MMBets: Orlando stood still while the rest of the East got better

The Orlando Magic are good.

That is what makes their offseason so interesting.

They won 45 games last year despite missing Franz Wagner for most of the season, then took a 3-1 lead on Detroit in the first round before losing three straight games and getting eliminated in Game 7. Instead of responding by changing the roster, Orlando mostly chose continuity.

Advertisement

The biggest personnel addition was Nikola Vučević.

The biggest actual change was on the bench.

Orlando Magic: Over/Under 43.5 wins

Over: -125
Under: -105
To win NBA Championship: +4000
To win Eastern Conference: +1500
To win Southeast Division: +220

Last season: 45-37, eighth in the East, lost in the first round

Key additions: Nikola Vučević, Izaiyah Nelson
Key losses: Moritz Wagner, Jett Howard
Coaching change: Sean Sweeney replaces Jamahl Mosley

The case for the under

My concern with Orlando isn’t that I dislike the roster.

It is that almost everyone around them became more aggressive.

Miami added Giannis. Atlanta got significantly deeper. Philadelphia added an absurd amount of talent. New York is coming off a championship. Detroit won 60 games last season. Boston, Cleveland, Toronto, and Indiana all still expect to compete. Even within Orlando’s own division, Miami and Atlanta both made bigger moves.

Advertisement

Orlando basically brought back the same team.

That can work if the answer is health and internal development, but it also puts a lot of pressure on those things actually happening.

The offense is still my biggest question.

Banchero and Wagner are both very good players, but Orlando can get bogged down in possessions where one of them has to create everything from scratch. Bane helps with shooting and secondary creation, but the Magic still do not have the kind of high-level point guard who consistently organizes the offense and creates easy looks for everyone else.

Vučević helps, but he does not really fix that problem.

Advertisement

He is another big who can score and facilitate a little, and there will probably be nights when his offense saves the second unit. But Orlando’s issue last season was not a lack of centers. It was finding enough shooting,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mmbets-orlando-stood-still-while-130000546.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-09-27 13:00:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.