These Are NOT The Same Orlando Magic…

These Are NOT The Same Orlando Magic…

The Orlando Magic have become the story of the late NBA season and have established themselves as one of the teams with one of the brightest Futures in the entire league and there’s such an interesting story as well because they began with the draft the way they turned all this around was they absolutely

Nailed two lottery picks first and foremost they got fron Vagner a couple of seasons ago in the draft in a in a pick that I think a lot of people were really surprised the way that this has worked out over the last handful of seasons in the league we’ve seen teams

Really start to prioritize skilled sze it’s been one of the themes over the last couple of seasons and when Orlando picked fron Vagner most people thought that he would be a complimentary option nobody really saw him as this perimeter Creator as someone that was going to be potentially a focal point for you

Offensively in the leadup to the draft at the time a lot of people picked him as like a like a high floor player potentially going to someone like Golden State he falls all the way to eight and Orlando has turned him into this guy that is a creator for them a facilitator

For them and it’s just completely fuels almost everything that they do offensively obviously him alongside Pao and the Pao part of this is extremely interesting to me as well because if you go back to the time of the draft when Orlando held the first overall pick the

Assumption was it was going to be Jabari Smith he had you know incredible tools defensively tons of Versatility it seemed like he had the most upside uh there was some Buzz about Chad hren as well who of course has been awesome in Oklahoma City but at the time the the

Concept behind picking Paulo first overall over the other two guys was he is the guy that most looks like like a franchise Cornerstone player he might not get there he might not end up being a great facilitator he might not end up being a great player but if any of the

Three guys was going to end up being super high caliber all NBA give him the ball and let him create guy it was going to be poo there just not as much of a guarantee as some of the other two guys and he has turned into exactly what the

Whatever the highest cealing version of what you thought Pao might be that’s what he has become already in just his second season in Orlando and they’re a very unconv itional team because they are built around two bigger Wings both of which can facilitate one of which is

A good shooter the other is an okay shooter in poo and rather than you know some of these up and cominging teams we see around the league that are built around high-profile guards guys that are going to run a lot of ball screen stuff Orlando is built around size and two

Perimeter players with such unique skill sets in fron and Paulo and guys that I think there were certainly a lot of question marks about at the time that they were drafted where they were and there’s two key pieces in each of these guys development that have allowed them

To get to where they are for fron it’s his it’s his creation his ability to get to the rim he always had you know some skills there but it wasn’t as clear in college uh he was seen as this guy that could guard and could shoot a little bit

Maybe create for you a little bit off of closeouts but him being able to work in in ball screen action we’ve seen him in international play as well really grow and Thrive there and I think that’s something that Orlando really prioritized within his development I think in a redraft right now France

Certainly goes higher than eighth and then for pao it’s the passing and the facilitating because because in college he clearly had you know he was such a matchup issue in college he was so much bigger and stronger and faster than everyone else and was so skilled in

Terms of his on ball creation but he had a little bit of tunnel vision in college and he had some flashy passes but he wasn’t necessarily A willing passer and now especially in this season he has grown so much as a facilitator and a Creator and that is is key for his

Development because it allows him to be not just a scorer not just someone that you give them the ball in the mid post and say he hey go get a bucket but now you’re a a feared option you’re a feared weapon of the other team because if they

Start to pay too much attention to you he’s able to create all these other angles for all these other guys now of course it’s not just these two guys that are powering the team that might end up being a top six maybe even a top four team in the Eastern Conference by the

Time the season is over but also they’re an incredibly good defensive team and I think it starts with that Foundation of having bigger players like fron and Pao on the floor but it also has to do with their system they’re pretty good in the paint they’re a great defensive

Rebounding team they don’t give up Second Chance points at all they want the best defensive rebounding teams in the entire league they’re top 10 an opponent three-point percentage and they force a ton of turnovers if you’re going to beat the magic if you’re going to score well against them you have to

Shoot the ball well because you’re not going to get a ton of opportunities because you’re going to turn the ball over and you’re not going to get Second Chance points so if you’re going to beat them if you’re going to score 110 120 points on Orlando you’re going to have

To shoot the ball well you’re going to have to get to the rim and finish well you’re going to have to make your free throws and you’re going to have to make your open threes because they’re not going to give you easy ones off offensive rebounds and they’re going to

Limit your possessions by taking the ball away and that is partially just because they have length everywhere I mean their front Court in terms of their their Five Spot isn’t fantastic but they just have activity everywhere their back cour jayen Suggs Marquel fultz these guys are all over the place even someone

Like Cole Anthony has been better this year I’m not a huge Cole Anthony guy but he has been better lately as well and there is just length and size everywhere again kind of the found going back to that Foundation of having fron fogner and Pao vano back and it’s just a team

That you can tell kind of feels that they are on the rise it feels like a team that is bought into their roles it feels like a team that that believes in their two primary guys in France and Pao and believes that if they just do their

Job on a night toight basis um an extremely well coached as well that they’re going to be able to win a ton of games and I’m really really excited to see kind of how they do in the postseason depending on what they do in the postseason we’re going to kind of

See what they do in the offseason as well because this is very much still an imperfect team they still need a ton more spacing around their two primary players they still need more you know complimentary options I’d argue that they’re fine in terms of Creation in

Terms of having guys that can create for other players fron and poo that’s the foundation and they just need the pieces around them specifically at the Five Spot and with floor spacing to continue to improve and they’re going to have plenty of opportunities to be able to do

That in the offseason they’re going to have 25 plus million dollars in cap space depending on what they do they can uh get rid of the contract of Jonathan Isaac it’s not guaranteed if they wanted to but then also marel fult is a free agent they could possibly bring him back

They could have between $25 to $40 million uh in cap spaces offseason that could get them someone like potentially uh Klay Thompson who could be available there’s going to be a ton of guys kind of in that 25 to $40 million range I think would really help Orlando and if I

Was them I would look at two things one I’d be kind of okay with the clay thing because he would provide them so much floor spacing depending on how you think he would fit but I would want spacing I would want two8 players an upgrade at

The five I don’t want like Demar de rozan I don’t want another you know Creator on this team I want this to be France and Pao running everything everybody else guarding around them and compliment their and complim their skill sets and I hope that’s what they utilize

Their cap space on this offseason they also have some future draft picks as well they have an extra first round pick in 20125 as well as in 2026 and this offseason is going to be extremely telling of where Orlando thinks that they are they’re going to go out and try

And get another star they going to try and upgrade their guard spots upgrade the complimentary spots upgrade it to five whatever the case may be this is a team that with these two guys very unorthodox team that guards really well has great length and is built around two

Wings but this is a team that EX that definitely has a bright future within the Eastern Conference and I think is definitely ahead of schedule right now with where we thought they would be at the beginning of the season and I really think that there’s a possibility this is

A team that wins a round maybe even two rounds in the postseason they’re a really difficult matchup for certain teams and it’s going to depend on how well obviously Paulo and fron play in their first real postseason experience in the NBA but it’s just such an exciting team it’s a team that I’ve

Always kind of like the pieces now for like two or three years and it’s finally starting to come together under a coach that’s doing a really good job and with a group that has really figured it out this season figured out their play style figured out what works for them and of

Course has rallied around you know primarily those two main guys in poo and France and even though they definitely have the assets they have some younger players some draft picks some cap space to be able to go out and get you know some kind of big star right like if they

Really really wanted to try and get Donovan Mitchell or something like that or if they really wanted to try and get Trey young for example I think is a name that people have thrown around I’m I’m not really super into that even though they have the assets to do it I hope

That they just build around these two guys because I don’t think they need anything more in terms of creation than what Pao and fron already provide them and I think anything else that they add to that I think those guys are that good I think anything else they add to that

At the guard spot would just be redundant in my opinion but the point is I’m super excited about this team

The Orlando Magic are one of the surprise teams in the NBA right now behind Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.

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