5 reasons for Orlando Magic fans to be thankful this Thanksgiving

It would be fair to say the Orlando Magic’s season has not gone exactly how they would have liked to this point. The possibility of making an attempt at the postseason is getting dimmer after only a quarter of the campaign, mostly due to the dire injury luck which has cursed this franchise at key times for a number of years now.

The Magic are still just three games out of the final play-in spot entering Wednesday’s game, so do not quit that dream quite yet.

Missing personnel is not the only factor in the Magic’s inability to string wins and a cohesive product together.

This is one of the youngest rosters in the league, and the inescapable fact is most other teams are competitive as well. No win comes easy in the league anymore. Even the teams that many expected to tank, are stringing together early victories.

It is not all bad however. This Thanksgiving the Orlando Magic have five real reasons to be thankful for the position that they are in. It is a time for optimism still within the franchise.

Some of these will be obvious. Others less so.

But with the bulk of the roster on a similar timeline, a second-year head coach in Jamahl Mosley, whom the players are responding to, and a reliable veteran in the form of Terrence Ross navigating NBA life for the youngsters, the Magic are doing their best to forge an identity for the future.

Even if your outlook is not as optimistic as this, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and be grateful. And that is what we are doing here.

Make no mistake, there are still plenty of hard days and tough losses ahead. But with the possibility of tanking looking as enticing as ever, perhaps that is no bad thing either.

5. They uncovered the gem that is Bol Bol

Starting with one of the most obvious bright spots of the season.

The Orlando Magic have done an incredible job in unearthing Bol Bol’s true potential.

He joined the franchise at least year’s trade deadline and was injured when he arrived, so his acquisition from the Boston Celtics flew under the radar. The team opted to re-sign him in the summer, puzzling some as the Magic were taking another risk on a project with a long injury history.

We have already taken a look at the frankly astonishing impact of the big man so far, and he is 50th in the entire league in Player Impact Estimate (14.4), and 51st in Player Efficiency Rating 19.3).

Unsurprisingly, this leads the Magic in both categories (Paolo Banchero actually ranks higher in PIE at 14.8, but has missed the last handful of games).

As our own Philip Rossman-Reich excellently pointed out, the shock factor of the Magic’s jumbo lineups is no longer catching opponents by surprise. But it has still been an effective experiment. Bol Bol is no longer just a stand-in for Jonathan Isaac or something to try out.

Bol is going to be a part of this rotation moving forward.

Starting Bol Bol and Wendell Carter Jr., with Mo Bamba coming off the bench, had been giving the opposition fits. But with that happening less, Bol still looks like he is going to be just as impactful.

Averaging 13.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game is miles better than anything he achieved while with the Nuggets, and that surprisingly smooth shooting stroke has him averaging 42.4 percent from deep, albeit on only 33 attempts so far.

That has delighted fans, Internet stans and, well, everyone. Bol is an attraction piece for the team.

Looking long-term though, and if the Magic keep Bol, which is quickly becoming a priority, then it allows them to build in different directions.

Carter is the better and more sturdy center, but he has been prone to nagging injuries. He looks set to man the paint for years to come. But we already know both he and Bol can not only coexist but actually start games together.

Getting Bol to Orlando is one of the biggest wins that this front office has had, and it only looks like it is going to get better as his influence on the team grows.

4. They are quietly becoming better offensively

One thing the Orlando Magic have not been in recent years is a slick offensive unit.

You could go as far as to say that offensively they could be downright ugly. There is still work to be done, but the group has quietly turned a corner in this area.

Even without looking at the numbers, the kinds of players on the roster now make diversifying the offensive game plan much easier to achieve.

Whereas before everything went through former All-Star big man Nikola Vucevic, and once he left there was a vacuum, these days the team has a steady mix of guard and big-man play to break opponents down.

Wendell Carter is a nice option to have in the pick and roll, and the aforementioned shooting of Bol Bol, as well as Mo Bamba (36 percent from deep), pose difficult questions for opponents to attempt to answer.

Even if injuries have taken Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony off the court, Jalen Suggs is having a much better season than a year ago. His 13.3 points per game coming on an effective field goal percentage of 49 percent, all while chipping in with a defensive game that is improving at a level the organization will be happy to see.

Despite being a below-average 3-point shooting team (20th, 34.3 percent), the Magic are finding joy in simplifying their offensive sets.

Cole Anthony (43.9 percent) and Franz Wagner (40.8 percent) both rank in the top 20 in the entire league in handling in pick-and-roll situations. With Bamba the third most frequent roller in the league in those situations (27.9 percent), this has opened up the court for other players on the team to attack, while utilizing Bamba in the correct way.

All of this has led to the Magic having the 10th-best offensive rating at 113.1 points per 100 possessions in the last 10 games.

Some of this has been done without Banchero and his already accomplished scoring skills, which is a real plus. Even though they rank 21st for the season (110.1), there is still enough going on here to be confident that offensively better days are yet to come.

3. They have legitimate trade assets

Having real trade assets in today’s NBA is a huge plus, and the Orlando Magic have several players who other teams would be interested in.

Terrence Ross and Gary Harris are two veteran shooters who could help playoff groups and genuine contenders alike. Imagine what either of those could do to help a stuck-in-the-mud offensive team like the Los Angeles Lakers?

Mo Bamba has repaired his trade value, after looking like a sunk cost to end last season. Both he and the Magic deserve credit for that, and if Wendell Carter and Bol Bol are to continue getting the bulk of the minutes for the franchise, then the fact Bamba now has some worth around the league is a plus that did not look likely to start the season.

Chuma Okeke is another whose size and defensive skills would be of interest around the league, but all indications are that the Magic are happy to keep him right now. R.J. Hampton has failed to get going down in Florida, yet others would surely take a flier on the 21-year-old. Especially with how Hampton has looked in his limited minutes.

But all of these players are dancing around the emerging elephant in the room.

Markelle Fultz will return soon and when he does, then what?

Jalen Suggs is becoming a confident starting guard, while Cole Anthony also deserves his share of minutes.

Fultz will get a chance to run this team, and maybe even come off the bench to see if it works. Yet even though there is little guard depth on the roster at the moment, Fultz (or maybe even Anthony) may become trade assets before long.

Then there is Jonathan Isaac, who will also be back and who will join a group after more than two seasons off the court. Amazingly, both he and Fultz have been gone for so long that Wagner may have more actual NBA experience than them when that happens.

Isaac could be amazing, the missing piece bridging past and future. Or he could get in the way, making a trade involving him possible.

Either way, the Magic are well-positioned to make moves. They have zero onerous contracts thanks to the various levels of guaranteed money on the contracts they have signed recently — Isaac’s deal, for instance, is only partially guaranteed for the remaining three years of his deal.

The Magic are set up to be nimble when the team is ready to enter the trade market as a buyer.

No matter what, we have to consider the following too: The Magic are likely to have two more lottery picks (their own and one from the Chicago Bulls) next summer.

There simply is not enough room to keep everybody happy.

But with so many players outlined as viable trade candidates, imagine what packaging the bulk of them and some picks would get you? The next disgruntled star, and the Magic being in future conversations for guys like that is a real reason to be happy.

2. Help is on the way

With a trade not looking likely anytime soon, the Orlando Magic can focus on getting some players back off the treatment table, and into the rotation.

Fans love Markelle Fultz, and when he is back on the court the team is going to be better. It was not that long ago he was the second-best player, after Nikola Vucevic, in a playoff series for the Orlando Magic against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Having a rotation of Markelle Fultz, Jalen Suggs, Cole Anthony and Caleb Houstan will allow the team to be competitive for longer in games. Similarly, when Jonathan Isaac returns, he will slot in next to Bol Bol and Wendell Carter on occasion, to create one of the longest starting fives that the league has ever seen.

Especially if the team sticks Franz Wagner or Paolo Banchero in that lineup with them — which why not?

There was a time when the idea of Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba was enticing. We have evolved way past that. But having Isaac for 15 minutes a night to start with would be huge.

Kevon Harris has had his moments for the Magic, but he is not a long-term solution. Rather, an energizer who is giving all he can right now.

Give Isaac some of his minutes, and the group can go to the next level.

Okeke was contributing nicely before leaving the second meeting with the Indiana Pacers earlier this week with an apparent knee injury. It is unclear how long he will be out, but his absence will be felt in what is at this point a thin rotation.

The Magic rank a lowly 26th in defensive rating (114.0 points allowed per 100 possessions), and in the last 10 games that number has somehow been worse at 116.0.

They are never going to get anywhere if they cannot get stops more consistently. Even if it does not end up becoming their identity as some predicted it would.

But the re-introduction of Fultz, Isaac and Okeke would surely bring that swollen number down, and lead to more wins in the process.

We are nearly at that point, and it will be good news to see the bench brimming with eager players again soon.

1. Paolo Banchero will be a superstar

We have saved the best for last, and that is because it is a point worth celebrating all on its own.

Paolo Banchero has been amazing as a rookie, and it is a shame that he is currently out with a sprained ankle. But after only 11 games, and assuming he stays healthy, it is fair to say the Orlando Magic now have their superstar of the future.

In that brief period of time, Banchero showed he could do it all.

He has got the body of a veteran, and the combination of size, footwork and shooting stroke to score on essentially anybody. His work at the elbow and in the post is electric for a player of his experience, and you just loved to see his genuine annoyance when the team is losing or a play does not go the way it was supposed to.

Stats like this, after only 381 minutes in the NBA, are what you love to see:

Wagner is the perfect complimentary player for Banchero, and they combine to give Magic fans undoubtedly the biggest reason to be thankful. After a couple of failed rebuilds, the organization got it right in drafting these two guys. No matter what happens with roster turnover or future picks, they can build a playoff-level outfit around Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.

It has been a long time since Magic fans could say that confidently.

To be able to say Banchero could make the All-Star Game this year (he will have to get back from injury soon to make the case statistically), and that Rookie of the Year is basically sown up already, make him one of the best first-overall picks of the last decade out of the gate.

We all know how badly the Magic needed this. Needed that one guy to come in and take the franchise and drag it back to relevancy. To think we held out hope that Aaron Gordon or Mario Hezonja could do just that is frankly embarrassing to look back on.

Look how good Banchero is already, and know that it is only the beginning.