The Orlando Magic do not show up very much in Sports Illustrated or ESPN’s top 100 lists. That shows just how much ground the Magic have to make up.
The NBA is still roughly a month away from starting and the excitement for the season is clearly growing. We have hit those familiar notes of the preseason that signal the end of the long wait and the beginning of actually getting players on the floor and playing these games.
NBA2K is due out next week (pre-release is Friday). So fans will get to simulate their seasons for the first time or try to make the season go how they want with total control.
And now here come the familiar lists. Sports Illustrated and ESPN released their top 100 lists for the upcoming season. It is their attempt to rank the best players in the league. They are individual or group lists meant to spark debate and discussion. But they say something about the year ahead.
After all, the NBA is one of the few truly star-driven leagues. It is hard to win in the NBA without an all-time great player. It is not a chicken or an egg problem, great players become Hall of Fame players based on their Playoff exploits. But there are no Playoff exploits if that player is not great already.
LeBron James can seemingly will any group of players to a Finals appearance. The best players in the league are consistently the ones playing at the end of the season.
The Orlando Magic, with five straight trips to the Lottery? They are not exactly at the top of anyone’s list. Considering Las Vegas sports books have the Magic at an over/under of 32.5 wins entering the season, there does not seem to be much suggestion the Magic will be much better this year.
The reason is ultimately because they do not have the best players in the league.
It is not disrespect for any individual player or the team in general that so few Magic players showed up in Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s lists of the best players in the league. There are certainly plenty of arguments to make — and their lists argue with each other to some extent — about where certain Magic players rank.
What is clear is the fact the Magic do not have a clear cut player ranked higher than No. 75. It is a big reason why the Magic are where they are at.
Orlando Magic
Quite simply, Orlando is not going to improve without dramatic internal improvement from young players like Aaron Gordon or Jonathan Isaac (both left off this year’s Sports Illustrated Top 100) or without adding an influx of talent.
All of a sudden it made some sense for the Magic to trade Victor Oladipo (No. 77 in SI’s list and No. 78 on ESPN’s #NBARank) for Serge Ibaka (No. 56 in SI and No. 69 for ESPN). Although even that was not much of a difference.
The Magic did not rank well.
On Sports Illustrated’s ranking of the Top 100 players, Elfrid Payton ranked No. 96 and Nikola Vucevic at No. 89. Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier were listed as one of the biggest snubs.
According to Sports Illustrated then, the Magic do not have a player better than 89th in the league. That does not bode well for the upcoming season.
ESPN is a bit kinder. Their #NBARank is supposed to be a measure of is Player 1 better than Player 2 and so on so forth.
In that ranking, Aaron Gordon cracked the list as the highest rated player at No. 68. He is the only Magic player ESPN ranked in the top 100 in the league. They are much higher on what Gordon can be this year, but that does not mean they see the Magic as vastly improved.
Like Gordon, everyone is waiting for this team to take that step forward. It just has never come.
There is a lot of tarnish on a team that won just 29 games a year ago.
This is where the Magic are left, trying to find a way forward with few expectations for success and little evidence things will get better. Probably not as currently constructed. Orlando needs to see internal improvement and needs to see the team make that step forward.
According to the national pundits and rankings, it certainly would be unexpected.
These rankings though cut to the very core of the problem for the Magic. The problem that has plagued them despite those high draft picks they have had for much of the last five years.
Orlando has yet to develop that star player. The team struggled to put together the right mix of players and struggled to develop players on its roster to form a cohesive team. It is both a problem in the players they selected and their development.
Perhaps some stability will get the team to move forward at long last. The team’s constant coaching changes — and role changes for several players — certainly hurt player development.
In reality, Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier, two of the Magic’s best players, are probably nearing their crest. Any chance for real development falls on the team’s youngest players — Aaron Gordon, Elfrid Payton and Jonathan Isaac. The Magic will not go anywhere without their internal improvement.
The Magic certainly believe they have made the kind of supporting improvements they need to make their team better. They focused their offseason on improving their bench to support a starting lineup that has some talent, just not top-end talent. But ultimately their success relies on some player taking a step forward.
That is what these rankings prove more than anything. Orlando still needs that influx in talent.
The Magic are not a drastically different team from last year. The only thing that can seemingly make them different is a player surprising everyone and taking that step up they have lacked the last five years.
Next: NBA mulling Lottery reform
Perhaps this is the year the team takes that necessary final step.