End of season thoughts for the young Magic

 
 

I am sitting here on an early Friday west coast morning having some coffee before I start my workday. It’s not even 7 am. It’s odd because a sane basketball fan probably is not thinking about 2 of the worst teams in the league matching up later today, but I am… The Magic will play their first game of the remaining 22 games today (2/25/22) vs the Rockets. I am excited about it! I really am. I am excited because there is still a good amount of things we could see this season and that does not even include injured players coming back. Yes, I am hinting at Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac could be seen this season. The tank to end the season will happen. We will see healthy players being sat at some point with minor injuries that would normally be play through. We will see vets shut down. The tank could get really bad. Outside of development, the Magics Front Office wants a high % chance at a good lottery pick, but that’s not this article. This article is about exciting things. Anyways let’s get into my thoughts.

Jalen Suggs, Cole Anthony, Franz Wagner, Wendal Carter Jr, Mo Bamba, RJ Hampton, and Chuma Okeke are all under 24 years old. Most are under 23 years of age. That’s pretty exciting with how young the Magic team is. It has led to some frustrating moments but it has also led to a lot of hope for the future. See this young group of men finishing the season will hopefully tell us a few more things about them.

Had more impressive dunks in the Rising Star game than the dunk contest participants, Jalen Suggs. We already know he is a solid defender. We found that out very quickly into the season. His defense was up there with some seasoned veterans in the league. Once he came back from missing 20 games due to a broken thumb, we started to see his offense come around. He has really started to get to the rim at will, using his body as a tool to get there and even draw fouls. In his last 7 games, he has gotten to the FT line 5.4 times on average and has been hitting 77% of his FT all season. I love that!!! I want to see more of it. However, what I really want to see is his 3 point shot fall more. It looks like he has a good shooting form (though I am no expert), but they just don’t seem to go in the basket. I would love to see him find some consistency from range before the end of the season.

Rising Star player with the game-winning FT maker, Franz Wagner should be in the conversation for Rookie Of The Year! Though it will be hard for any rookie to beat Evan Mobely at this point. As Franz continues to be slept on by the rest of the league, I will continue to take notice. We have seen him do well in just about every aspect of the game. Defense, running the pick and roll, creating his own shot, and making smart passes. The one thing I want to see more of is him having the keys to the offense more. As Jonathan Tjarks from the ringer brought up, Franz is often the 3rd or sometimes 4th option on the floor. It would be great for Coach Mosley to really let him lose so we could see what he would look like in more of a first or second option consistently.

Wendell Carter JR. It’s pretty simple. I want to see two things. Run more offense through him. He is very talented averaging 14 pts, 10 rebounds for the season while hardly having a play run for him. I think Coach Mosley should take a page out of Clifford’s book and run more offense through the center. He is capable of being even more impactful. The other thing is I want to see the small injuries stay away from him. He has a history of being injured and so far has had a pretty solid season of health.

Rising Star player Cole Anthony. He did ok in the dunk contest. His first dunk was fun! The second dunk… let’s not talk about it… I want to see him find some better scoring efficiency. He has started to get back to being more effective in recent games but he has a HUGE stretch where he was extremely bad at scoring. It was so bad it started to affect his decision-making as a ball handler. If he can become more effective with his shot, I think we will see the impressive Cole Anthony who was the Magic's best player at the start of the year, back again.

Chuma Okeke and RJ Hampton have both had very up and down seasons. Let’s just see how they fit. If Coach Mosley would ever stop being so rigid with his starting lineup, It would be awesome to see Okeke get a shot at the starting PF slot and move Mo Bamba to the second unit. That be a welcome change. I think Chuma needs that consistency and Mo could use a change in on-court playing partners as well. Let's be real, this season is all about trying things as they develop the players. If you are ever going to experiment with lines ups, do it in the last 22 games of the season coach! For RJ, it would be just nice to see smart decisions made when the ball is in his hands. The NBA game still looks like it is going too fast for him to make smart decisions. Hopefully, some things have unlocked while he was out injured recently.

What’s crazy is I just wrote so many exciting things that we could see to close the season and I never even mention Markell Fultz who could/should be back any game now. When he comes back he will be such a stable ball-handler for this team. His ability to collapse a defense and kick the ball out to open teams is going to be HUGE! He should also be able to help the team make better choices so that they don’t unravel all the time. Also having him next to Sugg defensively is going to be so fun to watch. I know I have been down on Fultz and still have questions about his long-term fit with the team but what he should provide for this current roster is so clear! He is the only true PG the team has. Lastly, maybe we will get lucky and see Jonathan Isaac for the last 10 games. It does not feel likely but I won’t give up hope on that.

I hope you enjoyed this article and are as excited about the end of the season as I am. Thanks for reading and Go Magic!

 
Stephen Cameron