Work in Progress: Fixing each of the NBA’s winless teams

Winless NBA Team #3: The Orlando Magic

Although the Orlando Magic are still winless, they aren’t nearly as mediocre as recent incarnations of this team. Led by first-overall pick Paolo Banchero, the Magic appear to have a legit star on their hands, and that’s a great start. They also have plenty of young talent, including Franz Wagner, who’s sort of a jack-of-all-trades wing, as well as Wendell Carter, who’s emerged as a legit starting center after being a throw-in in the Nikola Vucivic trade.

Despite a 0-4 start, they hope that they can make a run at a play-in tournament spot, but the Magic’s defense has to improve to give them any kind of shot. They rank 23rd in defensive rating and are getting lit up, giving up 116.8 points per 100 possessions. This is despite the team having plenty of length and size.

The Magic have employed zone defense a fair amount through the first four games of the season, and it’s clear that it hasn’t worked just yet. Zone defense, when used correctly, can throw opponents off, giving defenses an advantage. But with new players like Banchero and Bol Bol, the learning curve can be high.

Offensively, Banchero aside, Wagner has been much improved as a playmaker, which was something that he entered the season trying to develop. Despite that, the team has also struggled offensively. Much like the Lakers, this team flat-out can’t shoot, and their lack of defense is creating a wider 3-point differential that they can’t quite dig themselves out of.

It sounds simple, but a regression to the means in 3-point shooting and more focus on man-to-man D or more switching could cause scoring efficiency to go up and defensive efficiency to drop. That won’t magically get them back into play-in tournament contention, but it would certainly help.

Overall, these three teams still have time to turn things around but there are warning signs that each should look to address. If they’re able to, then each could make the playoffs this season.