The Eastern Conference is a mess (it’s not just the Orlando Magic)
Orlando Magic
Where will the scoring come from?
The Orlando Magic have a number of different questions that we are very well familiar with. From Nikola Vucevic to Aaron Gordon to Elfrid Payton to Evan Fournier, the Magic will need someone to step up and grow up pretty quickly.
The Magic made their big investment on defense and are hoping that is enough to get them in the Playoff conversation. The offense though?
Frank Vogel was never known for particularly strong offenses. And he will not have Paul George around to bail him out.
The Magic are, as Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer writes, one of the most unpredictable teams in the league:
"The Magic are all in. After four years of stumbling through a rebuild and haphazardly collecting young talent, they are ready to get back in the playoffs, even if their talent base can’t really sustain that type of push. They cashed in a bunch of future assets for Serge Ibaka, gave a huge contract to Bismack Biyombo, and brought in Frank Vogel to sort it all out. The combination of Ibaka and Biyombo should allow Vogel to orchestrate the type of defensive schemes he ran in Indiana, but there’s no Paul George on hand to bail him out on offense. Their best offensive player, Nikola Vucevic, might be headed to the bench, which means there won’t be much room for the spread attacks that could get the best out of the young pieces they have left. Will Vogel be able to make the Magic’s mismatched collection of parts work, and can someone from the group of Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier, Mario Hezonja, and Elfrid Payton make the leap and carry this franchise back to respectability?"
There are no proven scorers for the Magic — that would be the case even if they had kept Victor Oladipo. The players the Magic need to step up either could flourish in more featured roles, or the team could flounder. And without a ton of shooting, the Magic are going to have to create offense somewhere.
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