Who is the Orlando Magic’s best individual perimeter defender?

Who is the Orlando Magic’s best perimeter defender?

The Case for Jalen Suggs

Let’s start with someone we have already dove deeply into defensively in Jalen Suggs.

Suggs had an uneven rookie season. Perhaps even disappointing as he struggled offensively. But the Magic would tell everyone he was fantastic on defense. And he was fantastic on defense.

By the numbers, opponents shot worse from every level than expected when Suggs was the closest defender. The Magic had a better defensive rating with Suggs on the floor than any other rotation player.

According to data from Basketball Index, Suggs was an expert at getting deflections and steals, darting into passing lanes and being a disruptor if anyone came near him. He ranked in the 89th percentile in passing lane defense — getting 4.4 bad pass steals and deflections per 75 possessions.

Suggs was just extremely active and advanced for a player of his experience level.

He was able to flip between positions, chase on screens and just be generally disruptive. That was perhaps the most notable thing about Suggs defensively. He was so good at getting himself back into plays.

Suggs had a lot of these plays where he was able to slide down in help side and make a play. He has great awareness to make these plays.

This might well be why Suggs is not the best perimeter defender on the team. At least not yet.

One area where Suggs still needs to improve is his on-ball defense.

In the few isolation possessions he defended, opponents scored 1.21 points per possession against Suggs. According to Basketball Index, he rated positively for his on-ball defense but not nearly as strong as his off-ball defense, ranking in the 65th percentile.

That is not to say Suggs still cannot improve. At this point, he is still young and far advanced for a player of his age. But the Magic may be better using him in that free safety role where he gobbled up plays and made an impact for the team last year.

His development on defense is as key as his development on offense.