Orlando was the biggest surprise of the 2023-24 season as they won 47 games in the regular season mostly due to having the #2 defense in the league. With a young core of players, it was expected that the Magic would continue to improve last season. In fact, their defense was even better (111.5 defensive rating in 23-24 vs 109.9 last season) as they were very aggressive at generating turnovers and were also very good on defensive rebounding. This defensive system created by their coach Jamahl Mosley really works with this group and so, we can expect Orlando’s defense to be elite once again this season.
So, what went wrong with Orlando last season? The main factor was injuries on their best offensive players. Paolo Banchero only played 46 games, Franz Wagner missed 22 games, Moritz Wagner only played 30 games while Jalen Suggs was only available in 35 contests. With so many injuries, Orlando never managed to create a good offensive flow and they were just #26 in offensive rating. They were an elite unit at going to the line and above average on offensive rebounding, but they were a terrible shooting team who also couldn’t handle the basketball.
Orlando’s guards were one of the worst offensive groups in the league. Suggs and Black were elite on defense but they really lacked both shooting and playmaking ability. Knowing this, Orlando attempted to improve their perimeter play this offseason and hence they traded for Desmond Bane from Memphis.
Bane has been one of the most underrated players in the league. He is a 41.0% career 3pts shooter and he is coming from back to back seasons averaging +5.0 assists per game. Even if Bane continues being a great perimeter shooter, Orlando will need more players to step up and hit more threes as they were dead last in 3pts% last season with 32.2%.
In order for Orlando to substantially improve on the offensive end this season, they will also need their two best players in Banchero and Wagner to be more efficient. Their eFG’s numbers last season were only 50.4% and 50.7% respectively and this isn’t good enough for two players who combined almost 40 FG attempts per game last season.
With a weakened Eastern Conference this season, Orlando’s physical defense will be too much for most teams, but they need their offense to improve. However, if they manage to improve their offense to be an average unit at least, that should be enough for them to win 50 games in their weak conference this season.