The question for the Magic, if they do not ask about personnel, is: How do they maximize the players on their roster? How do they make the most of their team?<\/p>\n
That is a question that starts with their star players<\/a>, where they want to make the most of them. But it trickles down to everyone as they try to put the entire puzzle together.<\/p>\n The Magic are not quite ready to conclude that the pieces to their puzzle do not fit.<\/p>\n Offensively, there remain many questions about how the team fits together. Defensively, there remains a lot of belief that the team can return to its dominant ways from the last few years.<\/p>\n All of those questions tend to center on Jalen Suggs and his role<\/a>. How do they make the most of their sparkplug guard? How do they maximize his clear impact?<\/p>\n Suggs’ offensive role remains a bit of a mystery to parse out. He improved as a passer last year<\/a>, but still feels miscast as the point guard.<\/p>\n Defensively, he is essential<\/a>. And every statistic shows how impactful he can be. <\/p>\n But he can be overzealous, putting his body unnecessarily at risk and taking himself out of his position.<\/p>\n The trick with Suggs, it seems, will be finding the right way to harness everything he does in the most effective way.<\/p>\n For Suggs, what makes him great can also drag him down. And that only adds to the intrigue as the magic enter this critical season.<\/p>\n “There might not be a defender I enjoy watching more in the NBA than Jalen Suggs,” Sam Vecenie said on The Game Theory podcast<\/a> as he ranked him the No. 22 defender in the league. “His disruptive ability is absolutely elite. He is absolutely a guy that is trying to make things happen. He is a havoc defender more so than I would say is a consistently solid defender.”<\/p>\n As Vecenie puts it, Suggs makes all the chaotic and highlight plays that can change the energy for a team. But he lacks the particular details that could make him truly great.<\/p>\n Vecenie shared the observation that Suggs is better playing free safety and roaming off the ball rather than defending the best player on the other team — a responsibility that often falls to Franz Wagner. <\/p>\n But that gets to the central conundrum with Suggs. The Magic are still finding the right way to deploy him.<\/p>\n The loud plays<\/p>\n The one thing everyone can say about Jalen Suggs is that it is impossible to miss him.<\/p>\n He makes loud plays, whether it is blowing up a pick-and-roll with his intensity and pressure, flying out of nowhere for a block or diving on the floor for a loose ball, even if he has no chance to get to it. <\/p>\n Suggs is relentless energy. And the Magic are at their best when he plays free and with this emotion and edge. He is a literal energy boost to this team.<\/p>\n “He is a player who you really notice defensively,” Bryce Simon said on The Game Theory Podcast. “That’s what I mean when I say he sets a tone. I have more and more wondered where the point of attack defense is. There are games where you can really see it. He takes a big-time matchup and does a really good job. The biggest value he provides defensively in a lot of the games I’m most impressed by are when he gets a matchup when he can be an off-the-ball roamer.”<\/p>\n That is certainly evidenced in the numbers.<\/p>\n The Magic had a +5.9 net rating with Suggs on the floor, according to DataBallr. That is with a 110.3 defensive rating, 5.9 points per 100 possessions better than the team’s overall average. The Magic had a -4.2 net rating and 118.6 defensive rating when Suggs is off the floor.<\/p>\n He is very good at contesting shots. But he can get overzealous chasing plays. That is where he runs into trouble.<\/p>\n He goes for home run plays when sometimes all the team needs is a single. When you swing for the fences all the time, you strike out a lot too.<\/p>\n Wild swings<\/p>\n Everyone can see and sense that Jalen Suggs makes a huge impact. It is bottling that up into something productive and something consistent that is the issue.<\/p>\n
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