Something is going to happen this summer in Orlando. The Magic will have one of the most important cap spaces in the league. Enough to attract “free agents” and strengthen an already promising team, which has just been eliminated with honors in the first round of the playoffs.
At a press conference, Jeff Weltman says he does not yet know how he plans to use this money. One thing is certain, delusions of grandeur do not seem to be for him. “ Last year, when I talked about internal development, we added Joe Ingles and two rookies. And we went from 34 victories to 47 », he recalls.
According to him, this “cap space” “ should be used wisely » without breaking this internal dynamic. “ We don't want to lose sight of the north. Our top three scorers are 22 or younger. I know a lot of good things have happened to our team this year. Now it's up to us to figure out how to repeat that. We don't take this for granted. », notes the manager.
The Magic was able to make a leap forward this year by trusting in the undeniable progress of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, to whom he refers, and others. Thus according to Jamahl Mosley, the Magic must go in search of “ good person », compatible with this group.
An identified area of progress
“ You should not do movements for the sake of doing movements. You have a group of young men who […] give themselves the means to do the right thing, to play the right way, to share the ball and everything that follows. When you put things together, you want to make sure they fit together on and off the field », notes the coach.
Could Klay Thompson, whose name is resurfacing, be that player? In the game, his name makes even more sense as Jeff Weltman admits that his team, among its many ” needs », must do better in terms of shooting. The manager noted progress in this area during the season. But in the playoffs, the Magic finished among the poor performers, with only 31% success against the Cavs.
“ I don't think we're completely devoid of fire. Part of that is because players are growing, improving and finding their rhythm. […] This is an area in which we must improve. But not to the detriment of what made our DNA. There's a reason we were a good team this year and we don't want to lose it “, he warns.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Paolo Banchero | 80 | 35.0 | 45.5 | 33.9 | 72.5 | 1.0 | 5.9 | 6.9 | 5.4 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 22.6 |
| Franz Wagner | 72 | 32.5 | 48.2 | 28.1 | 85.0 | 1.0 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 3.7 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 19.7 |
| Jalen Suggs | 75 | 27.0 | 47.1 | 39.7 | 75.6 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 12.6 |
| Cole Anthony | 81 | 22.4 | 43.5 | 33.8 | 82.6 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 11.6 |
| Wendell Carter, Jr. | 55 | 25.6 | 52.5 | 37.4 | 69.4 | 2.0 | 4.9 | 6.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 11.0 |
| Moe Wagner | 80 | 17.7 | 60.1 | 33.0 | 81.4 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 10.9 |
| Markelle Fultz | 43 | 21.2 | 47.2 | 22.2 | 69.7 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 7.8 |
| Gary Harris | 54 | 24.0 | 44.1 | 37.1 | 75.6 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 6.9 |
| Jonathan Isaac | 58 | 15.8 | 51.0 | 37.5 | 72.0 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 4.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 6.8 |
| Goga Bitadze | 62 | 15.4 | 60.3 | 14.3 | 65.5 | 1.8 | 2.9 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 5.0 |
| Anthony Black | 69 | 16.9 | 46.6 | 39.4 | 61.3 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 4.6 |
| Joe Ingles | 68 | 17.2 | 43.6 | 43.5 | 82.4 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 4.4 |
| Caleb Houstan | 59 | 13.8 | 38.8 | 37.3 | 80.8 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 4.3 |
| Trevelin Queen | 14 | 11.8 | 36.8 | 17.6 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 2.9 |
| Chuma Okeke | 47 | 9.2 | 35.7 | 28.0 | 57.1 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 2.3 |
| Kevin Harris | 2 | 3.0 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| Jett Howard | 18 | 3.7 | 33.3 | 28.0 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1.6 |
| Admiral Schofield | 23 | 3.7 | 38.5 | 37.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
