Markelle Fultz, Jalen Suggs can be Orlando Magic’s long-term backcourt

The Orlando Magic are preparing for a crack at the Play-in tournament, and find themselves in a good place.

After a terrible start to the season, they have the 10th-best record in the entire league (19-15) since Dec. 7. and have proven they can win games against difficult opponents.

With the trade deadline behind us, most of the big-picture questions for this organization will have to wait until the summer.

It is now about deciding whether to chase the Play-In or move downward for the chance at a higher draft pick and a generational talent.

The Orlando Magic though are focused on their long-term picture regardless of which direction in the standings they go. They have their focus on the building blocks for their future team.

One such question is playing out before our very eyes is in the backcourt, where Markelle Fultz and Jalen Suggs are establishing themselves as the Orlando Magic’s starting guards.

This may seem a strange stance to take. After all, Gary Harris has started the last three games and looks a natural fit in the starting five alongside Markelle Fultz, Wendell Carter, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.

But Harris has the same scoring capabilities that former player Terrance Ross did, and he can transition into a flamethrower off the bench as the Magic get better.

In his second year, Suggs has started 14 of the 34 games he has appeared in. And he is getting people’s attention with his defensive play.

He is yet to find his groove offensively, but he is shooting 44 percent from 3-point range in the month of February. A far cry from the 30.7 percent of his career so far.

It would be a stretch to say things are clicking for him when attacking, but there is a sense the game as a whole is coming to him more naturally with this roster.

Which is exactly why the front office should pair Suggs and Fultz together as the starting backcourt because it now looks like they can complement each other in ways we did not see before.

There is still a lot to prove with this duo. The Magic have a -12.5 net rating in 126 minutes when Fultz and Suggs play together. Orlando has a 97.4 offensive rating and 109.8 defensive rating when the duo is on the floor. That certainly shows the defensive potential of this backcourt.

Some of the problem is certainly time and where their minutes to come from — Fultz often leads the starters while Suggs plays with the reserves. It is a pairing that deserves some more exploration even as the Magic need to find some more offense.

This Magic roster is constructed in a unique way in that Banchero and Wagner, two forwards, occupy the top two spots in usage, field goals taken and 3-point shots attempted.

As they get better offensively, they will command more of the ball and take more shots. This is something that Fultz as the point guard will gladly facilitate, finding his teammates willingly as he already does.

With the Magic a poor offensive team, does it not make sense to lean into their defensive chops (fourth in the league in defensive rating in February at 108.8) and allow Fultz and Suggs to terrorize opponents?

It is not as simple as saying that Wagner and Banchero do all of the attacking, while Fultz and Suggs defend. They are too small to guard everybody, and Fultz is a tremendous playmaker.

The Magic should not waste the talents that both players possess in many other areas.

Suggs continues to step into his shot with more confidence and Fultz is averaging 13 points per night by snaking his way into the lane.

Defensively though, they are a cut above many players their age and only improving.

If you pair them together, it leaves the star guard on an opponent’s team, of which there are many, struggling to find a way through either Suggs or Fultz.

It is not that they create a wall, but Fultz has a high IQ and pinpoints what an opponent is trying to do, while Suggs is far more hands-on and acts like a man possessed when trying to retrieve the ball.

That is a frightening prospect to come up against, and one of the two would stay in the game once Cole Anthony has been introduced. Like Harris, Anthony can energize with his scoring runs and intense play.

Fultz’s cooler defensive style works well with that, while Suggs can crank up the pressure by chasing others around the court.

Fultz is the most natural long-term solution to a floor general the franchise has had since Jameer Nelson. Now fully healthy, he has shown he is much better than a former teammate who used to get more love.

But alongside Suggs, Anthony and even Harris, it was unclear how all of this was going to work.

It looks like that solution is coming to the fore here, with Fultz and Suggs the ideal starting combo. Two players that head coach Jamahl Mosley knows he can depend on defensively already.

They can then allow Banchero and Wagner to look after the heavy-lifting scoring-wise, and will know that Carter is an above-average rim protector behind them to back them up.

It makes sense for the organization to embrace this because next season the need to win more games will be on them right away.

Playing Fultz and Suggs together as much as possible now will prepare both for this, and it will also see the team remain competitive in the Play-in race.

It took some time, but this roster is finally starting to figure itself out, and the combination of Fultz and Suggs as a starting backcourt next to Wagner and Banchero makes them one of the better young teams in the NBA.