Orlando Magic: Biggest strengths and weaknesses for 2017-18
By Luke Duffy
Strength No. 1: Defending
Under Frank Vogel, the Magic were supposed to be a tough defensive team last season. Put simply, that never happened.
This year, however, most of the new additions figure to help the team out in a big way on that end of the court. The Magic finished their preseason schedule with a defensive rating of 94, the ninth-best rank in the league.
This team’s goal is to be a top-10 defensive unit, if not better, and that’s a great way to build momentum heading into the regular season.
Jonathon Simmons, Elfrid Payton and Bismack Biyombo are all above-average defenders at their position. Aaron Gordon has the potential to be and rookie Jonathan Isaac looks good early on too.
If the team can learn to close out games, something it has seriously lacked in recent years, it will be in a much stronger position to make a playoff run. Some of the lineups the Magic can put out in tight games to strangle opponents are extremely encouraging and show this team is finally trending in the right direction.