HoopsHype's positional rankings show Orlando Magic still have work to do

The Orlando Magic are a team on the rise.

That is, at least, what everyone is saying about this team. They are starting to get some national attention, judging by the fact they went from one nationally televised game to five nationally televised games this season. They made the playoffs last year for the first time and pushed their introduction series to seven games.

Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner have even gotten their first taste of national criticism—for things that are still largely out of their control. They grow up so fast.

Orlando may not yet be considered a title contender, but the rest of the NBA world is slowly recognizing them a whole lot more. The league is starting to take notice of what the Magic are doing.

Look no further than HoopsHype's recently released positional rankings that had the Magic with two players ranked among their positions' top 10.

Orlando Magic well represented among league's best

The big story was Paolo Banchero getting ranked No. 3 among power forwards behind Giannis Antetokoumpo and Zion Williamson. Even that ranking netted some controversy. But considering how much criticism has been levied at Banchero throughout this season, it was nice to see a national outlet shower some praise on Banchero.

Franz Wagner too entered the list of small forwards at No. 10. That is a nice recognition of where the forward is at. And even HoopsHype seemed worried they were underrating the forward in their write-up.

Those two players are the basis of the Orlando Magic's future. To see them both ranked among the best players at their position is certainly a sign the team is on the right track and on the rise as everyone suggests and believes.

The goal for the Magic now is to surround them with the best players they can.

In fact, taking he whole project all together, the Magic were one of 10 teams to have at least one player show up on each positional list. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was ranked No. 22 among shooting guards, Jalen Suggs was ranked No. 25 among point guards and Wendell Carter was ranked No. 29 among centers in the league.

It has been encouraging to see in many of the top 100 lists that have started to come out ahead of the 2025 season that Orlando has both Banchero and Wagner among the top 50 players with Jalen Suggs usually joining the crowd in the top 75.

Undoubtedly it takes top-end talent to compete at the highest levels. It may be a chicken or an egg thing, but the best players tend to be on the best teams. To have players with Banchero and Wagner's potential is an amazing starting point for this team.

Taking them with the defensive mentality Jamahl Mosley has instilled has set the Magic up for a long playoff run. Indeed, Jonathan Isaac was ranked No. 25 among power forwards by HoopsHype too. That is clearly solely on his defensive impact and the hope that he will be healthy for the upcoming season.

But it should also be clear, the Magic need to see improvement from key role players to take the next step. Or the Magic will need to make moves to improve their overall roster.

Orlando Magic are being celebrated, but they clearly have work to do

And these rankings make that clear too. The Orlando Magic are climbing the rankings as a team, but still have work to do.

If you average all the rankings of the top player at each position (placing a 31 for any teams that did not have a player ranked at a specific position), the Magic's average position ranking is 17.8, placing them 18th in the league.

There are of course flaws in this methodology. HoopsHype is likely favoring some players from established teams and leaning on established stars. The Los Angeles Lakers rank ahead of the Orlando Magic at No. 4, for instance, thanks largely to Austin Reaves coming in at No. 8 among shooting guards.

That is ahead of the Boston Celtics!

How HoopsHype decided to sort players by specific positions even in a league that increasingly blurs those lines is also fair to criticize.

It does not reflect how those pieces fit together either. The Magic's typical starting lineup last year of Jalen Suggs, Gary Harris, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter had a net rating of +12.5 points per 100 possessions (114.7 offensive rating/102.1 defensive rating) in 300 minutes.

A lot of the battle in rankings like these—and there will be more to come in the countdown to the start of training camp at the end of the month and the season in seven weeks—is a battle of perception. The Magic are still a team getting introduced to the rest of the league.

But these rankings and some of the skepticism that the Magic can take the next step into contention is based on these very questions.

The Magic got shockingly little from their backcourt in their playoff run. Solving a lot of their playmaking and point guard struggles relies on Suggs taking a big leap in a bigger role for the team or Banchero and Wagner shouldering the playmaking load.

A lot for the Magic is indeed banked on Carter being healthy and regaining his interior presence, rebounding and defense that has defined the best parts of his career.

There was a lot to be proud of with the Magic last year. But it truly felt like they were more than the sum of their parts. Perhaps that is a positive sign that they are underrated and that these ratings do not quite capture this Magic team or their potential.

Even with how good the Magic were last year, it is clear they have to keep improving to climb the standings. They are not a team that can remain static.

Orlando believes that too. The team is going to bet on internal improvement to take the next steps as a team before the team explores external additions to advance the team.

All this is to say, Orlando's work is clearly not done. The Magic still have to prove themselves to the league as a whole. There is still work to do to be among the contenders in the league as the Magic hope to be very soon.