Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag Volume 9: Find your role
OK, my August Playoff predictions, for whatever they are worth. You say there are seven teams in the East pretty much locked up (barring injury)? Let’s figure out who we think is in.
The Cavaliers, Bulls, Hawks, Raptors and Wizards feel like locks. Not in that particular order, at least. Maybe Toronto is precariously in that opening group. That is already half the Playoff spots gone, I guess.
The Heat are really dependent on health. But when healthy, the Heat should be considered in that top group. Or at least in the vicinity. That is five.
The Bucks are the young team everyone wants to see if they can repeat last year’s success. They might be a bit more precarious, but I feel relatively comfortable putting them in the race. Was that your seven?
That leaves us with the Celtics, Hornets, Pistons, Nets and Magic in the hunt for that last Playoff spot. I agree six seem pretty safe bets to make the Playoffs. The seventh should get in too. The Celtics are kind of in the same boat as the Bucks, but let’s peg them as the team that could falter since so much had to go right for them — not to mention, the Bucks are getting Jabari Parker back.
The Nets are on their way down. But they should not be discredited with a solid group of veteran players. Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young and Joe Johnson should be enough to get you into the Playoffs in the Eastern Conference.
The Pistons have Stan Van Gundy, and that roster continues to look more and more like a solid outfit with adding Ersan Ilyasova as a stretch-4 and sneaking in Stanley Johnson through the Draft. They look to be improved even with losing Greg Monroe — it all just depends on Andre Drummond becoming that Dwight Howard-like linchpin.
The Hornets fell apart last season after trying to add Lance Stephenson but are only a year removed from making the Playoffs. Al Jefferson and Nicolas Batum are in contract years, which should mean they have big seasons ahead of them. That could equal a return to relevancy.
And I completely forgot about the Pacers who get Paul George back probably healthy along with Monta Ellis, but no frontcourt worth writing about at the moment (good bye Roy Hibbert and David West).
This is all to say, the Magic have to jump a few teams to get into the Playoffs. And, at this point, I am more confident in those teams ahead of the Magic than the Magic.
This is not to say Orlando cannot make a push and surprise everyone to make the Playoffs. The Bucks did the same thing with their team coalescing behind a new coach with young players fitting perfectly. It is possible. But the betting man says to be more patient with the Magic and not predict on something that has not already happened yet.