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Orlando Magic (Projected Record: 33-49)

Another year, another projected lottery finish for the Magic. On the plus side, despite the 33-win projection, my numbers suggest that the Magic could be on the fringes of the playoffs and it would not be surprising at all to see them squeak into the playoffs (especially with Orlando having already banked four wins in their first six games now).

The Magic have a lot of solid, but unspectacular players, when it comes to their projections. Orlando’s best player is Aaron Gordon, which, given his relatively disappointing performance so far is a bit of a red flag. Gordon, based on prior performance and the age curve should be expected to be a slightly above average player. The athletic combo forward, though, has come out of the gate this season like gangbusters in his first four games of the season posting a +6.1 Box Plus-Minus (BPM) and 25.7 Player Efficiency Rating (PER), both of which are superstar levels of performance.

Similarly, Nikola Vucevic is a player who projects slightly below average, despite being a 25 points per 100 possession scorer, owing largely to his middling efficiency and lack of creation for others and mediocre defensive ability. Vucevic, like Gordon, has come out of the gate like a house of fire with a +6.1 BPM and a  25.6 PER. If Gordon and Vooch can play even half this well going forward this season, the Magic should win many more than the 33 wins for which I’ve projected them.