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

1. Actually win a playoff series

Even saying the above sentence out loud sounds crazy, because of all of the pain that Magic fans have endured this decade. All of the missed opportunities with Victor Oladipo and Tobias Harris and the short-sighted moves of adding Serge Ibaka and Brandon Jennings. Watching the Devyn Marbles and Stephen Zimmermans of the world flame out quickly.

They had their moment last season, of actually leading the eventual champion Toronto Raptors 1-0 in a series, and given where they came from they should be happy with that. But if you look at the teams that finished above the Magic last year, there is reason for optimism that they can finish higher and get themselves a better matchup for the first round of the postseason in 2020.

The Brooklyn Nets will be missing Kevin Durant for the year, and Kyrie Irving leaves the Boston Celtics with a patchy record of gelling with teammates. The Raptors figure to take a tumble after losing Kawhi Leonard, while the audition of the core of the Boston Celtics playing together for Team USA at the FIBA World Cup didn’t end brilliantly and will take time to repair.

You can’t argue that the Magic will finish above the Milwaukee Bucks or Philadelphia 76ers, and some would favor a revamped Indiana Pacers over them as well. But if they could climb into the third or fourth seed, they’d have every chance of getting out of the first round, and the aforementioned home-court advantage would help.

The Magic also had this weird ability to play up to their opponents last season, sweeping the season series with the Los Angeles Lakers and beating the Celtics, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors as well. It was the lesser teams who gave them trouble, but they continuity should turn some of those loses into W’s this coming season.

Add in the fact that the Magic ranked eighth in defensive rating during the regular season (107.6), and an even-better fifth after the All-Star break (107), and they look set to suffocate opponents nightly. Their 3-point shooting as a team, so often dreadful throughout their rebuild, shot up to a much more respectable 11th (35.6 percent) as well.

Finally they ranked 12th in team assists per contest (25.5), to again show their credentials as an above-average team. In the weaker Eastern Conference, being just that is enough to be competitive in the first round of the playoffs. If they take another step forward, which looks really possible, then winning a round in the postseason is the next step, bold as that sounds.