The panic around the Orlando Magic's 1-4 start has mostly subsided.
There might still be some lingering concerns and unease about the team's offense. But the Magic have even improved on that end and brought back their defense to the level they hoped for.
The Magic have won seven of their last 10 games and have gone 2-1 since Paolo Banchero sat with a strained groin. The team is starting to look more like the team everyone imagined.
The distress over Orlando was always real -- and there are still issues to clear up -- but it was always overblown for one clear reason:
The Magic's starting lineup has always been among the best lineups in the league. Even as the Magic play without Banchero, the Magic are winning their minutes with the starting lineup.
The trick to the season will be about filling out the rest of the rotation and finding lineups to support them.
But a good starting lineup is a great place to start for any team. The Magic's vision with its main five players seems to be working.
One of the best starting fives
The Orlando Magic's starting group of Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter has played 101 minutes together with an offensive rating of 122.4 points per 100 possessions and 102.6 points allowed per 100 possessions.
Their +19.7 net rating is the fifth-best lineup in the league that has played at least 50 minutes together so far this season. They also have the fifth-best defensive rating among those lineups.
Both the Milwaukee Bucks and Utah Jazz's starting lineups have just cleared the 50-minute threshold. So this lineup is the third-best lineup among groups that have played at least 60 minutes together.
The group's 101 minutes together is the eighth-most frequent lineup in the league.
The Magic are already leaning heavily on this group. And that is even with Suggs sitting out the second night of back-to-backs. This group will probably end up being among the most-played lineups in the league.
Even four-man groups look good.
The Magic's four-man group of Suggs, Bane, Wagner and Carter has a net rating of +0.2 points per 100 possessions in 47 high-leverage minutes together, according to DataBallr. That includes a still solid 116.5 offensive rating, even if the defense loses some steam replacing Banchero.
Suggs remains a key linchpin for the team. The Magic have a -15.8 net rating with the starters when Suggs is not included -- a 106.6 offensive rating and 122.4 defensive rating.
The lineup with Anthony Black in for Jalen Suggs has posted a -6.3 net rating with a woeful 108.4 offensive rating in 77 minutes together, the second-most used lineup for the Magic.
There is still clearly plenty of room to grow. But the Magic are getting a lot out of this starting group.
How to get the bench going?
Bench scoring and finding the right lineup combinations have been one of Jamahl Mosley's biggest tasks in the early part of the season.
The Orlando Magic got a big boost off their bench with Anthony Black scoring 21 points in the win over the Golden State Warriors. But Orlando is still 28th in the league in bench scoring with just 30.5 points per game off the bench.
Supplementing the starting group has been a struggle for this team. This could be the reason for many of the Magic's struggles. Mosley is still piecing together the right combinations.
Going through the team's other most-used lineups shows that adding Tristan da Silva to the starting group also helps.
The Magic's starting group with Tristan da Silva in for Paolo Banchero and Anthony Black in for Jalen Suggs has a net rating of +22.6 (111.5 offensive rating/88.9 defensive rating) in 31 minutes. They have played only four games together, and many of them came in the last two games with both Suggs and Banchero out.
Those two games against the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors saw the starting groups get off to strong starts.
It is simply hard to find working lineups that have played enough time this season that do not include at least two or three starters in them.
If there is good news, then, Mosley seems to discard lineups that are clearly not working quickly.
Of the Magic's most-used 10 lineups this season, only three have a negative net rating -- replacing Anthony Black for Jalen Suggs (-6.3 points per 100 possessions), a bench group anchored with Franz Wagner as the only starter with Tyus Jones, Anthony Black, Tristan da Silva and Goga Bitadze (-5.2 points per 100 possessions) and the starting lineup with Jones for Suggs121 (-54.4 points per 100 possessions in 16 minutes).
All of this seems to point to how vital Suggs has been to the team's lineups. He has been on a minute restriction to start the season, which probably boosts his numbers some but also means the Magic must play some unreliable lineups.
There is no clear solution to create a better bench and better combinations other than to keep playing groups together and see what works.
Getting Moe Wagner back should help boost the bench and give them another scoring option to help the offense. He will take time to reintegrate into the group. But his return will be a major boost.
In the last 10 games, the Magic have found a few things too.
The starting lineup with Black in has a +9.9 net rating (121.6 offensive rating/111.7 defensive rating) in 44 minutes across the last 10 games.
Pairing Banchero and Bane together has worked well, too. A lineup of Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane, Anthony Black, Tristan da Silva and Goga Bitadze has a +5.2 net rating (120.0/114.8) in 23 minutes during the last 10 games.
Orlando's most-used negative lineup in the last 10 games is Anthony Black, Jett Howard, Franz Wagner, Tristan da Silva and Goga Bitadze at -4.9 points per 100 possessions in just eight minutes.
Mosley is still searching for combinations. But things are improving. The Magic are getting better.
That is a good place to start.
And the Magic's starting lineup is the ultimate place to start. They can always return to that lineup and rely on it to succeed.