Despite a relatively muted offseason, the Orlando Magic have hit the ground running and surprised many with a nice 2-0 start to the season.
With all of the excitement surrounding All-Star level player movement and an incoming class of rookies, it is fair to say that the Orlando Magic, once again, flew under the radar this offseason. With minimal roster turnover and one draft pick outside of the top 10, why wouldn’t they?
The Magic aren’t spoken about on a national level often, despite making the postseason in the last two years, and it was no surprise that this was again the case as we headed into the beginning of a strange 2020-21 season. Two games in however and the organization are 2-0, and looking good in the process.
Make no mistake, the opponents they have beaten, the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards, are no slouches either. The Heat have gotten the better of the Magic regularly over the last eight years and made the finals in the NBA’s bubble, while the Wizards boast two top 40 players in Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal.
Yet on both occasions so far it has been the Magic who have come away with the win. This surprising start has been nice to see, and of course, it won’t last forever either. But to be beating teams who are better than the Magic (Heat), and will be fighting the Magic for a low playoff seed (Wizards) is an encouraging start to the year.
But what have been the driving factors in this nice start? When you look at the following three reasons that have given cause for real optimism right now, then the unbeaten start actually isn’t that surprising at all. Best of all, none of the keys look like going away anytime soon either.
3. Continuity
It is boring to mention. It has been brought up before. But the simple fact is that the Magic have a head coach in Steve Clifford and a core that are into their third year together. In the case of Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier, it has been nearly double that time as the best players on this roster.
So although the Magic don’t have a ton of high-level star talent (with the exception of Vucevic), what they do have is a group of guys who know how to play together, and know what each other’s strengths and weaknesses are. Again, this is not flashy stuff. But this cohesiveness and continuity allow for the group to be better than the sum of their parts.
So far this season that has been especially true offensively. Coach Clifford has built the offense around center Vucevic, at a time when it is a guard dominated league. The rebirth of the big man may currently be taking place, but it is hard to get consistent offense and scoring around a guy who does a lot of his best work in the post and around the paint.
Vucevic is capable of shooting it from deep as well though, with a big 3-pointer critical in their win over the Wizards. With all of the offensive talent in the league, the Magic are at best league average in offensive rating. Two games is a tiny sample size, but to currently rank ninth in this category (111) is as a direct result of the continuity in place.
This roster is set up to be better defensively, and coach Clifford will always strive for that to be the case, with the continuity also going to have a positive impact on that end too. Players all know where they are supposed to be, playing in a scheme that doesn’t look to have changed much from last year.
With the exception of rookie Cole Anthony, Chuma Okeke (who missed his rookie season through injury) and Dwayne Bacon (who played with coach Clifford for the Charlotte Hornets and so knows him already), everybody else who is a key part of the rotation knows where they are supposed to be and why. Two games in, it has helped the Magic to look coherent while winning games.
2. The Orlando Magic have a balanced bench
If there is one area the Magic were lacking in previous years, it was their bench. It was bad enough not having a superstar to carry the load most nights, but the drop-off from somebody like Vucevic to what was coming off the bench was hurting the organization’s chances of climbing the Eastern Conference.
So far this year, however, that does not look to be a problem. With Fournier in a contract year and Gordon continuing to try and prove that he is about to take a significant step forward, not to mention Vucevic and Markelle Fultz, the starting group appears to be in good shape. They are a solid group who are all, for different reasons, and good points in their career from a team perspective.
But now the bench has the kind of characters who fit around that starting five excellently. Anthony looks like he has that dog in him when he’s on the court, which has been lacking in this organization for a long time now. He’s going to make mistakes sure, but he has a willingness and desire when on the court to make things happen.
He also looks like he’s going to be a potentially great pro for the franchise as well, already he seems to have that something about him offensively. Given how dire the Magic’s point guard situation was for a long time, this is a great development. Terrence Ross continues to be their sixth man bomber from deep, while Okeke has shown early promise as well.
Center Khem Birch is a fan favorite for a reason, he plays with such energy defensively. So much so that Mohamed Bamba’s future with the Magic has to be murky at this point. Add in Michael Carter-Williams, a favorite of coach Clifford who can defend all five positions on the court, and you have a backup group who already are causing opponents problems.
What is also clear from this group is the balance that they have on both ends. Again something which was seriously lacking before. Birch and Carter-Williams will defend diligently and really enjoy doing so. Anthony and Ross are going to get you buckets in a variety of ways, while Okeke right now is doing a bit of both. It bodes really well for the season as it progresses.
1. Markelle Fultz
Of all of the players currently contributing to the nice start for the Magic, point guard Fultz deserves to be singled out for special praise. His 18.0 points per game are way up on his average from last year (12.1), although the small sample size again has to be mentioned. Nevertheless, he has clearly taken another step forward over the offseason.
This is all the Magic front office and their fans could have ever wanted from Fultz, who is fresh off signing an extension with the organization. He came in with minimal expectations but has so far defied all of them without much trouble. Last year it was clear he could dictate the tempo of a game and get into the paint almost at will.
Through two games he has done exactly that, with his decision making and passing ability, which were not bad at all, to begin with, appearing to have improved as well. Losing Jonathan Isaac for another season hurt, but Fultz is really taking this opportunity to show fans that the future can be bright even without Isaac for the time being.
It is also worth mentioning at this point the role that Anthony may have had in this. It is unclear how he fell to the Magic with the 15th pick on draft night, but already he looks like the kind of player who will be starting before long. Or at the very least, doing all that he can to ensure he gets more minutes.
This could be pushing Fultz on to ensure he doesn’t lose his starting role, which after a stellar start to the campaign, does not look to be in jeopardy. But already moving on from the veteran D.J. Augustin, the steady hand who departed a cult hero, looks to have been a great move by the front office.
It has Fultz and Anthony pushing one another as only two young guys who both believe they should be starters can. It is of great benefit to the organization, and it may be that they become the starting backcourt of the future together at some point. For now, though, Fultz is running the show on a 2-0 team, and he looks like he is only improving as well.