The Orlando Magic are spending their offseason pondering some big questions about themselves.
The team has a clear belief in the roster it has built, first and foremost. That animated the team to stick with the same roster even after a disappointing 2026 season. Orlando believed in its potential when fully healthy.
The question for the Magic, if they do not ask about personnel, is: How do they maximize the players on their roster? How do they make the most of their team?
That is a question that starts with their star players, where they want to make the most of them. But it trickles down to everyone as they try to put the entire puzzle together.
The Magic are not quite ready to conclude that the pieces to their puzzle do not fit.
Offensively, there remain many questions about how the team fits together. Defensively, there remains a lot of belief that the team can return to its dominant ways from the last few years.
All of those questions tend to center on Jalen Suggs and his role. How do they make the most of their sparkplug guard? How do they maximize his clear impact?
Suggs' offensive role remains a bit of a mystery to parse out. He improved as a passer last year, but still feels miscast as the point guard.
Defensively, he is essential. And every statistic shows how impactful he can be.
But he can be overzealous, putting his body unnecessarily at risk and taking himself out of his position.
The trick with Suggs, it seems, will be finding the right way to harness everything he does in the most effective way.
For Suggs, what makes him great can also drag him down. And that only adds to the intrigue as the magic enter this critical season.
"There might not be a defender I enjoy watching more in the NBA than Jalen Suggs," Sam Vecenie said on The Game Theory podcast as he ranked him the No. 22 defender in the league. "His disruptive ability is absolutely elite. He is absolutely a guy that is trying to make things happen. He is a havoc defender more so than I would say is a consistently solid defender."
As Vecenie puts it, Suggs makes all the chaotic and highlight plays that can change the energy for a team. But he lacks the particular details that could make him truly great.
Vecenie shared the observation that Suggs is better playing free safety and roaming off the ball rather than defending the best player on the other team -- a responsibility that often falls to Franz Wagner.
But that gets to the central conundrum with Suggs. The Magic are still finding the right way to deploy him.
The loud plays
The one thing everyone can say about Jalen Suggs is that it is impossible to miss him.
He makes loud plays, whether it is blowing up a pick-and-roll with his intensity and pressure, flying out of nowhere for a block or diving on the floor for a loose ball, even if he has no chance to get to it.
Suggs is relentless energy. And the Magic are at their best when he plays free and with this emotion and edge. He is a literal energy boost to this team.
"He is a player who you really notice defensively," Bryce Simon said on The Game Theory Podcast. "That's what I mean when I say he sets a tone. I have more and more wondered where the point of attack defense is. There are games where you can really see it. He takes a big-time matchup and does a really good job. The biggest value he provides defensively in a lot of the games I'm most impressed by are when he gets a matchup when he can be an off-the-ball roamer."
That is certainly evidenced in the numbers.
The Magic had a +5.9 net rating with Suggs on the floor, according to DataBallr. That is with a 110.3 defensive rating, 5.9 points per 100 possessions better than the team's overall average. The Magic had a -4.2 net rating and 118.6 defensive rating when Suggs is off the floor.
He is very good at contesting shots. But he can get overzealous chasing plays. That is where he runs into trouble.
He goes for home run plays when sometimes all the team needs is a single. When you swing for the fences all the time, you strike out a lot too.
Wild swings
Everyone can see and sense that Jalen Suggs makes a huge impact. It is bottling that up into something productive and something consistent that is the issue.
The hope with new coach Sean Sweeney is that he will be able to set guardrails and better direct Suggs toward a productive role.
The Orlando Magic need to create a role that in some ways recognizes and hides his eccentricities while still allowing him to play freely.
"There is a reason the Magic are drastically better when Suggs is on the court," Vecenie said. "He transitions defense to offense about as well as any player who is not a star player in the NBA, in my opinion.
"But there are times where he kind of overpursues and overdoes it a little bit. He does it in the name of trying to give the team a spark. It's just that sometimes it leads to negative plays on defense. He's a great defender, and it wouldn't surprise me if he is all-defense."
This speaks to the balance Suggs is still seeking. A balance to keep his mind quiet and focused, but still willing to mix things up and introduce a level of controlled chaos to the proceedings that helps his team win.
What the Magic really need from Suggs is his availability. They need him to avoid the injuries that have often derailed his seasons. They need him to pick his spots to exert his physicality and deploy his pressure.
They need him to make open shots consistently and play with more control and composure, both things he has been working on for years.
Suggs is the player who can take the Magic from a good team to a very good team. When he is at his best defensively and making shots, the Magic look like world beaters. Those games happen enough to make you believe in their possibility.
Orlando has to find a way to bottle up the best version of Suggs and deploy that more effectively. That will be at the heart of the Magic's leap this season.
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