Part 9 features two teams looking to make a deep push into the playoffs for years to come. The Memphis Grizzlies, who had a chaotic season, and the Orlando Magic, who have an exciting young core featuring a sleeping giant.
The Orlando Magic made the postseason for the first time since “the bubble”. They ultimately lost in 7 games to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but there’s a lot of promise in this team going forward. They feature two young superstar phenoms in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. These two took huge leaps forward this past season and helped set the tone for future years. Around them, the Magic feature a collection of hungry, young players and some other veterans that help from afar. Jalen Suggs proved himself as a great perimeter defender this past season and someone who can complement Wagner and Banchero very well. Orlando’s season was kind of surprising to everyone around the NBA. Many of the Eastern Conference teams dealt with injuries to their stars, like Philadelphia, and fell down the standings as a result. This resulted, through outstanding defense, in the Orlando Magic vaulting up the standings to the 5th seed. They matched up with the 4th seed Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs. The competitive series was the only first round matchup to reach 7 games. The Magic were leading by 20 points early in the first half before poor shooting and their youth resulted in them losing and ultimately knocking them out of the playoffs. However, this was a good first playoff showing for their superstar duo of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Let’s take a deep dive into why the two players are so good for their age.
Paolo Banchero was the first overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft. He averaged a stunning 22 ppg, 7 reb and 5 asts this past season. In the postseason, he elevated his game even more, averaging 27 ppg, 8.5 rebs and 4.5 asts. His unique size and skill level are a scary combination for opposing teams. His playmaking took a monster step after his rookie season. The Magic used the 6’10” 250 pound forward as their point guard at times throughout the year. He is super advanced in his playmaking at his size. In my opinion, Banchero does not get enough attention for his talent. He was named an All-Star in only his 2nd NBA season and showed his improved shooting touch as well. He’s an absolute monster and someone I expect to make an All-NBA team this upcoming season. For his size he is great at everything he does, but compared to everyone else at All-Star and All-NBA caliber, he’s very average with everything. He’s not great at one thing, but does everything extremely well. His biggest offseason development needs to be his shooting. His overall shot has good mechanics, but he shot 72% from the free throw line and 33% from three this past season. Again, for his size, he’s average, but compared to what the Magic need him to be it’s below average. However, I have the confidence to believe he will get it done. Once the series against the Cavaliers was tied 2-2 he scored 39, 27 and 38 points in games 5,6, and 7. He’s ready for this moment and everything tells me he’ll enter All-NBA conversations this upcoming season.
His partner in crime, Franz Wagner, is also a unique talent. He, like Banchero, stands at 6’ 10”, but plays more as a point guard. He and Banchero can both play the point guard, but Wagner's frame and speed gives him an advantage over Banchero. He’s a fluid mover with the ball in his hands and his size allows him to see things others cannot. Wagner has a good shot as well. His 3pt percentage is not evidence of that, but 85% from the free throw line is encouraging to see. Both he and Banchero can help the Magic tremendously if they can both develop outside shooting this offseason. Wagner was able to develop his point guard play during his rookie season as the Magic dealt with lots of injuries to their starting guards. The Magic then experimented with using Franz as the point guard and the flashes he showed throughout his rookie season showed he was capable of being a high level playmaker. He’s crafty in the pick and roll and is excellent at changing his pace and speed at his size. At 6’ 10”, he’s able to maneuver effortlessly around screens and defenders to get to the basket and finish. This offseason he signed his much deserved rookie max extension deal.
The Magic have been very busy this offseason. They have back a majority of their roster with the 52 million dollars in cap space they have available. The team overall is in a good position before they sign Banchero to his rookie max extension in two seasons. The Magic have a variety of trade assets and bring back almost the entire young core that helped guide them to the playoffs. Oh, and they signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this offseason. The Caldwell-Pope signing gives the magic a desperate piece of offense they need, shooting. Last season the Magic were ranked 28th in the league in 3pt shooting and the struggles behind the line showed in the Cleveland series. The need this offseason needs to be the addition of shooting without compromising its vicious defensive identity. Along with adding shooting they need to get a point guard who can direct the offense. As nice as it is to have Banchero and Wagner with the ball in their hands, having someone set them up would be even better for their production. As noted earlier, the Magic have a good amount of cap space and finding the right pieces to fit in with their roster will be important as finances will become more expensive in the 2025 and 2026 season. Overall, the Magic are in a great position to set themselves up for the future. It’ll be important for management to set up the roster with the holes they need to fill over the next two seasons.
The Memphis Grizzlies had a rough season this past year. Their superstar, Ja Morant, was suspended for 25 games at the beginning of the season. Upon his return, however, he injured his shoulder after playing only 9 games and was ruled out for the season. Morant’s suspension results from waving a gun around on social media multiple times via Instagram Live. His behavior is a larger problem within the Grizzlies locker room. They do not have any veteran presence to guide the young team. However, his injury gave the grizzlies a chance to develop some younger players and see what they have. Among these guys, G.G Jackson and Vince Williams saw their games take off late in the year. That gave the front office some hope for dependable role players. Jackson is still extremely young and was able to put together a really solid 20 games towards the end of the year. He scored a career high 44 points in the last game of the season. He’s still only 19 years old and will be someone for the Grizzlies to rely on coming off the bench in the future.
The Grizzlies are an intriguing team. They'll look to regain their claim as one the best teams in the very challenging Western Conference. Getting Ja Morant healthy is a key factor, but the team also acquired Marcus Smart this past offseason. Smart is someone who fits very well with the backcourt of Morant and Desmond Bane. The Grizzlies had been in a long search for a wing defender and pulled the trigger in a trade last offseason that saw the Celtics trading Marcus Smart to them. Smart won defensive player of the year in 2022, the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton. He's a tenacious defender and will be a good vocal leader for the Grizzlies locker room. Smart doesn’t need to play on the ball as much as he did, or wanted to, during his time in Boston. He’ll most likely spot up on the wing while Morant and Bane navigate pick and rolls or pin downs for them. He has the opportunity to connect the stellar defense of the backcourt and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the frontcourt. The Grizzlies now have the 2022 and 2023 defensive players of the year on their roster for the 2024-2025 season.
It’s difficult to assess the Grizzlies offseason considering a majority of their roster experienced injuries throughout this past season. On top of Morant only playing 9 games. Marcus Smart missed a lot of time as well, only playing in 20 games this past year. Desmond Bane also only played in 42 games and Jaren Jackson Jr. only played in 48 games this past season. Health will be a big key this offseason as the Grizzlies will look to reclaim their form that saw them earn back to back 2-seeds in the Western Conference during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons. Needless to say, getting this team healthy is step one this offseason. Along with getting healthy, the Grizzlies could also look to sign a veteran to help with the locker room. Along with Morant’s personal issues in the 2023 offseason. The team has been very brash with its early success and many believe a veteran can help lead this young group. On top of that, The Grizzlies core needs to develop its shooting prowess as this has been an area their team has struggled with in the past. In the 2024 NBA draft, they selected Zach Edey with the 9th overall pick. Edey is a 7’ 4” center out of Purdue and will be starting from day one. His screen setting and active hands will help elevate Morant and Bane in the pick and roll. His size will also advance their already tenacious rebounding as they led the league in offensive rebounding a few seasons ago. Edey fills an immediate need for this team and it will be fun to see his development in the future. Financially, the Grizzlies are in a great spot. They control all of their first round picks over the next 7 seasons and 10 second round picks in the same timeframe. Marcus Smart is extension eligible on July 25th. Vince Williams is eligible for an extension, Santi Aldama, who has provided some perimeter spacing from the front court, is eligible on July 6th and Jaren Jackson Jr. is eligible on October 1st to sign a 3-year, 100 million dollar plus deal. The only restriction for the Grizzlies is they cannot take back more salary in a trade and need to match everything involved with a trade. Overall, the Grizzlies are in a position to pick up where they were two seasons ago in the West. They will be an interesting team to keep an eye on throughout this upcoming season.
As always feel free to comment below and any news that occurs after the release of the article will be updated prior to the start of the season.
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