The Orlando Magic exited their season feeling pretty good about where they stood.
They saw their young team make some important strides toward the end of the season as the team started to get healthier and gel. Their defense took important steps forward and seemed to find their groove and the team played at the breakneck pace that you would expect a young team to play at.
If the team’s goal in the first year of their rebuild was to get the outline of who they can be, they started to see it later in the year. The Magic ended the season seemingly surer of who they are and what they can be.
Of course, any team can play well for 20 games. And even that still did not see the team pick up wins — the Magic were just 9-13 after the All-Star Break. It was a significant stretch, but still one that left the Magic pretty far behind.
No one is hiding from the fact the Magic have more work to do. Coach Jamahl Mosley sent his team to the offseason with the directive to “level up,” signaling perhaps that the team expects to do something more than sink to the bottom of the standings.
The Orlando Magic entered the offseason with the second-worst record in the league, but hope they can continue growing into the offseason as they prepare for next year.
Obviously, there is a lot that is going to happen this offseason. Orlando will get another top-six pick to add to the fold, adding a highly talented player to the roster. The team will have nearly max cap space to spend in free agency if the team wants to. And they are expecting to get Jonathan Isaac back in time for training camp next year.
As former coach Steve Clifford liked to say at the beginning of every training camp: Every team is different. It is impossible to expect to pick up right where you left off. Training camp is a reset and all the team’s foundations and principles will have to be re-established.
To current coach Jamahl Mosley’s credit, he did an incredible job this year keeping the team together and focused on the big picture of their development throughout the season — even through tons of losses. Everyone on the team is excited about what is in store for the future.
The Magic have a lot of questions to answer this offseason when it comes to the roster as constructed. Yes, the biggest question for the offseason is who the team will take in the top-six of this draft. But those are not the questions we are interested in for this post.
Here, we want to ask the questions about the current roster and what they face heading into next season.
5 questions for the Orlando Magic’s offseason
Can the Orlando Magic establish an identity?
From the beginning of the season, coach Jamahl Mosley spoke about the style of play he wanted his team to embody.
They were going to play with space, pace and the pass on offense. They were going to play with toughness, togetherness and talking on defense.
With so little understood about Mosley as a first-time coach, everyone was trying to spend last offseason trying to figure out what all this meant. It was obscure enough that it could truly mean anything. There was nothing to back anything up. It was all a blank slate.
We now have a year with Mosley as head coach. And that blank slate at least has an outline of what the team wants to be.
It certainly took a while for the Magic to find their center and find some consistency. But there are certainly clues to how the Magic want to play.
For this franchise, it all starts on defense. All of the team’s top players are defensive-minded and excel on that end. This is where everything is going to start for the team.
The Magic finished the season 19th in the league in defensive rating at 112.1 points per 100 possessions. The team, despite clearly tanking the final few weeks of the season, finished seventh in defensive rating after the All-Star Break at 111.2 points per 100 possessions.
That is a positive step for a young team. They have something to build on. Although, it is very clear how much work the team has to do.
Improving their offense will help their defense a ton too. And that is the biggest problem the team has.
The Magic were still bad offensively after the All-Star Break — 29th in the league at 104.4 points per 100 possessions. But the team started to carve an identity as a fast-breaking team in the final weeks of the season.
The Magic finished the season 10th in the league in pace at 99.7 possessions per 48 minutes. That is about the only positive thing anyone could say for the team offensively — they did set up franchise records for three-pointers but were also one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league.
Orlando finished the year 23rd in fast-break points per game at 10.8 per game. So the question is just how effective the team’s pace ultimately will end up being.
This is all to say then that Orlando is still seeking its identity. Its defense showed some positive signs. But there is still a long way to go. And the offense does not quite have a distinct style.
There are certainly things for the Magic to build on. But a lot of work to do to get there. And training camp will be starting over again.
5 questions for the Orlando Magic’s offseason
Will Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony improve at the rim?
The Orlando Magic were a bad offensive team. There is no other way to say it. The team had the second-worst offensive rating in the league and they were down near the bottom of every offensive category. The Magic’s biggest challenge as they map their future is figuring out how to score.
Simple enough?
It does have to start with the guards with the team’s two young guards who carried a lot of the possession burden.
Cole Anthony led the team in scoring with 16.3 points per game, but he shot only 39.1-percent from the floor. Anthony was pushed into the role of the main scorer when he may not have been best suited for it.
Jalen Suggs’ offensive struggles throughout the season were really apparent. He had a rough rookie year, averaging 11.8 points per game and shot 36.1-percent from the floor and 21.4-percent from beyond the arc.
This is team is very reliant on their guards for offense.
There is a lot for both Anthony and Suggs to improve and work on this offseason. Their 3-point shooting is high on the list.
So too should their ability to finish at the rim.
Anthony shot 55.0-percent in the restricted area on 2.8 field goal attempts per game. Suggs shot 58.9-percent in the restricted area on 4.0 field goal attempts per game.
Among players with at least 2.5 field goal attempts per game within five feet, Anthony had the 11th-worst mark at 52.1-percent on 3.3 attempts per game. Suggs finished 22nd-worst at 54.7-percent on 4.5 attempts per game. Suggs had the 29th most field goal attempts within five feet among guards.
It should be noted too that R.J. Hampton’s finishing at the rim and within five feet were worse than both Cole Anthony and Jalen Suggs.
It is easy to see the Magic have a problem finishing at the rim with their guards and on their drives. And that is where a lot of the league’s success is coming these days. Guards drive the league and the ability to get to the rim and put pressure on defenses is critical to creating the space to kick out to the 3-point line.
The Magic’s guards have a long way to go to improve in these areas. But this is a spot where the Magic have to find some improvement. And it could be the key to unlocking the next phase in their development.
5 questions for the Orlando Magic’s offseason
What are Franz Wagner’s next steps?
The most exciting and encouraging part of the entire season was undoubtedly Franz Wagner’s development.
Wagner averaged 15.2 points per game and shot 46.8-percent from the floor, including 35.8-percent from beyond the arc. He stood up to the 82-game season physically too, playing in the first 78 games before a rolled ankle shut him down for all but one of the final four games.
There were some ups and downs for sure — the rookie wall is a real thing. But Wagner was still productive in the downtimes and had some big burst games.
The exciting part about Wagner is that he seemingly fits everywhere. It is easy to see him being a cutter and a secondary ball-handler. It is easy seeing him being a supporting player as a spot-up shooter.
What everyone really wants from Wagner is for him to take the next step toward stardom. If there was one prevailing storyline from the season with Wagner it was how much Magic fans wanted him on the ball more.
He still took the second-most field goal attempts per game on the team. It was not that he was not getting shots. But his usage rate still hovered around 20-percent. And his best moments this season came in December when his usage rate was up near 25-percent.
Wagner can clearly do a whole lot more. That is what the team is eager to find out.
What that improvement looks like is anybody’s guess. Wagner said he wants to continue to add strength now that he has been through the rigors of an NBA season.
The area I would like to see him add is a more consistent mid-range and pull-up game — also known as the provenance of the stars. Wagner was either shooting threes or getting all the way to the basket — both things he is good at. If Wagner can develop a mid-range jumper, then he becomes a completely different player.
Wagner took only 39 mid-range field goals according to NBA.com’s tracking statistics. That is a shockingly low amount. He scored only 1.8 points per game on 34.2-percent shooting on pull-up shots.
Nobody wants or expects Wagner to become a guy who is jacking up shots or playing recklessly. That is not even really his game anyway. Nobody wants that to change.
But a little more aggression and a better way to keep defenses off-balanced will help him take his next steps.
5 questions for the Orlando Magic’s offseason
Can Wendell Carter thrive in a two-big lineup?
The other big revelation for this season for the Orlando Magic came from Wendell Carter.
Carter had a career season, averaging 15.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. He was even better later in the season, averaging 19.6 points and 11.6 rebounds per game after the All-Star Break.
It felt like the Magic had a solid backstop defensively and a good modern center for the team to begin building a little more consistently around. Carter feels like a building block piece.
But there was something else to the puzzle. Something that could figure to be important for this team as they rebuild. Wendell Carter played a lot of minutes alongside another center in Mo Bamba. And that backstop very realistically may not be there again next year.
There should at least be some examination of whether Carter can play full-time and alone at center without that big man backstop — even though Carter is a capable one-on-one defender for some of the best centers in the league.
According to Basketball-Reference, Carter played just 37-percent of his minutes at center. He played 1,013 of his 1,852 minutes (54.7-percent) alongside Mo Bamba. He played 66 additional minutes alongside Moe Wagner and 82 minutes with Robin Lopez.
That means Carter played 62.7-percent of his minutes alongside another center.
There are more two-big lineups going around the league. So this is not as abnormal as it might feel. There is a little bit of a shift away from small ball. And Carter’s versatility enables him to switch between the 4 and 5 pretty easily.
But it is still fairly unclear what would happen if Carter were left alone without a center.
The draft may resolve some of these problems. Chet Holmgren has gotten instant comparisons to Mo Bamba for his size, shot-blocking ability and lack of frame. There is something to saying this whole season was a dry run for seeing if a Carter-Holmgren pairing could work.
The other two top guys in this draft are power forwards in Jabari Smith and Paolo Banchero. But they are not like the center that was a backstop for Carter.
Carter is very good. And this whole conversation is a sign the Magic should be thinking of ways to get the most out of Carter.
5 questions for the Orlando Magic’s offseason
Is Markelle Fultz ready to take over as point guard of the future?
The Orlando Magic are seeking players to build around and players who can drive the franchise forward. They are looking for someone to take off.
There is no doubt that Markelle Fultz re-energized the team. His return gave the team a spark emotionally. But it also gave them a clear spark on the court.
The Magic are now just curious what more Fultz can do.
Fultz averaged 10.8 points per game and 5.5 assists per game in 20.0 minutes per game. He was used mostly off the bench and provided these huge sparks of energy. The Magic played at a pace of nearly 104 possessions per 48 minutes, which would have led the league by far.
There was just this injection of energy.
In moments too, Fultz looked like the player that got picked first out of Washington. He had complete command over the pace of the game and got to his spots to hit mid-range jumpers with increasing consistency. Unlike Cole Anthony and Jalen Suggs, Markelle Fultz was proficient in finishing at the rim.
That was all well and good. So now comes the question of what comes next for the young guard.
Fultz is anticipating this offseason for a number of reasons.
He is healthy again and confident with his playing. But this will also mark his first healthy, non-COVID offseason.
Everyone always talks about how much a player grows between their rookie and sophomore seasons. Fultz never really had that. This is his first time he will have full access to a gym, a full offseason and no injury to rehab.
That is an exciting time for a young player. And for a young player with the latent talent Fultz clearly still has. The Magic are going to be eager to see what Fultz can do.
And while the team getting healthy is still the biggest priority for the team and its development. Getting Fultz back even for a brief time this year showed what the team could do and could be.
Fultz is entering what is essentially a contract year this year — there is a team option on the third year of his contract. It seems certain the Magic would pick that up. This is a big season for Fultz to cement a place with the team moving forward.