Magic hours

Orlando definitely isn't the worst team in the NBA, but the Magic aren't quite good, are they? At least there's something interesting here.

Good morning. Happy Hanukkah. Long Monday email so click the headline to open in a browser. Let’s basketball.

The Enchanted Garden of Messer Ansaldo, Marie Spartali Stillman, 1889

Exactly two weeks ago today, the Orlando Magic sat at 5-20. They were riding a 9-game losing streak. To that point in the season, only one player on the entire roster — Wendell Carter Jr. — had a positive on-court plus-minus (+5 in 493 minutes). Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner had been scoring plenty of points, but Jalen Suggs was still struggling in Year 2, Cole Anthony had only played in eight games and Markelle Fultz had only been back in action for four games. After a preseason in which several analysts pegged Orlando as a dark horse for a play-in bid in the East, sitting on the worst record in the entire league 25 games looked like dread.

Something’s changed as since then the Magic have rattled off six straight wins and are tied with the Wizards for No. 12 in the East, just 2.5 games out of the play-in. Fultz’s return gives them a credible frontline point guard, which helps balance out their offense, which isn’t particularly efficient even on good days. This team could be solid defensively with size up front (including Mo Bamba and Bol Bol) and Fultz at the point of attack and with Suggs’ potential on that end; they look the part right now, though it’s anyone’s guess whether it’s sustainable. Except Carter hasn’t played in the past month — neither during the 9-game skid or the 6-game win streak. Suggs has been out a few weeks, too. Jamahl Mosley is piecing together lineups like a chop shop mechanic: only two players have appeared in all 31 games (Franz Wagner and Bol) and 13 players have gotten starts this season. Ten of those players have at least five starts!

That the team is winning while Mosley is searching and with so much churn on the injury list is encouraging. This is a prime opportunity for a bad young team to get hopeless, to get dark and spiral. That 5-20 record could have manifested into 7-24 very easily, and few outside of Central Florida would take much note.

It’s not at all clear where this goes from here. I suspect the Magic are not the worst team in the league and I suspect the Magic are not going to keep this winning streak up much longer. But this is encouraging. This is a sign that there’s something here. What? I don’t know, and I suspect the Magic don’t really know either. But there’s something. For this franchise? That’s a good sign.