3 Magic preseason trends that must carry over

Happy NBA opening day, for those who celebrate! The Orlando Magic won't be in action until Wednesday against the Miami Heat, but they are coming off an encouraging preseason. Does their undefeated 4-0 record matter?! No.

But the process does matter to a certain extent, so what preseason trends -- in a very small sample -- should the Magic hope to carry over to the regular season? Let's examine!

3-point shooting:

Let's start with the obvious. The Magic's biggest fatal flaw is their 3-point shooting -- or lack thereof. Collectively, they shot 35.9 percent from distance in preseason, including a combined 42.4 percent (14-33) from Franz Wagner, Tristan da Silva and Wendell Carter Jr. It's a microscopic sample that is too small to make any conclusions, but those three all struggled from distance in 2024-25.

For perspective, a 35.9 3-point percentage over an entire 82-game season would have ranked No. 17 leaguewide. It's not a blow-your-socks-off mark. However, if you compare it to last year's 31.8 percent clip, it is, by far, an improvement. Last season, the Magic were the only NBA team to have just one player -- hats off to you, Caleb Houstan -- shoot at least 36.0 percent from deep with at least 150 long-range attempts.

That's bad. Really bad.

Offensive Rebounding:

Jamahl Mosley's teams have prided themselves on limiting teams' opportunities on the glass, ranking in the top-8 in defensive rebounding percentage each of the last three seasons, including No. 6 last year. Over that span, they've also been respectable on the offensive glass, finishing No. 15, 7 and 12 in offensive rebound percentage, respectively.

However, Orlando was extra forceful and intentional on the offensive glass this preseason, leading the NBA in offensive rebounding percentage (44.3 percent), nearly three percentage points greater than the next-best team. Obviously, that mark isn't sustainable over the course of the regular season (Rockets led NBA with 36.3 ORB% in '24-25), but what is sustainable is consistent effort to try and get more bites at the apple.

Rebounding wins championships, and if the Magic can continue to aggressively attack and hunt extra opportunities, they should.

Rim Protection:

Orlando had the league's second-best defense a year ago, and it was exceptional at limiting paint touches. But when opposing ballhandlers did get at least one foot in the paint, it was good-not-great at protecting the rim, sporting the ninth-most blocks per 100 possessions with the 10th-lowest rim efficiency allowed, according to Cleaning The Glass.

In preseason, however, the Magic were the league's third-best team blocking shots with the ninth-best rim efficiency allowed. Orlando's last game was poor. But Carter, Banchero, Goga Bitadze and Jonathan Isaac's rim protection during preseason all stood out at different points. Even when they weren't blocking shots, they were deterring shots and making life more difficult in that area. Don't be surprised if they're a top-3 defense once again.

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