Orlando Magic: 3 goals for Aaron Gordon in 2018-19

2. Improve 3-point shooting

For the first three seasons of Gordon’s career, fans flinched when he stepped into any jump shot he took. The movement didn’t look fluid, and the results spoke for themselves.

Gordon never shot higher than 72 percent from the free throw line and 29.6 percent from 3-point territory either. But last season saw a big change in how he approached and made these shots.

At one point early in the year, Gordon led the league in 3-point percentage. That was during the scarcely believable days when the Magic started the season 6-2 and looked like a fun and cohesive League Pass team.

We know now that the wheels fell off the cart big time, but Gordon’s flaming hot stroke also tailed off in a disappointing way. He ended the season shooting 33.6 percent from deep — still a career high, but the possibility was definitely there to shoot a higher percentage.

We did, however, see enough when he was money from beyond the arc to know that if he could be a more consistent shooter, it would unlock his entire offensive potential.

Defensively there may still be a lot of work to do, although the Magic had a slightly better defensive rating when Gordon was on the floor (107.1) than they did for the season as a whole (107.7).

There’s no denying though that a 3-point shot combined with the athleticism we know Gordon has would make him difficult to stop offensively. It would also justify the offensive attack flowing through him each night.

The Blake Griffin comparisons that Gordon has been met with since entering the league are tired and lazy. But if he could shoot a shade under 40 percent from 3-point range next season, he could end up being a comparable player to what Griffin was at the same point in his career.