Orlando Magic stock up, stock down
After a 12-game improvement to 34-48, and a Rookie of the Year season from Paolo Banchero, the young Orlando Magic are ready to move on from their rebuild and compete. Here are four Magic players whose stock is moving up or down.
Stock Up
Markelle Fultz, PG: Fultz missed the first 21 games of the 2022-23 season with a broken toe, then enjoyed his healthiest season in years. Two years removed from an ACL tear, the 25-year-old Fultz averaged 14 points, 5.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals, all career highs, as was his 29.6 minutes per game. And those stats improved as the season went on, with Fultz scoring over 16 points per game in February and March. Fultz was clearly valuable, as the team was 29-31 with Fultz playing, and 5-17 without him.
Since his rookie year, the knock on Fultz has been his mysterious shooting issues. But he shot a career-best 31 percent from deep, and 51.4 percent from the field, in part due to how much he gets to the hoop. Fultz had 12 drives per game and consistently pushed the pace for Orlando on offense. While his contract for the upcoming season is only partially guaranteed, Orlando will certainly pick up the deal - and likely give him an extension.
Cole Anthony: At a glance, Cole Anthony's 2022-23 season looks disappointing. He went from starting all 65 of his games in 2021-22 to starting just four last year, settling into a sixth-man role behind Fultz and Jalen Suggs. His scoring dropped from 16.3 points per game to 13, and his assists dropped from 5.7 to 3.6.
But Anthony embraced his bench role and became a much more efficient scorer. His three-point shooting rose from 33.8 percent to 36.4 percent, and made exactly 50 percent of his two-pointers, up from 43.2 percent. He also cut his turnover rate by 30 percent. Rather than pout about his demotion to the second unit, Anthony sparked the bench lineups and continued to hype up teammates from the court and the bench.
Stock Down
Jonathan Isaac, PF: Isaac was the No. 6 pick in the 2017 draft, but due to injury, he's played just 147 games in his six-year career. An ankle injury limited him to just 27 games in his rookie year. He hurt his knee midway through the 2019-20 season, then returned for the NBA bubble and tore his ACL, which kept Isaac out for the next two full seasons. Isaac returned to Orlando on Jan. 23, but after playing 11 games, he tore his adductor muscle and had season-ending surgery.
Clearly, it's been tough luck for Isaac, who has made more headlines off the court than on it. He stood while other players knelt for the Black Lives Matter protests in the bubble, refused to take the COVID vaccine, and appeared at the ReAwaken America tour, alongside right-wing speakers like Eric Trump and Michael Flynn. Nothing's inherently wrong with those things - but it's a headache for Orlando, for a guy who doesn't play. With Isaac's $17M contract only partially guaranteed, it seems like a no-brainer that Orlando will cut him loose, especially with Banchero, Wagner and Bol Bol ahead of him on the depth chart
But Isaac still has a lucrative future ahead of him. It's just on Fox News, not in the NBA.
Jalen Suggs: Orlando thought they got a gift when Suggs fell to the No. 5 pick in the 2021 draft. But Suggs simply hasn't played like a top pick so far, averaging less than ten points per game in 2022-23. While he's battled injuries - a fractured thumb and a broken ankle - the inherent problem is that Suggs is a shooting guard who doesn't shoot. He's shooting under 39 percent for his career, 41.9 percent last year. He also doesn't get to the line much, averaging 2.2 free throws per game.
The positives? Suggs has been a good defender who shows flashes of greatness, like when he stifled Steph Curry in Orlando's win over the Warriors in November.
But Orlando's biggest weakness is their lack of three-point shooting. Suggs needs to improve his shot, along with his passing. With Orlando owning two lottery picks and likely to use one of them on a shooting guard, the pressure is on Suggs going into his third season.
More must-reads: