If you stuck with the Orlando Magic through the 2021-22 season, then you truly are a real one. Although the year itself was not as bad as many from the last decade, at this point, all of the losing and hoping for the future has taken its toll on even the most optimistic of Magic fans.
Still, the season was by no means a disaster, and although the team finished with a 22-60 record, the worst in the Eastern Conference, there were still some genuine moments of optimism. Yes, it feels like this is an expression we have used before, mostly because we have. Many times. But something about this group feels different.
A young and exciting core is legitimately in place now, as opposed to the possibility that one could potentially exist for Orlando Magic.
Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Wendell Carter Jr., Cole Anthony, and Markelle Fultz is a nice place to start, and things will be even better next season. The jury is still out on a number of other players, however, and time will tell if they are part of the long-term vision that the organization is trying to implement.
It is hard to get a gauge on how first-year head coach Jamahl Mosley fared, mostly because he was working with a depleted roster in a year they were always going to lose a lot of games. If nothing else, he definitely deserves and will be given the chance to come back next season to see what he can do with this group. The following though, are the three main takeaways from the 2021-22 season.
3 takeaways from the Orlando Magic 2021-2022 season: 3. Franz Wagner is the cornerstone
After about 15 games, one thing was quickly becoming clear, and that was that rookie Wagner could be the future cornerstone of the franchise. Though that praise sounded like too much, too soon, if you spent a few times watching him play, you quickly came to realize that it was not. Wagner took to professional life extremely quickly, and by the end of November was one of the Magic’s main contributors.
We need to remember as well, that playing for the Magic isn’t exactly easy. They will always be overlooked when they are a bad team, and plenty of other lottery picks have come and gone and not made their mark here. Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton, Aaron Gordon and Mario Hezonja to name just a few of the more recent examples.
Wagner clearly wanted the ball, and it also became apparent that he could handle and distribute at a high level. Point Wagner might never be a dream we see realized over the course of a whole game, but there was so much to like about what he did for a roster hampered by injuries and playing for a first-year head coach in Mosley.
Even more impressive, Wagner was the less fancied of the two lottery picks the Magic made last summer. Fans couldn’t believe when Jalen Suggs fell to them at five, and while injuries didn’t help his own rookie campaign, Wagner came out swinging. He looks comfortable being asked to do more and more as time goes on, and will be hugely important to the Magic’s future.
Not making the final list for Rookie of the Year might sting a little, but this was a fabulous draft class. Season averages of 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while shooting just over 35 percent from deep on a team that won only 22 games was a great way for Wagner to announce his arrival. No matter how this offseason goes, it is hard to imagine him not being the guy for this group next season and beyond.
3 takeaways from the Orlando Magic 2021-2022 season: 2. An identity is forming
Former head coach Steve Clifford was a hard-nosed individual who presided over some tough-to-break-down Magic rosters. He got the best out of Nikola Vucevic, a two-time All-Star but also a defensive liability, on that end, and had a bunch of veterans who wanted to win. It resulted in two postseason berths, but nothing more.
This version of the Magic is a lot younger, looks to be smiling and enjoying the process more, and has an identity that is beginning to really reflect that. This looks to be a tight group, and while that doesn’t automatically equal success, it will surely help as they begin to make their way up the standings in future years.
If you watched this group during the regular season, then you know that their pace in particular stood out on many nights. The Magic finished the year 10th in this category (99.71), a far cry from the more methodical days of coach Clifford. The team liked to get up and down the court and run, and it helped them catch out opponents from time to time.
If they can turn that pace up just a notch and get better in a couple of key areas, improvements will be quick to follow. The Magic didn’t do anything else particularly well over the course of the year, and defensively they were downright ugly on a lot of occasions. The other key part to the identity they are trying to form, is theeir three-point shooting.
Coach Clifford’s groups ranked in the bottom five of this category for most of his tenure, and this year was no different with the Magic clocking in at a terrible 28th (33.1 percent). But crucially, they also took the 11th most 3-pointers (36.9) throughout the season. The fact a lot of these didn’t go in is not good, but if you look beyond that fact, it gets better.
Outside of Terrence Ross, there is no deadeye shooter in the group. Defenders were able to shut down the Magic’s players frequently, because they didn’t have the talent to stretch opponents and create more open looks.
If they are already shooting from deep this much and playing at a relatively high pace, it will surely form the basis of their identity next year. A run and gun group who will have no problem getting into, and winning some of, their shootouts.
3 takeaways from the Orlando Magic 2021-2022 season: 1. Some players have to go
It is a topic we will surely come back to as the offseason unfolds, but it is clear now that some players have to go so that the group can move forward. Chief among these is Jonathan Isaac, who has now missed two full seasons. It is not about what he believes in or how he conducts himself away from the court. By all accounts, he appears to be a well-liked teammate.
Instead, it is the fact that he is never going to be the player that the organization want him to be now, and needed him to be when they drafted him. There may have been Defensive Player of the Year potential, but in truth, we saw that for about a handful of games across multiple years that were cut short by injury.
Let Isaac go and see what, if anything, can be gotten in return. The rotation is filling with guys like Wagner, Carter Jr. and maybe even Bol Bol, who will make fans forget about Isaac quickly. He still has a role in the league, it is just no longer a big one with a growing Magic team as their defensive anchor.
The same is also true of Mohamed Bamba. The time has come to be more ruthless as they look to get the right mix of players into their rotation, and Bamba is not it. He’s had his chances and quite incredibly, at this point has shown more consistency than Isaac out there. Which is saying a lot when you consider inconsistency is the biggest problem with Bamba.
All of the raw skills have been there for years. You can’t teach height. He’s even a pretty good three-point shooter every once in a while (career 38.1 percent from deep). But after four years and with a new contract on the horizon, it is time to just admit that the franchise should have picked Carter Jr. at the time and gone from there.
We know centers mature at a slower rate than other players, and Bamba could yet turn into a serviceable big man at his next stop. But with Carter Jr. on one of the best contracts in the league, Fultz on the books and the younger guys coming through going to have to get paid sooner rather than later, are you comfortable giving Bamba $80 million? $60 million? Even $40 million? Exactly, and that’s why he’s got to go before next season begins.