Aaron Gordon leads Orlando Magic in SI’s Top 100, but team still absent

The Orlando Magic are still seeking their star. Aaron Gordon‘s rise has given some hope, but the team still clearly lacks top-end talent.

There are not a lot of national expectations for the Orlando Magic.

The team has not really done anything to help itself. They were relatively quiet throughout the offseason. The biggest move the team made was to add raw rookie Mohamed Bamba and re-sign forward Aaron Gordon.

That is not a lot of change to a team that won just 25 games last year. Plenty could admit that injuries deflated that win total some. But it is hard to see the team making up the 18 games between them and the eighth-seeded Washington Wizards.

Even with all their young players taking another step forward, it is hard to see them making up that gap still. Even in an Eastern Conference that feels a bit deflated.

Everyone would admit that part of the Magic’s problem is a lack of high-end talent. For fans, there has been a long-going obsession with finding the Magic’s next All-Star. That is more status symbol than anything else. The team still seems like it is a long way away.

And Sports Illustrated’s ranking of the top 100 players in the NBA shows just how much of a talent deficit the Magic are at. Yet, it also provides some room for hope.

The Magic had three players rank in the top 100 players in the league according to Sports Illustrated. All three were outside the top 50, showing the Magic still have a lot of development to go.

Gordon led the way for the Magic coming in at No. 66. Ben Golliver wrote Gordon has seen it all with the team and his development is something of a miracle. Gordon, unbelievably, has had five coaches in five years. Steve Clifford is yet another one.

But Gordon had a breakout year last season, averaging 17.6 points per game and shooting 33.6 percent from beyond the arc. He had a 50.0 percent effective field goal percentage despite a huge uptick in usage (from 20.1 percent in 2017 to 24.7 percent last year).

There is a lot of optimism that the 22-year-old has another level to his game and can continue to grow. The higher ranking for Gordon is a bit of a hedge. Sports Illustrated recognized his improvement and the steps he took last year but want to see him do it again before ranking him any higher.

That is more than fair, of course. Gordon had one good season and plenty of flaws within it. As hot as he started the year, he proved himself extremely inefficient in the final 20 games of the year as he tried to take over more and more. Gordon still has a lot to prove if he wants to bust through and become that star centerpiece the Magic are looking for.

In The Step Back’s 25-Under-25 rankings of the best players younger than 25 years old, Gordon still clocked in at No. 16 with an average rating of 7.07 on a scale of 1-10 for his impact this coming year.

Kris Fenrich wrote instability has been the biggest hamper to Gordon’s career. The team has lacked a strong developmental direction for him. Gordon has had to work through things himself. All without a solid ball handler or playmaker to set him up.

Fenrich writes Gordon has been pushed into a role that he does not necessarily fit:

"Gordon’s judgment and decision making as a ball handler are still emerging. Becoming a competent, if below average, 3-point shooter creates an avenue to take advantage of his passing and ball handling, both of which are above average for a player his size, though his handle is often high and loose. But just because you can see a pass and throw a pass doesn’t mean you can (or will) do it while moving off the dribble. When attacking off the bounce, Gordon is often out of control with the bad habit du jour being one of the worst pull-up jumpers in the league. At times, when he attacks, it seems the game is moving too fast for him and it’s all he can to get the shot off."

It is hard to argue with that argument. Gordon’s development is central to the Magic’s development this year. He certainly showed plenty in the last year for the Magic to make the major investment they did. And the frontloaded nature of the contract should protect them if he does not develop as expected.

But, as Fenrich fears, Gordon is not likely to see his role change or get the support he needs.

The other two Magic players on the list are Nikola Vucevic (No. 90) and Evan Fournier (No. 92). The write up on both of them are the same. Their stats are a bit inflated because of the roles they have to fill for the team. But both are more than serviceable players seeking a role on a better team.

At least last year, the Magic had only two players on the list — Elfrid Payton at No. 96 and Nikola Vucevic at No. 89. So in some way, the Magic at least saw improvement in their standing around the league after last season.

And there is plenty of chance for more.

Rookie Mohamed Bamba is obviously still very raw and does not fit into this list quite yet. And Jonathan Isaac has too small a sample for consideration.

The fact that there are still clear questions about all the major players in Orlando is reason enough to be skeptical about the upcoming season.

This is a rebuilding team and this is a team that still is waiting to see who emerges as they collect talent. It is far from a complete team.

The Magic are certainly betting on Gordon taking a step to the front. And continue to improve his ranking this year as a big part of this team’s growth in the near term.