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Orlando Magic First Quarter Review: The Magic’s 5 best lineups

By Philip Rossman-Reich

The Orlando Magic have struggled in their record, but Jamahl Mosley has some very successful lineups he can use to soften that blow. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports
The Orlando Magic have struggled in their record, but Jamahl Mosley has some very successful lineups he can use to soften that blow. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports /
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R.J. Hampton, Cole Anthony, Orlando Magic
R.J. Hampton and Cole Anthony helped fans get a peak behind the curtain of the Orlando Magic’s getaway to Charleston, S.C. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /

Orlando Magic’s top 5 lineups

Super Bench

Cole Anthony/R.J. Hampton/Terrence Ross/Franz Wagner/Wendell Carter

15 minutes (4 games) – +38.1 Net Rating (134.5/96.4)

The story of the first quarter of the season was the Orlando Magic’s starting lineup. it was good. Very good. And we will get to it in a bit and talk about where it ranked in the league.

But the divide between the Magic’s starting lineup and its bench lineups — especially when three key players in Cole Anthony, Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter were off the floor — has been the story for the season. The Magic’s bench has quite simply struggled.

This is a good point though to show how important the Magic’s trio of young players are. No players have been more important for the Magic than Anthony, Wagner and Carter.

When that trio is on the floor, the team has a +5.6 net rating. They play the most minutes together of any trio on the team.

Obviously, a lot of that comes with the starting group. But that trio has been undoubtedly successful for a team that had the worst net rating through the first quarter of the season — at worse than -10 points per 100 possessions.

It feels like the Magic could put any two players with those three guys and probably still come out OK. That is how good the trio of Anthony, Carter and Wagner have been this year.

This group with Terrence Ross seems to work because it has the right mix of playmaking and spacing to help give Ross the room to get free and become effective.

And with R.J. Hampton emerging as a better 3-point shooter, it helps make him more valuable as a secondary ball-handler in this seemingly plus-shooting lineup. Hampton has been quietly impressive from deep, hitting 40.6-percent of his 3-pointers so far this season.

In the end, this is a really strong offensive lineup with the three key creators for the magic and their two best shooters surrounding them.

If Hampton’s shooting continues, this would seemingly be a good lineup to trot out again with the balance it has and the ability to put everyone in their ideal spots to score and be effective for this team.