NBA Power Rankings: Preview the Los Angeles Lakers and the rest

Dearly Departed: D.J. Augustin, Wesley Iwundu

New Additions: Cole Anthony, Dwayne Bacon, Chuma Okeke

Win Projection/Prediction: 31.5/Over

The Orlando Magic seem committed to going .500 every year and hoping that is enough to fall into a playoff spot. Unfortunately for them, even with essentially 10 spots available, they have not gotten better while the teams around them did. They may end up having a better record than some of their Western Conference cohorts that rank higher on this list but that does not make them better.

Simply put, the Magic are missing too much of an already mostly underwhelming roster. Jonathan Isaac is missing the entire year which is unspeakably depressing. No one seems to know when Mo Bamba is going to come back or even if his return is a good thing. The departure of D.J. Augustin has been a notable big loss. Wes Iwundu is not regarded in the same way but he played a solid role for the team.

Dwayne Bacon is a solid addition but does not move the needle enough. Orlando’s two rookies are on drastically different paths but both should make an impact quickly. Cole Anthony suffered from playing with bad teammates in college but could be the most dynamic offensive player on this team, at least coming off the bench. Chuma Okeke missed all of last season after suffering a knee injury in college but should benefit from the other big men missing time. He will see minutes early and often and looks ready to be a real player.

Not much has ultimately changed for the Magic. They will be average. Nikola Vucevic will put up double-doubles. They will win around as many games as they lose. The team will bore watchers to sleep. But the rest of the teams in their stratosphere made enough improvements to jump them, at least for now.