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#5 Rising up: Orlando Magic
A lot of teams are performing better than expected in the East, including the Hornets and the Pistons, but one of the biggest movers have been the young and imperfect Orlando Magic, who Scott Skiles has motivated to perform at a high level every night.
Orlando has moved to top 7 in the NBA’s defensive rating charts, and it’s a defense that is keeping them competitive in games despite being one of the worse shooting teams in the league. Since trading away Dwight Howard, the Magic have finished 15th, 13th, and 13th in the Eastern Conference.
This year, the maturing core of Evan Fournier, Tobias Harris, Elfrid Payton, Victor Oladipo, Nikola Vucevic, CJ Watson, and Andrew Nicholson has given Orlando fans a reason for optimism, and perhaps even a first playoff appearance in four years. Fournier in particular, has been a revelation and has thrived as a go-to guy for the Magic.
Guess the Lakers players!
