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Orlando Magic: Biggest strengths and weaknesses for 2017-18

By Luke Duffy

The Orlando Magic's Aaron Gordon dunks against the Cleveland Cavaliers in preseason action at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)
The Orlando Magic's Aaron Gordon dunks against the Cleveland Cavaliers in preseason action at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images) /
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Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images /

Weakness No. 1: Scoring

Although this team will be much improved defensively, the same can’t be said for how they will approach putting the ball in the basket.

If we assume some combination of Elfrid Payton-Evan Fournier–Terrence Ross-Aaron Gordon/Jonathan Isaac-Nikola Vucevic/Bismack Biyombo will be their starting five, where does the 3-point shooting come from?

After Ross (34.1 percent last season, second-lowest mark of his career), Fournier is probably the next best long range shooter (35.6 percent last year). Other than that, Isaac is probably the next best player on that list and he hasn’t played a second of NBA basketball yet.

That’s worrying, and given that the Magic shot 32.8 percent from distance last season (second-worst mark in the league), it doesn’t look like it’ll improve a ton this year either.

This goes beyond shooting 3s however, and Payton and Biyombo (notable preseason shooting aside) don’t really have a jumper. Gordon’s is a work in progress as well.

So while they’ll likely keep opponents quiet, actually taking advantage of that and scoring will prove difficult.

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