They desperately need a primary ball handler that can set up an offense.

They played the ugliest basketball of the somewhat good teams. Not sure if Sweeney can change that, but if they get less injuries I think they could be a decent playoff team.

I’m still of the opinion that they need a better PG than Jalen if they want to go anywhere but I also want to give him a chance under a new coach to see what he does. On paper the Magic should be one of the better teams in the league but they’ve somehow managed to be more a mid tier team that happens to have top tier talent on the roster.

They’re a 6-8 seed level team

When did they get Vucevic back lol

The roster is nearly perfect for Mosley ball. Depending on how things go, Sweeney will either lower the group’s floor or raising the group’s ceiling. I really don’t know how I can answer the question intelligently until I see what Sean Sweeney is/is not able to do with the group.

watching Paulo banchero as the number 1 option is unbearable.

Who takes the last shot?

Should have happened 2 years ago, but for balance on both ends of the floor, IMO they need to start Goga. He’s their best defender and rebounder, and his game compliments the other starters perfectly. WCJ would best be used as the #1 option off the bench, rather than the 4th option in the starting line-up.

Even as someone who has always been lower than consensus on Paolo (and really anybody in his mould - unless they are MVP calibre offensively), I was actually quite optimistic and thought the Bane deal made sense and could help unlock their core.

It clearly didn’t work, Suggs can’t get healthy, the conversation around Paolo has quickly turned to his flaws, and Franz also has injury concerns.

They are still young, talented, and deep enough that (even without that top “number 1” guy) this really should be a regular 50+ win team.

But the pressure is now on Sweeney to figure this out, sooner rather than later, or make the obvious move of seeing what they can get for one of Paolo or Franz before they become distressed assets (if we aren’t already there)

With how stacked East is, I can’t really see them making play-offs. I guess it depends on Wagner’s health and Banchero stepping up.

I think they’ll have a good year. But I feel if they have an injury year, they’ll shake things up.

Unfortunately the problem is Banchero.

If he can’t be a top 10 player or at least close to it, the. It doesn’t matter the roster

just need to be healthy to be a top 3 seed

Barely a Play-In team in this Eastern Conference

they need to be healthy. They’ve got a good record and advanced stats when Suggs in particular is out there and less so when he’s hurt. He’s hurt a lot.

need to either speed Banchero up in his decision making or stagger him and Franz more to get the most out of their offensive output.

If Anthony black gets a consistent outside shot he’s gonna be so good.

mildly more talented, but still with the same issues as past years. their aversion to having a primary playmaker that is also a good perimeter scorer is kind of baffling, and their actual PG is neither of those.

the most first round exit team in the history of the game.

They’re gonna fail to be consistent again imo. They were a flash in the pan in January then fell into bad habits

They’re never going anywhere until they have a true playmaking and floor spacing PG

I’m hoping Sweeney can get them to improve their movement offensively.  Too often the four guys w/o the ball will stand around, rather than cutting or screening.  It’s much easier for other teams to load up the paint and force bad shots, something you see evidenced by Paolo’s poor shooting numbers.

Potential to have a good season potential for a disaster season and a blow up

They have too many key players who are too injury prone (Franz, Suggs in particular).

Lineup data (2025-26 regular season) shows that most lineups with WCJ + Banchero + Bane + 2 others constitute a winning team:

• with Suggs and Da Silva: +/- 8.2 in 259 minutes

• with Suggs and Black: +/- 6.4 in 238 minutes

• with Suggs and Franz: +/- 8.9 in 182 minutes

• with Black and Da Silva: +/- 6.8 in 175 minutes

Suggs is mostly the balancer: WCJ + Banchero + Bane + Suggs is +/- 7.2 in 704 minutes. That’s a very meaningful sample size.

The problem is that Suggs can’t stay healthy for a full season.

1st round ceiling

Suggs, Franz, Paolo still doesn’t work. Until 1 or 2 of them are moved the Magic will be nothing but a mid team.

That is a ridiculously big lineup, I’m really curious to see how all that size and physicality translates once they’re actually on the court

They can be a 4-5 seed if some luck goes their way and i like them a lot more than atlanta/indy/charlotte

franz is the key if he stays healthy they likely win 46+ games imo then there’s upside if they move paolo into a #2 role and the new coach doesn’t suck

I don’t

They need a superstar to be at a higher level. They don’t have that

Just make the top 6, and a first-round exit at the hands of the Sixers/Celtics

Play-in

Mid with no upside. Even healthy, they don’t have a top-25 player on the roster

Suggs turned into their best pick of the decade. Great turnaround from him but should not be the case.

They are as good as any team in the east if they can stay healthy and if their coach is good. This should be Paolo, Franz and Suggs best season.

AB will be the X factor if he can take one more leap they are gonna have 4 big players who can all handle the ball, pass and guard… now if any of them can shoot above 35% from 3 we’ll really have something.

Depends, if Franz is healthy I don’t see why they couldn’t get a top four seed

Any team with a player like Isaac making $10 is not good enough. Plainly, it’s not. And they have a solid vet in Vucevic but come on

Paolo Banchero is as good as 46yr old Lebron.

They won when Paolo was injured and sat out for months. Paolo slows down the team’s tempo too much. They want to run in transition.

Until Paolo can string together three efficient games in a row they won’t be a serious team

They’re just as good as any team in the East. We just need our core players to stay healthy especially Paolo and Franz and for AB to take that next step in his development.

They need Anthony Black to develop as a facilitator.

Suggs is what he is at this point, and that’s not a PG.

Any team with Banchero and Franz will make the top 8 though.

Can be a scary team if they get the Paolo and Franz thing to work. But still a dogshit offense that needs a real starting point guard.

They’ll be a good 6-8 seed

They need a legit playmaker PG and some shooting. They can’t do that without trades and they already gave up a ton of 1sts for Bane so one of their highly coveted players will have to be moved to make this happen.

They really need a ball handler.

I kinda feel bad. Last year was a clear chance to get to the conference finals but they blew it. I think they’ll be better than last year as a team but the east has gotten so much stronger that they might not get that opportunity again.

As we saw in the playoffs, if the refs are going to allow that kinda physicality, you need a really good point guard and a good back up. Suggs ain’t cutting it as the start PG. Franz is a great secondary playmaker with his size and passing but can’t rely on him to be the main.

Paolo needs better shot select but I can see why he takes the shot he takes. Franz out most of the season and Suggs can’t reliably create advantage or looks for the team so Paolo has to force bad possessions.

With them making no real moves this off season and a lot of the East teams improving, They are probably gonna be in the play-ins.

Top 6 teams will probably and in no real order here, Knicks, Sixers, Raptors, Cavs, Pistons, and 1 of Celtics, Pacers, Heat or Hawks. My guess would be the Celtics make it into the top 6 but I don’t firmly believe in it because they just lost Brown and I don’t believe Paul George. Outside of a few occasions, he’s been ass since he left OKC

They are firmly in the play-ins for me and will have a tough time making the playoffs. They really need a start caliber point guard.

What’s the deal with Isaac? I’ve heard people hype him up and I’ve seen highlight videos the last few years but every time I check the box scores he hardly plays a lot of minutes and his stats are pretty mediocre. Is he like a Shane Battier type where his effectiveness isn’t really shown on the box score? Or is he still a project with potential?

You could be ECF, you could be play-in? I’ve never seen the east this deep before

Isaac in the PF rotation?? My ass. lol

MPJ for Franz could happen, and if they can’t trade Suggs, Black will be traded too.