VINDICATED: The criticisms Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter and the Orlando Magic are DISPROVING

VINDICATED: The criticisms Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter and the Orlando Magic are DISPROVING

There are a lot of lies and slander going on about the Orlando Magic. Y’all are living in the past the pre- Charlotte Hornets Washington Wizards game days. Why the Magic are putting to rest a lot of things said against them today on Locked on Magic. You are Locked On Magic, your daily Orlando Magic podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. And you are indeed locked on Magic. Today is November 2nd. It will be November 3rd, 2025. My name is Philip Rosnich. I’m the senior writer over at Orlando Magicaily.com. Credential member of the Orlando Magic media since the 2012 season. On today’s episode of Locked On Magic, lies and slander. We’re going to put to rest, put to bed, counterargue some of the things said about the Orlando Magic over the last week and why even at the Magic’s lowest points, a lot of these just weren’t true. We’re going to get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, we want to thank you again for making lockdown magic part of your day every day. No matter when you listen to us, whether it’s first thing in the morning, whether it’s right, we upload, we truly appreciate you making lockdown magic part of your day every You can make lockdown magic even bigger part of your day by being one of our Orlando Magic dailies. That means you’re listening every single day, five days a week, sometimes six days a week, sometimes seven days a week, sometimes randomly eight days a week. That happens occasionally. You can find us wherever you download podcast. Thank you for making us part of your daily rotation. Your first listen of the day, wherever you listen to us, it’s all part of Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day. Today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. We were down bad Wednesday night. Like, like I’m not going to hide from that. I’m not going to deny that. The Magic’s one and four start was a true gut check moment. You said that on the show. Like there, the Magic were not doing the things that we expected the Magic to do. And I will do this episode because I think it’s important to say some of these things, but I will do this episode knowing full well all of it could become irrelevant by Tuesday night when the Magic play the Atlanta Hawks. This is a big game coming up on Tuesday. Atlanta’s going through some stuff. They had a interesting game against Cleveland. They ended up losing today on Sunday night. Um, this is a big test because, you know, even without Trey Young, the Hawks are a credible team or a really good team. And no offense to our friends in Charlotte and Washington, the Hornets and Wizards are are not that great. But having said that, it feels like a lot of people a lot of people wanted to just dump on the Magic, for lack of a better way to phrase it. They spent all of the first half of last week just piling on and saying, “First week of the season, the Magic aren’t what we thought. They’re still struggling on offense, even though I would argue they were not. You know, their defense wasn’t where it needed to be.” And we can all agree that it wasn’t. But we could all also say like it is super early in the season. Let’s not jump to conclusions. Let’s not compare the Orlando Magic superstar player who was putting up still some pretty impressive numbers despite a few bad games. Let’s not compare him to, for lack of a better way to phrase it, to Josh Smith. If you know that reference, you know that reference. But Kirk Goldsbury at the ring at the ringer was not the only one piling on. There were haters on the internet dancing in the street at Paulo Bancer’s supposed struggles to start the season. And look, we sat here. I sat here and I said, “These are the areas that Paulo needs to get better at. This is what we need to see Paulo doing.” I sat here after Wednesday’s game against Detroit Pistons. I will own up to my own slander and my own, I hope, constructive criticism. But I sat here after Wednesday’s game and said Powell Bane car. It was either after Wednesday’s game, certainly after Thursday’s game. I know I said this. I wrote about this on my Patreon page. I said Palo Vancer has to understand has to do a better job understanding what a good shot for him is and it is keeping the ball moving. It is attacking quickly. It’s not those ISOs and and those other things that that you want to fight with. the criticisms that we spent all summer talking about with Paulo Beno that frankly criticism that I said like a lot of them are unfounded or just people who made conclusions early and then stopped watching or only looked at his numbers uh or only looked at him in January when he was still coming back from the injury and didn’t look at the rest of the season. And I I argued with people like look he made the leap everybody was hoping for. there are still things he needs to improve on, but he took a huge huge leap last year and nobody noticed it. Even when the Magic got to the playoffs, it was still this like, well, he’s this high usage inefficient shot type guy. And I was just like, well, look at the team he’s playing with. And even this year, everyone everyone was still pointing to those onoff numbers with Fron and look, that’s still that is a thing. I’m not sitting here saying that Paulo doesn’t need to get better, but the fact of the matter is Paulo Banchero has taken a leap. And while everyone was quick to jump in and make these conclusions off of two or three games, the fact of the matter is the majority of Paulo’s games this year, he’s looked like a Paulo Ben Cara from last year, which is still a pretty good player, still an all-star player, but he’s looked like an even better version of it. And look, we’ve seen this magic team very very clearly the cohesion, the the the task of getting better as a group is going to take some time. Was going to take a little bit of time. The Magic weren’t all there yet. And now we are starting to see this team come together and play more consistently. We are through seven games. That’s not a huge sample size. Palo Bane Caro is averaging 23.3 points per game. That is more than what he averaged in 2024 when he was an all-star. He’s shooting 45.6% from the floor. Same field goal percentage that he shot in 2024 when he was an all-star. Um, and the best of his career. His three-point field goal percentage not where we want it. We can admit that. 27.6%, but I’ll I’ll explain that in a minute here. Free throw shooting, it’s now better than it was last year. He’s averaging a career-high 9.9 free throw attempts per game. So, he’s getting to the basket and his effective field goal percentage is certainly not where it needs to be at 49.1% because of the poor three-point shooting. But because he’s getting to the line so much, his true shooting percentage, which takes into account free throw attempts along with field goal attempts, is at a careerhigh 56 and a half percent. Now, last year after the All-Star break, he shot 58.1% true shooting percentage. So, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that, yeah, Paulo’s all the way back. that Paulo is is is taking this superstar leap. I think we’re gonna get there. Do not get me wrong. I think we will get there, but we’re not there yet. He’s still kind of growing to it. And because we’re still so early in the season, there is a drain that comes from it. There’s a drain that that’s happening a little bit. No doubt came out of the gate slow. 24 points, 7 for 17 shooting against the Heat. Nine for 12 from the felon. 11 points, four for 15 shooting against Atlanta. Big reason why the match lost that game to the Hawks was just Paulo didn’t do Paulo things. That’s his only game scoring less than 20 points. I might add 24 points, seven for 21 shooting against the Bulls. Again, a loss. But since then, so take I know it’s half the season, take out those first three games. Since then, Paulo’s quite simply been on a tear. In the last four games, Paulo is averaging 26 points per game. Positive plus minus that since people care about that. Shooting 55.7% from floor on just 15.3 field goal attempts per game. Yes, he’s still missing free throws. He’s missed 16 free throws in the last four games. That’s something he’s got to continue improving. Shooting 35.3% from three. And if I can remember the formula to do true shooting percentage correctly, his true shooting percentage is certainly up higher than it’s certainly at a level that you want. So, he scored 104 points over the last four games. So, I’m going to put in my shooting percentage calculator here real fast. Sorry about that. Um, give me one second to to to run to to input the numbers here. Data entry is always fun. He scored 104 points in the last four games with a 65.8% true shooting percentage. Again, that is near the elite of the elite. And on top of that, over the last four games, he’s averaging 6.3 assists per game, nine and a half rebounds per game. He’s averaging career high in rebounds already, and one and a half blocks per game. He’s had six blocks in the last four games. It’s small samples, and let’s not pretend otherwise. Paulo’s been excellent in transition. He’s been pretty good in pick and rolls. He’s got he’s averaging n35 points per possession in pick and rolls as the ball handler according to data from Synergy Sports. Averaging 1.38 points per possessions in transition. The transition stuff has been very good for Powell. Whatever whatever he’s saying about not liking to play fast, the transition stuff’s been very very good. When he’s able to get his head get himself steamrolling downhill, he is unstoppable and he is getting to the foul line like crazy. There’s still a lot to work on. I I’m not going to pretend otherwise. I’m not going to sit here and say, “Oh, Paulo Bancerero is a superstar. Why isn’t he in the MVP conversation?” It’s still too early in the season to have an MVP conversation. But everyone who’s just written off Paulo Bancer as just some high stats guy, some like chucker who’s taken bad shots all the time. Look, he takes some mid-range shots that we don’t like. He takes some threes that are just like, “Okay, that was a heat check three.” Every star does that. But the fact of the matter is since this losing streak ended, certainly since the Philadelphia game when he had 32 points and was just bulldozing and steamrolling the Sixers defense, ever since the L, you know, really in even the last two games, but really the last three games, Palankeros looked like a complete player. And if you just had a little patience, world, if you weren’t so quick to jump to conclusions, if you weren’t so quick to make these grand sweeping statements, and instead of letting a young player on a on a team that’s still fairly new and trying some new things offensively, if you just if you if you just let things play out a little bit, to to borrow a borrow a phrase from from Matt Hardy, if you just let things play out a little bit, you’d see Paulo is taking the steps that everybody has been hoping for. Now, of course, like it’s got to be consistent. He’s got to do it every night. He’s got to do it for the rest of the year, and he’s got to keep improving. But all of us who watch the Magic know Paulo’s going to do all that. Like, this is a hard worker. This isn’t some guy just coasting on talent and getting his 25 points and going home. He wants to win. And the Magic have been significantly better. The Magic have played their best basketball and the Magic are looking like they’re going to be back on track because Paulo is now making the the right decisions more often. He’s not the only one getting heat though and certainly Magic fans have given this player a lot of heat. The numbers that tell you Wendell Carter is doing exactly what the Magic want. We’ll get to that coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to our friends over at Robin Hood. Your ambition just met its match. With Robin Hood, you play for the win, not just on game day, but every day, locking in on every opening, beating your personal record, beating it again. Channel that drive into your money. 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Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Again, terms apply. That’s code locked on NBA. L O C K E D O NA for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. If you listen to the show long enough, you know I am a Wendo Carter defender. That it it might be the hill that I’m going to die on. Um if if if you find me dead, it is probably on Wendo Carter Hill and Wendo Carter ismas or Wendo Carter Island. I don’t think he gets a full line. I think it’s just an ismas that he gets. Um, it’s not a bit it’s not a bit. I truly do believe that Wendell Carter has become something of a scapegoat among match. And look, every fan base has their scapegoat. Just like the one guy that’s like that’s the thing we need to improve. And you know, I was a KCP defender and that definitely fell flat. I I will I will admit error there and and and the patience certainly wore thin that it just never came around with him, which we’ll get to in our third segment. Um, but I’ve always believed that Wendo Carter does a lot more than meets the eye and and it’s it’s it’s hard sometimes to quantify everything that he does. I also tend to believe that for a lot of people perception is is more reality than reality because you would be surprised to learn perhaps that Wendell Carter had a better defensive field goal percentage at the rim than goat last year that the only player I think you topped him was Jonathan Isaac. You’d probably find it hard to believe that Wendell Carter like was worse defense like he was worse defensively last year than he was in 2024, but not significantly at least by that metric. Now, I will be the first to say that Wendell Carter does not do things that that people typically associate with centers. He is not flying above the rim for massive alleyoops, although he’s had some really nice dunks this year and has looked healthy to be honest. Um, in a way that he hasn’t looked healthy for the last two years. Uh he is not someone that is flying around and swatting shots. Although I will note he is averaging 0.9 blocks per game. He is that that is his highest block average since his rookie year. Wendell Carter just is not someone who is meant to stand out. And and I think one of the things that I was most excited about this season for Wendell was that there would be no offensive pressure on him. his role was would simply be to set picks, roll into a pocket, you know, roll into space and be ready when the ball swung to him. They weren’t they’re not running plays for Wendell Carter. And I think that’s to his benefit. Like I can admit that’s that’s a role that probably suits him better. But as we saw in the preseason, as frankly we saw in the early part of the season, like yes, it’s going to be important to get something offensively from Wendell Carter. If Wendell Carter is going to be a factor is going to is if Wendell Carter is going to start, he’s got to contribute something on the offensive end. So, here’s the good news. Wendell Carter is contributing a lot on the offensive end to start the year. And again, it’s just seven games, so still small. He’s averaging 11.3 points per game, shooting 51% from floor and 56.3% from three. That’s nine for 16. He’s averaging 8.7 rebounds per game, which is about where he was last year. And more than that, more than that, he is one of the best offensive rebounders in the league. He is 10th in the league with more than three offensive rebounds per game. Is one of the things that he has been elite at this season. Now, I will grant you his lack of size and lack of explosiveness has been a factor this year. If you are saying like, “Well, that’s all well and fine, but A, it’s very early in the season, and B, that’s still an area the Magic might have to improve.” I’m not going to disagree. And frankly, I would love to see Wendell Carter get through this season healthy, have his first like truly healthy season. He was not healthy last year, even though he played a career-high in games. Um, I would love to see Wendell get through the season truly healthy, and be healthy in the playoffs to see what kind of impact he can make. The reason why the Magic love Wendell Carter is quite simply he is so versatile defensively. He can guard guys on the perimeter and hold his own. So that gives them an option to switch switch defensively. He is as much as he’s not a great shot blocker or rim protector. Teams still find it really difficult to score on him according to data from second spectrum this year. Um, so again, according to second data from Second Spectrum, this year, opponents are shooting just 41.2% at the rim against Carter, 41.2%. The only two players that are better than him are the only That’s I’m sorry, I have that stat wrong. Uh, 41.2% at the rim. The When Carter is on the floor, when Carter is on the floor, the Orlando Magic have a 109.2 two defensive rating. Their defensive rating is currently sitting at 112. So near like more almost three points per 100 possessions better with Carter on the floor. He only trails Jonathan Isaac, Jaylen Suggs, and Tristan Dilva in that mark. And again, that’s not everything. I I I get that that’s not all Carter’s work, but the Magic certainly are not a bad defensive team because Carter is on the floor. And so whatever you want to say about what centers are supposed to do according to data from synergy pick and pick and rolls ball handlers are scoring just84 points per possession against Carter and rollmen are scoring 33. Carter knows how to be in the right position defensively. I I want you in and and and Tuesday is going to be a really important matchup and and you know maybe I’ll bite all my words on Tuesday but Tuesday going up against Christoph Sports going up against on a congru. Kristoff certainly a stretch big can can will pull Carter away from the basket. Watch Carter’s physicality. Watch his positioning. Watch how he puts himself in a spot to impact plays defensively. I got a lot of people criticizing Carter for the points in the paint against Philadelphia and I was telling them like no that wasn’t on Wendell. I was and I I I will defend Wendell on that a lot and I’m not saying he played great in that game in those games either in the Philadelphia Detroit games but a lot of the problems were just perimeter defense and Carter having to step up and defend defend guards and leave his man in the dunker spot, leave his man alone. When the Magic are playing defense like they played the last two games, Carter’s impact is just that much more obvious because he can defend with a lot more confidence, he’s not having to make bad choices, he’s not having to pick between two bad choices, and so since Wendell Carter is shooting the ball a lot better, is contributing a little bit more offensively, is being this huge factor on defense, he’s as important as any player the Magic have on defense, people need to recognize ize that Wendell Carter is actually really valuable and really important to this team. And so I would hope some of these numbers and I would hope watching some of these games and look Charlotte Ryan called Brener caught him a few times. Big dude Carter’s Carter’s got his work cut out for him. You like he has to be on and maybe maybe that is enough to say like okay we need someone who could have a B game and still be a championship level center. And look, I think the Magic can be a championship level center with Wendo Carter on his B game, but not for very long. Like when the Magic get like when the Magic get to the playoffs and when they advance out of the first round, because I don’t think certainly I don’t think we’re we’re we’re we’re giving up on those dreams, even with the way the Magic has started this year. When the Magic get there, we’re going to find out who who can cut it and who can’t. And that’s going to be when we make choices. and Wendell Carter is absolutely in the spotlight. I’m not going to deny it. I’m a Wendell Carter defender, but if it’s clear that he’s a problem in the playoffs, then there’s nothing else you can do. I am still very high on what Wendell is doing. I’m still very high on how he’s contributed to this team and what he can bring them and what he can deliver them. But he has been really important early this season. So, I I’m not asking you to like not ask these questions. I’m merely asking you to give Wendell a chance. Just just give him a little bit of a chance because I’m telling you he is delivering for this Magic team. One guy whose stats have not quite caught up. It’s Desmond Bane. Why I think he’s doing more than you think. Let’s put to rest thoughts about Desmond Bane coming up here in just a moment. But first, today’s episode of Lockdown Magic is brought to our friends over at Grietette. Let’s be real, making excuses doesn’t solve anything. We’ve all heard them before. It’s just stress, I’m tired, or it happens to everyone sometimes. But when it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support. And that’s where Rugette comes in. Ruette offers fast acting doctor prescribed treatments for ED designed to help you stop making excuses and start making moves. Rugette makes it easy to get started. You just connect with a board-certified doctor, 100% online, no awkward waiting rooms, no in-person appointments. If prescribed, your treatment ships discreetly straight to your door. The process is fast, simple, and private. And it’s all handled by real doctors. It’s about confidence, connection, and getting back to the moments that matter. Visit rouette rug gi.comlocknba to get 15% off your first order. That’s rugged rug.comlocked on NBA. And don’t forget to use our code locked on NBA so they know we send you Rouette. Stop making excuses and start making moves. the missing piece and the missing link between the Magic being what they were last year, which which I think they’re approaching it and I think again I think the offense is a lot better than last year. Like I I I I I am dead set on like this offense is going to work and it’s it it’s just taking a little time. The difference between the Magic being what they were last year and being what they believe they can be this year is quite simply Desmond Bane. Like it’s Desmond Bane. And so far this year, the Magic certainly have not gotten the most out of Desmond Bane. Just just the numbers alone say it. 14.6 points per game. That would be the lowest since his rookie year. He’s averaging he’s shooting 25.8% from from three. He’s never shot worse than 38%. He’s shooting 4.4 three-point attempts per game. That is the fewest since his rookie year. He’s shooting just 41.9% overall, which would be a career worst. Um the shooting numbers just aren’t great. Everything else has looked okay. 3.7 assists per game, which is, you know, the lowest he’d have in four seasons. Um but I like the way he’s moving the ball. Um there’s just a lot of work to do and a lot of it is tactical. A lot of it is the Magic just have to get him the ball a little bit more and get him the ball in places that he really likes. Um his shot profile, his stats just do not look like anything that they’ve looked like before. And so it’s just coming down to Desmond Bane getting comfortable within the Magic’s offense. Um and the Magic making sure they keep Desmond Bane involved. Perhaps there are other issues the Magic want to resolve. Perhaps Desmond Bane is trying too hard to fit into teammate fit in with his new teammates and and overpassing it, not hunting out shots the way he should. But undoubtedly, this is like the next thing to unlock. And once the Magic unlock it, and I’m pretty confident they will. I’m pretty confident that yes, they will get these shots for him. they will figure it out. Right now, it’s just a bit of a mystery. And as long as the Magic are winning, no one’s going to care. But when the Magic were losing the way that they were losing before and like look, Desmond looked a little worse with the wear defensively. I wouldn’t say his defense has been fantastic. Um he’s still kind of learning where he needs to be and and he’s gotten better the last two games, but very very clearly like everyone’s wondering how the Magic get more from him and and they’re not getting enough and and I do blame Jamal Mosley and I do blame the coaching staff and and making sure they run like little like everybody steals from everybody. Run stuff that Memphis ran that got him shots. Like it can’t just be John Mar sucking people into the paint and kicking out. Like the Magic can do that. They got Paulo Mano. Um, however, I don’t want to sit here and say Desmond Bane hasn’t been a positive impactor for this team. There’s work to do. Like again, like this is not quite what the Magic paid for. This is not quite what the Magic were hoping for. But this isn’t Contavius Cwell Pope last year either. Because the issue and the concern with Kentavius Cwell Pope last year was that a he wasn’t a volume shooter. He wasn’t looking to just jack up a ton of threes. Um that was always a concern lingering in the background. They’re like well the spacing will be valuable in itself and that turned out not to be true. And it took Kenny uh it took Kenny at least two months to figure out like no I’ve got to attack these closeouts. This offense demands that I be an attacker. That’s the thing that Desmond Bane has already figured out. And so while yes, there are a lot of things to clean up and and I’m not sitting here saying we should be satisfied with Desmond Bane and say like, “Oh, well, this is just what the offense called for.” No, the Magic have to get him more shots. But Desmond Bane is still making things happen. He’s still when he can’t get a three, when he’s top blocked, he cuts to the basket. He takes the ball, attacks, shoots layups, gets a lot of layups. He does a little scoop layup, which is a little annoying, but it’s fine. Um, and he has to do that because he’s kind of smaller than everybody. Um he’s attacking the basket. He can playmake and find others which is super valuable. He doesn’t have a lot of assists yet. A lot of playmaking attributes. Like he had like six, seven assists the other night against Charlotte. Like he he can rack up the assists and still make an impact. Now the problem with the Magic’s offense right now is that there isn’t an organizer to say like, “Oh, France needs a touch here.” So France Vagras had a lot of moments where he’s gone without touching the ball and he’s struggled to stay involved. He’s had these big first halfs and then goes quiet in the in the third quarter and second half. That that stuff needs to stop. Same thing with Desmond Bay. The Magic need to get him his shots. He needs to get his shot his shots up. He needs like just literally just get him get his shots up. Um whether they’re from three or from two, they just got to keep him involved. And that’s that is a big step. That is the next big step for this Magic offense, especially now that they’re starting to find their rhythm and figure out where shots will come from and how to attack within it. But I would still argue Desmond Bane is doing a lot more than you think. His gravity, whenever he cuts, whenever he’s around the ball, teams are going with him. Teams are scared to leave him. They are top blocking him. They are not letting him get to his spots. And again, that’s on Jamal Mosley now to run him through screens, to get him the ball in spots, get him shots where he wants them, to, you know, encourage him to run, run to your spot. We will find you for three. And even then, that’s enough to let Paulo get downhill, to let Fron get downhill. That’s why the M I I think Bane shooting threat is one of the main reasons why the Magic one of the best transition teams in the league right now, which they were certainly not last year. So, this episode is really about preaching patience and saying what we saw the last two nights is the reward for being a little patient and not giving into panic and not saying, “Oh, fire everybody, you know, dump the whole thing. The Magic are going nowhere.” Like I I heard someone say like, “The Magic probably can’t win 50 games just because they started one and four.” Like, come on. Like, that’s ridiculous. There’s a long long way to go. that means you’re only winning you’re only losing 28 games the rest of the season which is is is not a lot but everything the Magic want to accomplish is still very much in front of them. Everything the Magic wanted to do is still right there. And again, the Magic go three and two on this road trip, a three-game win streak to erase that four-game losing streak. They’re back to 500 with a nice little three-game home stand against two two against Boston, one against Portland before you play the Knicks. The Magic are still very much set up to accomplish all of their goals. And Desmond Mane’s already making a positive impact. It’s now just going to be about keeping him involved and making sure that he gets his touches and his shots. The magic are not as bad as they were on Wednesday or Monday. They’re probably not as good as they looked on Saturday, but the magic are in are indeed starting to figure some things out. And that’s why it’s not time to draw conclusions and say, “Okay, things are trending in the right direction.” I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Lockdown Magic. You can find me on Twitter, Philip RR_MD, and on Blue Sky, Philip RR. You can subscribe to the podcast Apple podcast. You should tune in on Google Play, Spotify, Odyssey, and all the fun podcast to your podcast enabled listening device. You can find uh podcast, you can find us on YouTube as well. Just search for Locked On Magic. For the latest on the Orlando Magic, be sure to check out Orlando Magicag.com. You can find us on Twitter, Omagic Daily. And for even more Orlando Magic content, be sure to check out my Patreon page, Orlando Magic Hub. Uh for my daily newsletter Monday through Friday at patreon.commomog. As always, thank you for your support. Now that you’re done listening to Locked On Magic, be sure to go check out our friends over at Locked On Fantasy Basketball. Josh Lloyd hosts the number one fantasy basketball podcast, giving you daily tips and helping you win your league all while making you a smarter NBA fan. Find Locked On Fantasy Basketball on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. All part of Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day. That’s going to do it for me today though. I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Lockdown Match. We’ll be back tomorrow. We’re going to do some more kind of season recappy things. Players who’ve gotten better. It’s not it’s not all doom and gloom, obviously. Players who’ve gotten better and how they’ve gotten better. We’ll get to that on tomorrow’s episode of Locked on Magic. But until then, for Orlando Magic Daily and Lockdown Magic, this has been Philip Rossite. We’ll see you again next time for another episode of Locked On Magic.

Almost the entire NBA world has been overreacting to the Orlando Magic’s early-season struggles. The team appears to be coming out of the early-season slump, and several key players are putting to rest some early criticisms they had faced.

Paolo Banchero is often criticized for his efficiency and shot selection. But in the last four games, he has been a terror with his career-best true shooting percentage and efficiency numbers.

Similarly, Wendell Carter is not considered a strong defensive big. But the numbers show Carter’s defense has been stout and his offense has come around.

The Magic are indeed starting to come together.

0:00 Intro
2:08 Magic’s rough 1-4 start analyzed
5:41 Paolo Banchero’s impressive statistical leap
11:17 Wendell Carter’s underrated defensive impact
21:30 Desmond Bane’s adjustment struggles
28:14 Patience needed for offensive cohesion

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