issues this year, yet the Magic are gonna win a ton more games this year than last (if Paolo and Franz stay healthy).

[RichCollab]

Rockets and Trailblazers wins looking better now.

[RichCollab]

We beat Lebron and Giannis. Down 2 starters and solid rotational player. West Coast on the road.

5 - 4 is a solid start to the season.

[eyriq]

We beat Lebron and Giannis. Down 2 starters and solid rotational player. West Coast on the road.

5 - 4 is a solid start to the season.

Yup. If we beat the Nets I'm ratcheting up expectations.

[KillMonger]

We beat Lebron and Giannis. Down 2 starters and solid rotational player. West Coast on the road.

5 - 4 is a solid start to the season.

Yup. If we beat the Nets I'm ratcheting up expectations.

Why? Are the nets any good?

Sent from the phone in my hands

[dsg2021]

If Magic wants to keep winning, we need to cut down TOs and Fouls. Instead last night, we went to the line 35 times vs 15 from Bucks. That is how we win.

We are one of the leaders in the league in second chance point, which means our players have the drive to win. It is all effort.

Our bench and depth is probably among elite in the league right now. It is killing other teams

But we have to learn how to win in the 4th Q and not let bad offense effect our defense. Our defensive rating is Top 5.

Right now, our spacing or 3 point shooting hasn't been a deciding factor. But it will come and haunt us one day.

No truer words have been spoken than these. Slap this post in the next game: scouting report handed out to the players.

[drsd]

We beat Lebron and Giannis. Down 2 starters and solid rotational player. West Coast on the road.

5 - 4 is a solid start to the season.

Yup. If we beat the Nets I'm ratcheting up expectations.

Why? Are the nets any good?

Sent from the phone in my hands

5-5 with this starting five: Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Royce O'Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith.

Classic vet team that will never get blow out, but lacks power and depth to win many games.

Playing the Nets is a great learning-test for the Magic. Orlando has more talent, but beating the Nets means keeping TOs low and controlling the tempo.

This is a 50/50 game for Orlando. The kind of game played over and over were the team can win by 5 many times, or lose by 20 many times. Time for school!

[RookieStar]

Yup. If we beat the Nets I'm ratcheting up expectations.

Why? Are the nets any good?

Sent from the phone in my hands

5-5 with this starting five: Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Royce O'Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith.

Classic vet team that will never get blow out, but lacks power and depth to win many games.

Playing the Nets is a great learning-test for the Magic. Orlando has more talent, but beating the Nets means keeping TOs low and controlling the tempo.

This is a 50/50 game for Orlando. The kind of game played over and over were the team can win by 5 many times, or lose by 20 many times. Time for school!

We ne3d to punish them down low. Claxton is still out right? That means there isnt a ahotblocker to intimidate the drives of Paolo Frans and Suggs.

DFS Simmons amd Cam are their PFs, i think they cant matchup pound for pound with Paolo.

[magik9113]

Why? Are the nets any good?

Sent from the phone in my hands

5-5 with this starting five: Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Royce O'Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith.

Classic vet team that will never get blow out, but lacks power and depth to win many games.

Playing the Nets is a great learning-test for the Magic. Orlando has more talent, but beating the Nets means keeping TOs low and controlling the tempo.

This is a 50/50 game for Orlando. The kind of game played over and over were the team can win by 5 many times, or lose by 20 many times. Time for school!

We ne3d to punish them down low. Claxton is still out right? That means there isnt a ahotblocker to intimidate the drives of Paolo Frans and Suggs.

DFS Simmons amd Cam are their PFs, i think they cant matchup pound for pound with Paolo.

Claxton played yesterday but Cam Thomas is out

[Rainwater]

There were previous years; the Vuc, Evan, AG years, where the Magic started off well but I had no faith in them ending well. For the first in a long time I believe a winning record can be sustained.

[The-Stallion70]

I know I'm beating a dead horse here but it does make a huge difference to have our point guards available Cole and Markelle.

Last year our bad record to start was largely due to them being out IMHO.

[AaronB]

I know I'm beating a dead horse here but it does make a huge difference to have our point guards available Cole and Markelle.

Last year our bad record to start was largely due to them being out IMHO.

Could not agree more. I am bullish Fultz, but even if he is a bad as even his detractors say, he is an important part of the team and a plus on the court.

This current knee injury is pretty serious though. Fluid and swelling with simple exertion should not be happening. It has clearly limited his explosion which is the most important part of his game.

[basketballRob]

I know I'm beating a dead horse here but it does make a huge difference to have our point guards available Cole and Markelle.

Last year our bad record to start was largely due to them being out IMHO.

AB has filled the void of Fultz being out.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[Bakomagic]

But Fultz and Gary have both already been hurt this year, to that point our depth is the reason for our improvement.

[AaronB]

There are a number of reasons for the improvement:

Paolo playing more point forward. Fran was moved to PG last year and it did not go well. Paolo is much better in the initiator role.

Suggs was injured last year and even when he played, he played injured. This year he is much better and more healthy.

Fultz has been in and out as opposed to out completely.

Black is a really good player for this team. Still wish they had taken Lively over Howard. I could eat those words some day, but Lively is going to be pretty good and a replacement for when Isaac goes down.