The potential is omnipresent on the side of Orlando but for the time being, the results are not yet there. The Magic saw its tanking rewarded by having had the opportunity to choose first during the 2022 Draft. Paolo Banchero potentially embodies the renewal of the franchise, but not too quickly either… So, when do we meet in the Playoffs?
What happened last season
At least Orlando didn’t kick us off with a bang and then crash. No, last season Mickey’s band decided to be immediately slammed to the ground in order to leave no suspense regarding local intentions. The Magic started the season without their two cripples Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac, which greatly reduced the depth of the workforce from the start of the season. To make matters worse, Jalen Suggs smoked his thumb mid-season as he started to rev up and get interesting. If Franz Wagner represents a very nice thinning in this workforce of teenagers, rare are the rays of sunshine for the Orlando franchise (yet not located in the least sunny state of the country of Uncle Sam). The main moment of happiness during the last season being… the return to the courts of Markelle Fultz. Fortunately, the lottery exists to offer dummies their own series of Playoffs.
The summer market
- They left : Robin Lopez, Ignas Brazdeikis
- They re-signed: Gary Harris, Mo Bamba
- They arrive : Paolo Banchero, Caleb Houstan, Kevon Harris, Joel Ayayi (two-way)
We do not change a team that is shuffled 4 out of 5 nights on the Orlando side, since the main movements took place on the day of the Draft. Owner of the first choice, the Magic decided to surprise his world by setting his sights on the Italian-American Paolo Banchero, the ultimate nugget of Coach K who was however expected two ranks lower with the Rockets. Caleb Houstan also joins the Florida team to bring shooting from a distance, but it will be mainly in the G League at first. Robin Lopez, meanwhile, left to castrate mascots on the Cavaliers side, and Ignas Brazdeikis also jumped ship. You didn’t know he was there? It’s normal.
Regarding the re-signings, we note all the same the extension of Mo Bamba who will continue to deploy his long arms at Mickey’s, as well as that of Gary Harris to play the babysitters of the bottle class of Orlando. In addition, the two players will continue the adventure at very affordable salaries (21 million over 2 years for Bamba and 26 for Harris). The latter also remained a solid candidate for trade during the season with a contender, before his meniscus went to shreds and required a passage on the pool table…
Finally, the Magic’s main recruits might well be called… Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac, the knees of the two players having given up in 2021 and 2020 respectively. Fultz has played only 26 games in the last two seasons, while Isaac comes out of two completely white seasons. The two eternal nuggets from Orlando will be thirsty for revenge and will in any case be eagerly awaited in Florida in order to really get their careers off the ground. The confidence that the Magic front office gives them remains intact in any case.
The Magic 2021-22 roster
- Leaders: Jalen Suggs, Cole AnthonyMarkelle Fultz, RJ Hampton, Devin Cannady
- Arrières : Terrence Ross, Gary Harris, Caleb Houstan
- Wingers: Franz WagnerChuma Okeke
- Power forwards: Paolo BancheroJonathan Isaac
- Pivots : Wendell Carter Jr.Mohamed Bamba, Moritz Wagner
In orange the potential starters, according to the famous sources close to the file
Youth is in the spotlight at the Magic with the only Terrence Ross who is over 30 years old (not for long, to tell the truth, because he has a good chance of not finishing the year in Orlando). Coach Jamahl Mosley will have his work cut out to compose his major five with many players who are equal and will be in competition. The only two players who seem certain to start in the major five are 2022 Draft No. 1 Paolo Banchero and sophomore Franz Wagner, who is coming off an ultra-promising EuroBasket with Germany. For the pivot position, Wendell Carter Jr. leaves with a small head start on Mo Bamba who can still shake up the hierarchy. On the back lines, however, it’s a joyous mess. Jalen Suggs had a complicated first year, Markelle Fultz is not coming out of a completely white season, but still a very light gray, while Cole Anthony was the main artificer of the Magic attack last season. . The latter should start with Jalen Suggs in the backcourt, Markelle Fultz will gradually be installed in the rotation off the bench while RJ Hampton, well below these 3, will take what is left. The case of Jonathan Isaac will also be closely watched, he who is short of pace but whose scale can do the Magic a lot of good. His reintegration will be very gradual and careful. In any case, the rotations of Magic are far from fixed.
A little video by the way?
The banker’s point
UFA: non-restricted free agent RFA: restricted free agent (Source Spotrac)
The Magic’s two highest-paid players for the upcoming season are none other than… Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz. The former has not played a single game since 2020 and the latter has only played 26 in two seasons. Admittedly, the amounts are no longer completely guaranteed at present, but the hourly rate of the two cattle remains quite dizzying. Fortunately, however, many players are not yet adults and are still linked to the franchise for reasonable amounts. Indeed, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Cole Anthony, Chuma Okeke, RJ Hampton and obviously the latest addition Paolo Banchero are all in their rookie contract. In addition, Gary Harris and Terrence Ross, who respectively receive 13 and 11.5 million over the coming season, remain big candidates for the trade before February.
TTFL: Magic players to watch
The Magic has struggled offensively since 1927, but a man might change the situation a little bit (but not too much either, don’t push). This man is Paolo Banchero, the new face of the Orlando attack, and incidentally number 1 of the last Draft. The native of Seattle wishing to play for Italy will probably have the keys to an attack which should therefore very quickly speak with the hands. From his first year in the league, the former Duke will have carte blanche to put up nice scores just like his teammate Franz Wagner who will also be eagerly awaited following a great EuroBasket with Germany, during which he paid the scalp de Giannis and brought home the bronze, just that. A few evenings at 40 or even 50 are possible for both. However, we do not really see why you would type in this team, except in the event of a last resort. Then if you want to bet on Mo Bamba or Terrence Ross, following all it’s your problem.
Infirmary: update on injuries
When we look at the Orlando infirmary, no less than seven names stand out. RJ Hampton, to begin with, had only one alert: a sprained medial (or internal) collateral ligament in his left knee with a bone bruise. He will miss fourteen matches. We continue with Wendell Carter Jr, who has made several round trips to the infirmary in recent months. In December, he left the field in a wheelchair but ultimately only had a small strain in the right tibial region and missed two games. He will miss seven more for right hamstring pain before missing eight of the last nine games for a sprained left wrist. Jalen Suggs for his part missed his first match in November for a sprained right ankle, at the end of November it was a fractured right thumb which deprived him of twenty matches, but it was clearly his ankle which bothered him until at the end of the season. Indeed, from the month of March he went back and forth to the infirmary: sprain, bone contusion… before leaving the pitch for good for a stress fracture which sent him to the pool table at the end of April. Still deprived of training with contact at the start of the Summer League, it is however expected that he will no longer be limited for the training camp.
Cole Anthony was also hampered by his right ankle: a first sprain deprived him of six games in November before a second left him on the sidelines for eight games. We can also mention Markelle Fultz, back on February 28 almost fourteen months following her left ACL rupture. He resumed gradually, limited in minutes and without back-to-back, but we can hope to see these restrictions decrease this season. Gary Harris, meanwhile, made the most of the infirmary: injury to the right and then left hamstrings, sprain, contusion in the knee… before being injured once more at the end of August, with a torn meniscus in the left knee. He then underwent a meniscectomy (removal of the torn fragment) and might therefore return for the start of the season. Finally, Jonathan Isaac has been in the infirmary for August…2020 and his torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Injured in the right hamstrings during his rehabilitation, he underwent a light intervention but should be ready for recovery. To conclude, a lot of cases to watch on the side of the Magic, with an infirmary which risks running at full speed once more this season.
What goals this season?
Don’t count on Mickey’s pals to win too many games despite the crazy prognosis of Markelle Fultz, visibly as presumptuous as he was drunk at the time of the events. Admittedly, the arrival with great fanfare of Paolo Banchero, the hoped-for confirmation of Franz Wagner, the expected outbreak of Jalen Suggs, but also the return from injury of Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac give real great weapons that the Magic will have to use wisely. However, this will be far too fair to even play the play-in tournament. The objective will be above all to get young people to play, to see them gain experience and play together in order to create a very distinct hierarchy in a roster that is not lacking in talent, but which, on the other hand, is sorely lacking in bottle. There will be so to speak no pressure of result on the shoulders of the teenagers of the Magic, the injured will be able to come back quietly, the young people will have the ticket shoots and the franchise will be able to quietly end the season with 25 victories maximum. In Orlando, eyes are already on Victor Wembanyama or even Scoot Henderson. Take out the tracks and drive around, there’s nothing to see around here.
The Editor’s Prognosis
23 wins and 59 losses: 15th place in the East
It sucks a lot for the friends of Paolo in terms of results. The workforce is much too light to hope for anything other than a high-placed choice in the next Draft, and the hierarchy is far from easy to establish for coach Jamahl Mosley. But at least we can say that some hype has returned to the Orlando side thanks to the arrival of the latest Coach K nugget from Duke. Every loss should, however, be considered a victory by Magic fans, who clearly have their eyes on the 2023 Draft in the optics of seeing Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson put on the Floridian jacket.
Some useful links
Orlando’s official ambition is to (pretend to) scratch a play-in with its young shooters, but the unofficial ambition is clearly to make sure to scrap some games in view of the 2023 Draft. first grow, learn, harden and lose together before returning to the postseason. With this squad of hungry young wolves, the path promises to be long, but not so tortuous as that.
Source texte : Basketballinsiders.com
