The Orlando Magic’s Paolo Banchero says his squad can match up with anybody within the Jap Convention.
The Magic, who made the postseason for the primary time since 2020, are on an upswing after going 47-35 for his or her finest regular-season file since 2011.
“We really feel like we’re proper there,” Banchero mentioned Friday throughout an look on ESPN’s “First Take.”
“We’re proper there with all these groups. I bear in mind final 12 months we began off as a top-three, top-two seed, and everyone thought it was a fluke. All people thought we had been going to be a play-in workforce and drop out the highest of the East. However we completed sturdy and received the fifth seed, and had an opportunity to essentially seize the 2 seed on the finish of the season.”
Banchero is likely one of the finest younger gamers within the NBA. In his second 12 months within the league he turned an All-Star. So when he seemed round on the Jap panorama, he sees his workforce ought to be within the combine with the likes of Boston and New York, the highest two seeds of the 2024 playoffs.
“We had been proper there final 12 months, and we received higher this 12 months, like I mentioned. I received higher, all of us received higher. We received some new items that’s going to assist lots. We’re making an attempt to make some noise. We must always simply be a top-four, top-three workforce and have an opportunity to win the East.”
Is Banchero’s assertion completely on the market? Maybe not.
The Magic ultimately misplaced within the first spherical to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a grueling seven-game sequence. The younger squad blew an 18-point lead in that sport, an expertise the Magic hope they’ll be taught from. With a median age of 24.3, the Magic had been the second youngest workforce within the playoffs.
So after they had been offered with the chance to signal two-time NBA champion Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, they jumped on the likelihood. Caldwell-Pope brings championship expertise and taking pictures, one thing the Magic sorely lacked final season. Orlando ranked twenty sixth within the league in 3-point share and struggled creating from the perimeter within the Cleveland sequence.
Moreover, longtime NBA vet Cory Joseph additionally signed with Orlando. A champion with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, Joseph could be a priceless mentor to the youthful guards on the workforce like Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony.
Outdoors of free-agent additions, Orlando re-signed a lot of its rotation gamers like ahead Jonathan Isaac and rising star Franz Wagner. It additionally drafted Tristan Da Silva, a 6-foot-8 ahead out of Colorado who tasks to get minutes together with his excessive IQ and perimeter taking pictures.
How did Magic’s offseason stack up with the remainder of the East?
When a few of the strikes different groups within the East made, Orlando’s strikes appear marginal at finest.
The Philadelphia 76ers overhauled their roster in free company, selecting up veterans equivalent to Paul George, Eric Gordon, Caleb Martin and Reggie Jackson, all gamers who’ve deep postseason expertise and within the case of Jackson, an NBA championship. George was one of many greatest acquisitions in free company. He’s a profession 20.8 factors per sport scorer, and would be the third possibility on Philly’s roster behind the All-Star duo of Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, giving Philadelphia an extremely formidable and arguably the No. 1 risk to Boston within the convention.
The Knicks, coming off a season because the second seed within the East, have improved as properly. Mikal Bridges, 27, is coming off a season averaging 20 factors an evening and is acknowledged as among the best perimeter defenders within the sport. Past that, the chemistry between him and the opposite former Villanova Wildcats on the squad can solely assist.
Additionally re-signing OG Anunoby is anticipated to pay dividends for the Knicks. Having him and Bridges will little doubt warrant concerns for the Knicks having the most effective protection in basketball.
Outdoors of these groups, the Milwaukee Bucks with a wholesome Damian Lillard and Giannis Antentokunmpo will all the time be formidable. Equally, the Indiana Pacers are additionally one other younger workforce who will likely be a 12 months higher after a deep playoff run. Identical with the Cavaliers, who can relaxation straightforward understanding that Donovan Mitchell is dedicated to them long run.
So whereas Banchero and the Magic actually have improved, it stays to be seen how far they’ll go in what’s shaping as much as be the deepest the East has been in fairly awhile.
