Where do the Orlando Magic stand as stats start to normalize?

How do the Orlando Magic team stats look compared to the rest of the league 17 games into the season?

About a month into the NBA season, we are starting to get a feel of which teams are good at certain aspects of the game. Although it is still early, the stats are beginning to normalize.

With about 21 percent of the season completed already, the Magic are ninth in the league with a 99.3 defensive rating (points against per 100 possessions).

If the team is able to stay in that range or even improve, it would be a huge improvement over the past three seasons.

For a reference point, eight out of the top 10 teams in defensive rating made the playoffs last season. That, along with the -0.7 correlation coefficient between defensive rating and wins from last season, makes it seem that if the Magic continue to play defense at a top level and keep their defensive rating low, they will have a legitimate shot at the postseason.

The defense has been a strong point, and helped drive them to three straight wins last week.

The offense, on the other hand, has mostly struggled. Despite putting together three straight strong performances, the Magic are still only 18th in the NBA with an 100.7 offensive rating.

There was a 0.84 correlation coefficient between offensive rating and wins last season, and only one of the bottom 10 teams in that category made the playoffs.

In order for the Magic to be a legitimate contender for the postseason, they will definitely have to improve their offensive output.

The good news is that number is trending up, and hopefully the Magic can find themselves in the top half of the league. The entire top 10, and 12 out of the top 15 teams in offensive rating last season made the playoffs, so that is an area that Magic would definitely like to be.

As far as some other stats go, the Magic are first in field goal attempts per game, 20th in field goal percentage, 15th in 3-point attempts, 13th in 3-point percentage, 20th in 3-point percentage against, 28th in free-throw attempts, 16th in free-throw percentage, 18th in turnovers, ninth in fouls, and 26th in fouls drawn.

They are also 11th in rebounding percentage (percentage of possible rebounds collected), 13th in assist percentage (percentage of field goals that are assisted), 13th in bench points (according to hoopsstats.com) and 19th in pace (possessions per 48 minutes).

The depth has been a strong point, and moving Victor Oladipo to the sixth man role has really sparked the bench production from the team.

The Magic should especially hope to increase the 3-point percentage, because there was a 0.69 correlation between that and wins last season. The top 11 teams in 3-point percentage all made the playoffs last year, and 13 of the top 14 made it.

Orlando has done a better job hitting threes lately (shot 44.4 percent against the Milwaukee Bucks and 36 percent against the Boston Celtics), and are up to 35.5 percent on the season. The 1.065 expected value for an average three is a strong output (better than the average yield per possession for 28 teams). If they can continue to hit at a high mark, that would be a good sign for their playoff hopes.

Not only would hitting threes improve their output from jump shots, it would also increase the spacing for the athletic wings such as Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton, and Evan Fournier to drive to the basket.

Next: Victor Oladipo still valuable to Orlando Magic franchise

The Magic are playing at a slightly above .500 level after 17 games, but in order to achieve the goals they had for the season, they will have to be more consistent on the offensive side of the ball while continuing to play tough defense.