The Orlando Magic look like an organization ready to surprise a lot of people once again.
Few could have predicted the impressive leap that the Orlando Magic took in 2018-19. They had a player in center Nikola Vucevic make it to the All-Star Game and cement his status as a top-five big man in the league today.
More from Hoops Habit
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
- NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers
Their young core showed improvement, while the defensive schemes of head coach Steve Clifford came together as well. All of this lead to a southeast division title and a return to the playoffs, with the Magic looking particularly impressive through the last 30 games on the season.
It will be hard for them creep up on people as they did last year, but with the organization looking like they can actually be good consistently throughout the winter, all this will do is move the goalposts on what exactly they can achieve.
Which makes talk of bold predictions for this group an easier task than in seasons gone by. Those campaigns were over before they even began, even if it officially took until around Christmas time for the Magic to prove they were lottery bound. What is equally as exciting is trying to figure out where these bold predictions could come from on the roster.
Right now there is a lot to like in many areas of what the Magic are doing, and that includes the sneaky depth they have built. Saying their bench is going to help them win games is by no means a bold statement, which is why it is not going to appear in the following slides. But there is no doubt that guys like Khem Birch and Terrence Ross have a role to play.
Even Evan Fournier, who was looking like something of a forgotten man in Orlando, had a redemption tour over in China in case people had forgotten what he could bring to the team. There’s a lot to like here, which makes predicting what they will be able to achieve next season all the more fun for the first time in a long time.