The Orlando Magic entered the season with tons of reasons to be excited.
Their acquisition of Desmond Bane sent expectations into overdrive. The Magic finally had an elite volume shooter and another potential playmaker.
The reality has been that things have come together kind of slowly. It has been a process to get used to playing together with training camp consisting of Franz Wagner sitting out some to recover from EuroBasket and Jalen Suggs not joining contact work until later in the preseason -- and still playing in only 3-4-minute bursts.
Orlando got out to a frustratingly slow start. Enough to induce some panic during the four-game losing streak.
Two wins over the Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards were just what the doctor ordered. The team seems to be coming out of this malaise.
The good news then is that there are plenty of hints the Magic will be fine in the long run. They have a run in them as they continue to play together and learn to play with each other.
The biggest is that the Magic's starting lineup is tearing opponents up -- even if you exclude the last two games.
Orlando's starting group is the base for everything the team is trying to do. And that group has started to find their groove as one of the best lineups in the league so far.
The Magic are still working to put all the pieces together, but the team's overall vision is coming together.
"I think it's coming along pretty well," Jalen Suggs said after practice Monday. "It's early. It's so easy to look at these things and call them big glaring problems and you forget there are 70-plus games left. You go on a winning streak and how heavy the three losses feel are almost forgotten as you are winning five, six, seven in a row."
Things certainly feel a bit better after the Magic scored two blowout victories over the Hornets and Wizards. But the numbers through seven games have been impressive to say the least.
Strong starting group
The Orlando Magic's starting group of Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter has a +22.0 net rating in 56 minutes together. The group has put up a 121.2 offensive rating and a 99.2 defensive rating.
Among lineups that have played at least 50 minutes together this season, the Magic's starting group is second in the league behind only the Utah Jazz's lineup of Keyonte George, Svi Mykhailuk, Lauri Markkanen, Kyle Filipowski and Waker Kessler.
That might be a sign that one lineup does not make for a great team. The Jazz are also 2-4 to start the season.
But even taking out the two games against the Wizards and Hornets, the Magic's starting lineup has a net rating of +13.2 points per 100 possessions with a more than respectable 117.0 offensive rating and 103.7 defensive rating.
Among lineups through Wednesday's games that played at least 40 minutes together, the Magic's starting lineup is the third best in the league -- the San Antonio Spurs' starting lineup passes them.
Something is indeed clicking with that group, even with Paolo Banchero having a few difficult games in the process and Desmond Bane not quite fitting in yet.
If this is the Magic when they are not clicking yet and not on the same page, it is kind of scary to think what they can do when it all comes together.
Suggs is a key piece
It is one of the many reasons why there was very little panic about the way the team was playing. They just needed to lock in on defense and find their identity again.
"Really just trying to stay even-keeled," Jalen Suggs said after practice Monday. "We're coming in every day in practice and using that time intentionally to have conversations about what we're seeing and what we're feeling. I think that's starting to show. There are moments and lulls. It's a game of runs and flow and I think we're finding our way and that flow as well."
A big piece of this puzzle will be Suggs returning to playing more than the 19.2 minutes per game he is logging right now. Suggs has made a tremendous impact on defense early in the season and has been an ace from deep, making 35.0 percent of his threes (weighed down by a 0-for-7 shooting performance in Saturday's game against the Washington Wizards).
The lineup with Anthony Black inserted for Jalen Suggs has struggled mightily.
That group has a -3.8 net rating (106.4 offensive rating/110.2 defensive rating) in 51 minutes. Black has improved significantly offensively, but he is still struggling to be a consistent threat. And he has struggled a ton with turnovers.
But in the last two games, that lineup has rebounded some. The lineup with Black in for Suggs posted a 135.0 offensive rating and 94.9 defensive rating. Black's continued improvement will be one of the big storylines this season.
As will Suggs' return to full health.
But in an early season that has featured a lot of frustration with the results and a team searching for the right rotations. The starting lineup has been strong. As the Orlando Magic find its full rotation and gets healthier, that starting group will be something the team can build on.
The Magic are feeling confident again after the last two games. They are certainly trying to put the losing streak behind them and re-establish their identity.
This starting group sets the tone for everything. And it has been a good tone this season.