Based largely on the struggles at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Orlando Magic are still projected to reach the 2020 NBA Playoffs. However, the team is struggling significantly with a sub-.500 mark as the calendar prepares to flip, and the Magic are far from a perfect team, especially on the offensive end of the floor.
In this edition of our Holiday Wishlist series, we’ll break down what the Magic will be looking for during the holiday season, including issues with the current roster and what might be in store for the future.
#1: Shooting and more shooting
This isn’t a new problem for the Magic. Orlando’s roster has suffered from a lack of shooting for a while now but, last season, a couple of key performances allowed the team to mask that weakness. This time around, Orlando is firmly entrenched as a bottom-five three-point shooting team and that, coupled with a lack of individual creation, proves deadly.
Evan Fournier is the exception, as the veteran wing is converting more than 40 percent of his three-point offerings. He is, quite literally, the only one that is converting three-pointers at an above-average rate, though, and that is where the problem begins. Can Terrence Ross make more than 34 percent of his threes? Absolutely, and the same could be said for someone like Aaron Gordon. On the whole, though, the Magic just don’t have enough floor-spacing and it’s costing them on a nightly basis.
#2: A return to form for D.J. Augustin
Much of Orlando’s success in 2018-19 could be traced to the performance of Augustin and Nikola Vucevic. The two veterans had career-best seasons on the offensive end, which helped to cover up for a lot of issues. Vucevic seems to be finding his footing again with four 20-point games in his last five outings, but Augustin continues to languish.
After back-to-back seasons with 61 percent true shooting, Augustin has fallen off. That was predictable in many ways for a player at his size and age but, even with Markelle Fultz taking on more of a prominent role, the Magic still need Augustin’s offensive skill set. It is unfair to put too much on the 32-year-old but, with the way the roster is constructed, the simplest way to have Orlando make a jump on the offensive end would be to have Augustin find his footing again.
#3: The big move
It may not happen during this season because, well, it is hard to engineer trades for top-level talent in a vacuum. Still, one of the worst-kept secrets in the NBA is that the Magic need a lead option on offense.
Even last season when Orlando took a major leap, it came as a collective, with Vucevic as the team’s best offensive player. He’s a quality center but, in short, that isn’t going to be enough on a major stage. The Magic have intriguing parts, headlined by Jonathan Isaac’s insane defensive potential, but Orlando doesn’t have anything approaching a No. 1 scorer on the roster. They’ve struggled to draft that player in the past but, at some point, getting more ping-pong balls might even be better than where they are now. Either way, they have to find “the guy” and, until they do, the Magic are going to be fairly predictable.
