Orlando Magic: Predicting their opening night starting 5
By Luke Duffy
Small Forward: Jonathon Simmons
Simmons can do a bit of everything and appears to have zero ego while always working hard defensively. While he may start by virtue of being a new piece added who will give the team additional juice defensively, it’s also not difficult to imagine him coming off the bench either.
He could anchor a second unit while playing alongside a more offensive-minded individual like Terrence Ross to keep the Magic in games when their starters go to the bench. That being said, he may be the perfect voice and presence with the starters to push Payton’s defending to a new level, while also masking Fournier’s deficiencies on that end.
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It’s exciting that Simmons elected to come to Orlando, but it’s all right to feel a kind of trepidation as well. After all, it’s entirely possible Simmons was as successful as he was with the San Antonio Spurs as a result of being a complementary piece in one of the best systems in the league.
He won’t have any of that with the Magic, but despite this, he has still been deeper in his two seasons with the Spurs than essentially every Magic player.
If he could give this team even 10 points per game (he averaged 6.2 last year) while helping this team go from the 24th-ranked defense last year to a top 10 one, then he will be deemed a success.
Whether or not he will do so as a starter remains to be seen, but if the team has designs on going for a playoff spot it needs to hit the ground running. Starting Simmons for that reason makes sense.