The Orlando Magic have a very bright outlook for the 2023-24 season, especially after they were essentially a .500 team through a good chunk of the campaign. Orlando boasts one of the league's promising young cores led by reigning Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero and recently crowned FIBA World Cup champ Franz Wagner. But despite their encouraging outlook, the Magic still need to iron some things out during the preseason.
Orlando selected Anthony Black with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. It's hard not to fault the Magic for taking him. Black is an intriguing talent because of his size, skill, and ability to be a “connector” on offense. Most draft experts lauded his terrific feel for the game and his high basketball IQ.
While Black is a great prospect to have and develop, his addition just piles on to Orlando's slew of point guards. Having this many mouths to feed could be a concern for the Magic heading into the new season.
1 early Magic concern in the preseason: Too many point guards who can't shoot
Prior to the 2023 NBA Draft, there were already rumblings about Orlando taking another guard. They ended up doing so by selecting Anthony Black out of Arkansas.
Along with those rumors came the speculation of the Magic looking to trade one of Cole Anthony or Jalen Suggs to clear up the already existing log jam at PG. But fast-forward to today, the two are still on Orlando's roster and the team heads into the season with four point guards all vying for playing time.
Fultz, Anthony, Suggs, and Black are all capable of running the point and all operate best with the ball in their hands. But the thing is, all of them won't be full-time ball handlers either because Banchero and Wagner are capable of creating plays as well from their respective positions.
All three of them can't shoot from beyond the arc either.
Fultz's shooting woes are well-documented from his rookie season because of the shoulder injury that forced him to change his shooting mechanics. While he has improved over the years, he still shot just 31.0 percent from beyond the arc this past season.
Anthony is the best shooter among the four. He shot a decent 36.4 percent from beyond the arc last year, which was the best mark of his career. Suggs made strides with his perimeter shot from Year 1 to Year 2, but he still made just over 32 percent of his threes in his sophomore campaign. Finally, Black shot just 30.1 percent from downtown in his freshman season at Arkansas.
Having four average-at-best shooters at the point guard spot isn't ideal in today's NBA.
As it stands, Fultz should be the starting point guard for the Magic come opening night, as he did in their first preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Suggs started alongside him and finished with six points, five rebounds, and three assists, but shot just 1-of-5 from beyond the arc.
The Magic could very well begin the season with a Fultz-Suggs backcourt, or perhaps they can bring in Black or Anthony to start alongside the former No. 1 overall pick.
But the lack of shooting from the guard positions could limit their offense and it's a concern the Magic should address. With a frontcourt of Carter, Banchero, and Wagner, only the latter is a plus-shooter from beyond the arc. Orlando may be better off starting Gary Harris just to add more spacing for everyone to operate.
Nonetheless, it seems likely that one of those four — most likely Suggs or Anthony — will not be a Magic by the end of the season.
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