Patrick Beverley has taken a shot at the Orlando Magic for not making the playoffs after they almost had two players in the top 50 in ESPN’s player rankings for the 2023-24 season.
“Who? The guy from Orlando? I do not agree with that,” Beverley said when told Franz Wagner is ranked 52nd. On learning that Paolo Banchero finds himself at 30th, he questioned why the Magic can’t win more games with these two on the team.
“If you’ve got two people out of the top 100 on your team, Orlando Magic, you should be winning games,” Beverley said. “If you have two people that’s under the top 50, you should make the f***ing playoffs. Why are you so bad? If everybody nice, why you so bad?”
1+1=2 right???? pic.twitter.com/wuHWW9geR8
— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) October 19, 2023
The Magic finished with a 34-48 record last season and were 13th in the East. While in a vacuum, that isn’t great, the fact is that not many expected them to win 30+ games. Their relatively young roster took some big strides as the season went on, with Banchero winning Rookie of the Year.
Patrick Beverley Missed The Point Here
While I have a lot of issues with ESPN’s rankings as well, many like Beverley are missing the point here. The rankings are how ESPN is predicting those players will perform in 2023-24 and are not based on last season.
They’re not saying Wagner and Banchero were basically top 50 players last season, but are predicting they will be this time around. If they don’t make the playoffs in 2024, then you can question why these two were rated so highly.
Also, if you use the 35-year-old’s own logic here, then the Chicago Bulls, whom Beverley played for last season, should be subjected to criticism as well. DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine are in the top 50, while Nikola Vucevic is ranked at 75, but they didn’t make the playoffs last season. So, just because a team has multiple players on there, doesn’t mean they necessarily will make the playoffs.
What To Expect From The Magic In 2023-24
The Magic won 12 more games last season than they did in 2021-22 and while I’m not sure we’ll see a similar jump this time around, they should improve. You’d expect Banchero, who averaged 20.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game as a rookie, to have a strong sophomore season, and perhaps even come close to being an All-Star.
In Wagner, who averaged 18.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game in 2022-23, they have a fine second option too. The likes of Wendell Carter, and Markelle Fultz should also improve and Anthony Black, whom they selected with the sixth pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, is an exciting prospect as well.
I would expect the Magic to be in the running for the play-in spots in the Eastern Conference and depending on how big of a leap their young core takes, they could get into the playoffs as well. While they’d have no shot at winning a playoff series, it’s clear the Magic are headed in the right direction.
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