Young shooters will define Orlando Magic's success in the 2024-25 season

It was the defining game of his season and the game that earned him a lot of currency for the rest of the year.

With the Orlando Magic still facing a litany of injuries and absences, Caleb Houstan stepped into the starting lineup in a January matchup with the Atlanta Hawks and just went off.

Houstan scored a career-high 25 points on 7-for-14 shooting to help lift the Magic to a win over the pesky Hawks. It was one of four games for the young sharpshooter where he scored 10 or more points.

His full slate of skills were on display. His full potential as a shooter was on display.

It felt like Houstan was chasing that high for the rest of the season. He never quite reached those heights. But the potential was too compelling. The Magic needed shooting and Houstan had the promise to deliver.

And so Orlando turned to him over and over again when they needed to fill in minutes to maintain their rotation. Houstan's size made him a capable defender. His work ethic earned him the nickname "The Machine" and a ton of internal trust.

But he was still young. And with youth came inconsistency. It was clear Houstan was not an everyday rotation player. And his shooting was never dangerous enough to keep him in the lineup.

That is a promise the Magic can find throughout the roster. They stayed the course this offseason, bringing back a lot of the same players and betting on internal growth.

That includes for their biggest offensive need: shooting.

Entering the 2025 season, Houstan is fighting for a spot in the rotation and to build on the successes of his second season. But he is not alone as the Magic seek more shooting and lean on development to improve. Tristan da Silva, Jett Howard, and more are all being relied on to make big leaps to change the Magic's offense.

Yes, adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a player who is a career 36.9 percent 3-point shooter who has shot better than 40 percent from three in three of the last four years, will help improve the team's shooting overall. Caldwell-Pope will impact the team.

But the rest of the Magic's shooting leans on players like Houstan. Young players who have shown promise and have a reputation and draft profile of shooting will be expected to step up.

The Orlando Magic are beting on internal growth

If there is doubt about the Orlando Magic, it is because they are a young team that has yet to prove consistency year over year.

It is at the top end where Jalen Suggs shot 39.7 percent from three last year after shooting 21.4 and 32.7 percent in his first two years. He has to repeat that success to make the backcourt pairing with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope work, and prove worth the expected extension he will sign.

But it is more prevalent off the bench where the Magic have loads of questions and will be leaning on the growth of many unproven players.

That is uncommon for a team that is trying to compete and win.

Caleb Houstan is just one of those players.

Houstan shot 37.3 percent from three last year with 93.7 percent of his shots coming from beyond the arc. He shot 40.0 percent on a 59.5 percent effective field goal percentage on spot-up shots and 37.8 percent on catch-and-shoot opportunities according to Second Spectrum.

In games where Houstan played more than 12 minutes, he averaged 6.3 points per game and shot 36.5 percent from three. That is solid for a player coming off the bench.

Houstan is as close to a 3-point specialist as the Magic have. He had three games last year where he took 10 or more 3-pointers. The Magic desperately need volume 3-point shooters.

But he has had precious few opportunities. It is hard to know what Houstan looks like in a consistent role.

He played in more than 12 minutes in only 30 games last year. He shot 36.5 percent from three in those games.

He shot only 34.3 percent from three the rest of the season after that breakout game against Atlanta. Everyone was always chasing the contact high of that critical performance against the Hawks.

For a Magic team seeking volume 3-point shooting, Houstan seems to be able to do that. But he is unproven.

But he might be more proven than some of the Magic's other young options.

Fans are eager to see Jett Howard play after he spent most of last season in the G-League. He shot 7 for 25 from three in 67 total minutes last year with Orlando. Howard played virtually no meaningful minutes.

But he showed his shooting promise in the G-League. For the Osceola Magic, he shot 37.7 percent on 9.5 3-pointers per game during the regular season last year.

Howard showed his potential as a volume shooter in Summer League too. He made 10 of 21 from three in three Summer League games, taking 7.0 3-pointers per game. This was why the Magic drafted Howard and he showed improved defense and playmaking chops in Summer League too.

Jett Howard has a lot on the line when training camp opens as he tries to fight for playing time—especially against a veteran like Gary Harris.

The same question surrounds Tristan da Silva and his fight for playing time. The older rookie steadily improved as a 3-point shooter at Colorado, going from 26.7 percent as a freshman to 39.5 percent as a senior. He showed promise there too during Summer League, making 10 of 17 3-point attempts.

If da Silva is going to play, it will be because he is an effective 3-point shooter as much as anything else.

Orlando is banking on a lot of internal improvement to solve its 3-point issue beyond several players who have little meaningful NBA experience. But that is not the only place where there are questions.

The team needs Jalen Suggs to maintain his 3-point shooting, for Franz Wagner to bounce back from his terrible season last year, for Paolo Banchero to continue improving as a 3-point shooter, and for Anthony Black to continue his 3-point progress on greater volume.

The Magic's relationship with 3-point shooting is not as dire as everyone makes it seem. The team needs to shoot more threes after finishing 29th in 3-point attempts per game last year. No team made fewer threes last year.

But, despite finishing 23rd in the league in 3-point field goal percentage last year, the team was 15th after January 1. There is the hints the Magic could be a better shooting team this year.

Orlando added a lot of shooters to the rotation, at least theoretically. But they are all so young and so unproven. The Magic are betting on solving one of their offense's biggest issues with young players. That could be the persistent battle for this team as they try to fight for homecourt advantage and their way up the standings.

The Magic's season depends on how these young players improve and grow as shooters.