Orlando Magic: 3 bold predictions for 2019-20 NBA season

3. Jonathan Isaac wins MIP award

We begin with what certainly looks to be a big reach, but that may not actually be as crazy as you would think, and that is with Jonathan Isaac picking up the Most Improved Player award. Entering his third year, he is still only 21 and hasn’t yet shown the ability to be able to lead a team.

Really year two was simply about getting him healthy and back on the court, as he went from playing in only 27 games his rookie year (starting 10), to a much better 75 games (with 64 starts). There were flashes within the big uptick in court time however, to inspire some confidence.

February was when Isaac had his best month as a pro, averaging 13.7 points and 38.5 percent from beyond the 3-point line. He comes into this season not only as a guaranteed starter, but with some offseason buzz around him for the first time.

People around the league expect to see real improvement, and proving that he can play alongside Aaron Gordon was huge for both their own personal development and to prove that organization was right to pair them together in the first place.

If you think Isaac is still too young to make a serious run at this award or that his numbers still veer towards the pedestrian, you only need to look at recent winners to see that he has a shot.

Did anybody really predict Pascal Siakam would become one of the key players on a title winning team at this stage last year? Crucially, Isaac could also have something that guys like Siakam have had on their way to the award. The narrative.

The Magic are going to be better, and could even look at trying to get homecourt advantage for the first round of the playoffs if they play like many believe can. If they were to achieve this, with Isaac improving in every statistical category along the way, he would surely put himself in a position to be considered for the award.