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A healthy Markelle Fultz gives Orlando Magic one of the best young cores

By Michael Dugger

Markelle Fultz has started ingraining himself with his teammates even without a clear return to the court. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)
Markelle Fultz has started ingraining himself with his teammates even without a clear return to the court. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images) /
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Orlando Magic Markelle Fultz(Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /

The case against being a top-five future core

Before comparing them to the other NBA teams, let’s look at what could go wrong with the Magic that would prevent them from reaching the upper echelon of the NBA’s best young cores.

For starters, this current crop does not have a single elite shooter, perhaps even a good shooter, at this juncture of their careers.

Shooting is not everything in the NBA, but it is vital with defenses able to sag off and collapse the space in the paint. All five players need to improve their shooting efficiency, and their offensive games as a whole, to take the next steps.

The biggest question mark, as laid out in the first slide, is health.

Mohamed Bamba missed the last half of his rookie season with a fractured left tibia and has the always-present size questions when discussing durability. Jonathan Isaac played 75 games last season after only appearing in 27 his rookie season. Chuma Okeke is in line to miss most of this season with a torn ACL. And we all know about Markelle Fultz’s lingering shoulder issue.

Health is almost impossible to predict and can derail any team’s plans. The Magic are banking on these players maintaining their health, or in the case of Okeke and Fultz, returning to full health.

That is nothing close to a guarantee.

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    • In terms of where the Magic stack up to the rest of the NBA in terms of young core, there are a couple of teams they are behind.

    The Denver Nuggets are head and shoulders above most cores. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray lead a youth movement that is the second-youngest roster in the NBA and was a game away from the Western Conference Finals. And they have Michael Porter Jr. and Bol Bol, two unicorns if healthy themselves, waiting and rehabbing to full strength.

    The other team with a clear talent edge over the Orlando Magic is the New Orleans Pelicans. Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaxson Hayes and Josh Hart create a pretty good foundation for that team to grow.

    That is a team that has everything: Defense, spacing, ball handlers, athleticism, superstar potential, everything in a core.

    The other teams have duos or lone players with superstar potential — such as the Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings — have plenty of talent across their boards. And each has a player that is destined for stardom.

    That is an advantage they hold over the Magic. Having a De’Aaron Fox or Donovan Mitchell on your team is a perfect foundation for a franchise. The Magic do not currently have that unless Fultz returns to health.