The Orlando Magic are one month removed from blowing up their core in favor of another rebuild, and all things considering things are pretty good right now. There’s still plenty of losing of course, but with such an exciting draft class coming this summer, it is an easy sell to fans. Especially when arenas aren’t at capacity yet either.
This is a far cry from the disastrous rebuild of 2012, when the Magic were terrible but never yielded a first overall pick, with Victor Oladipo being as good as it got at number two in 2013. The other key difference between now and then is that there’s already a number of talented young players on board to get excited about.
While Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier are no longer here, there are players who have stepped into their roles, and to this point have performed pretty admirably. It hasn’t translated to wins, despite the best efforts of head coach Steve Clifford, but that will surely come in time.
It is going unnoticed, but the Orlando Magic have a host of young players who are showing real promise right now.
The following is a list of three guys who are top of that list. That’s not to say they are more talented than everybody else on the roster, or even that they are going to end up having the best career or have the highest ceiling of the players here either. Rather, since the trade deadline, these are the players who have stood out for all of the right reasons.
They’ve also brought some excitement to Magic games which, if you’ve been a fan for a long time, will know that is far from guaranteed at all times either. The fact Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac aren’t going to appear here because of injury being further proof that the organization is in a healthy place going forward.
Shining star No. 3 for the Orlando Magic: Chuma Okeke
It speaks volumes of where the Magic are at since the deadline that Chuma Okeke finds himself third on this list. It wasn’t that long ago that this writer claimed that Okeke had saved the whole season with his emergence, and that is still the case. It has been fantastic to see the youngster blossom after missing his entire rookie season with an ACL tear.
It is not even that Okeke has regressed massively either, he’s just cooled off compared to where he was at just as the roster was experiencing some real upheaval. The other part of this is that unfortunately for Okeke, fans are just becoming more used to what he is capable of doing on a nightly basis as well.
It is hard being a victim of his own success, but the smooth offensive game is something which we have seen quite a bit this season at this point, and which is really nice to watch. In the month of May, it also feels like Okeke has become a more well-rounded player, as opposed to the unexpected scoring bursts we saw around the deadline.
"So much of playing well is who you're on the floor with," Steve Clifford.
— Bally Sports Florida: Magic (@BallyMagic) April 18, 2021
Coach said he's looking for consistency when it comes to Chuma Okeke and thought our veterans are critical to help the young group improve and play well. #MagicTogether #NBA pic.twitter.com/RXgYGhxLFD
He’s chipping in with more assists and rebounds these days, while the scoring is more consistent. The highs aren’t as high (season-high was 22 versus the Portland Trail Blazers in March), but the lows aren’t as low either. To date, Okeke’s monthly scoring averages are really encouraging.
- December – 3.0 points per game.
- January – injured.
- February – 5.0 points per game.
- March – 8.5 points per game.
- April (so far) – 10.7 points per game.
It feels like that kind of output may take another small leap forward by season’s end, and by next year who knows how crucial Okeke will be to the Magic’s offensive sets. Fans always spoke about how the team had a clear ceiling with the previous core in place. Already Okeke alone has shown that the ceiling for this version of the Magic can be so much higher.
Shining star No. 2 for the Orlando Magic: Cole Anthony
Cole Anthony squeaks by Okeke on this list because of recency bias, and because of the kind of player that he is. As a rookie, he started the season like you would expect a young player to. Tons of enthusiasm, that often translated into trying to do too much or just being worked over by more veteran players.
This is still true of Anthony, but he players with a chip on his shoulder that makes you forget about these mistakes a lot of the time. This is particularly great for the Magic because they just haven’t had a lot of guys like that in the last decade. Certainly, not many young players have come in with that aggressive and scrappy attitude.
Even better though is that Anthony has the game to back it up. You can clearly see there are the makings of a high-level guard in him, particularly in the way he is able to score the ball and get into the paint. In the future, it will be fascinating if he is paired in a backcourt with Fultz, because of the complete contrast in their styles.
Fultz is fluid and plays at his own pace, and is the better passer of the two. He sets the table his way and is almost effortless in how he can maneuver into the paint. Anthony has a more loud style but already looks like he’ll go on to be the more complete scorer as well. It would not be a surprise if, when this roster is fully healthy, he slides over to be more of a two-guard.
Back to the present though, and because Anthony missed considerable time with a cracked rib, before the trades took place, to have him back and playing with more freedom on a tanking team has been great to watch. He’s just flat-out entertaining and has been a breath of fresh air amongst all the losing. Like Okeke, this is Anthony’s best month of scoring so far too (13.4 points per game), as he takes advantage of the opportunity to get more shots up.
Shining star No. 1 for the Orlando Magic: Wendell Carter Jr.
The obvious answer here is Wendell Carter Jr., both because of what he’s doing on the court and the perfect storm that has been his arrival since coming over in the seismic Vucevic trade with the Chicago Bulls. Starting with the off-court stuff, and fans were right away invested in the way Carter Jr. plays the game and having a young big man to get really excited about.
Carter Jr. is only 22, and clearly has a ton of potential. The kind you could certainly build around, and the prospect of pairing him alongside Isaac is the making of a defensive dream. The other piece of this is that Carter Jr. was taken one spot after Mohamed Bamba, who was taken by the Magic in 2018.
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Bamba, as has so often been the case with him and other previous Magic youngsters, has actually looked decent lately. He is getting better at reading the game and having more of an impact. But it is still unclear if he is the center of the future for the franchise, whereas Carter Jr. has come in and grabbed that mantle in a way Bamba never did either. It was fun rooting for Vucevic, he is a top guy on and off the court, but there hasn’t been a young big like this to cheer for in a long time.
On the court, the 14.5 points Carter Jr. is averaging is already a career-high. It is a small sample size but is such an encouraging start for a player that isn’t likely to see his role diminish anytime soon. Defensively he has made an impact as well, and the 8.8 rebounds also averaged in that span have gone some way to replacing Vucevic’s production in that area.
Unfortunately for Carter Jr., and coach Clifford who loves a defensive setup, the Magic rank dead last in defensive rating (120.8) over the last 10 games played. We need to take this with a pinch of salt, however, as the roster is young and not particularly good right now and losing is again the priority.
But to have lost a franchise icon Vucevic and gotten back a player like Carter Jr. who fans are already raving about is huge. Some were ready to move on from the previous era and that’s fine, but the reality can often be different. The two first-round draft picks also included may end up being huge, but right now Carter Jr. is showing that he can be a guiding light for the Magic.