Greetings, from Orlando, home of the Magic, which got a much-needed win in Charlotte on Thursday night. Those who were high on Orlando coming into the season (cough, cough) have been befuddled by the identity crisis the Magic seemed to have in the first week. Maybe a win over the Hornets will be what the team needs to get on track. More on that below.
In this issue of the newsletter, we’re going to rip open the mailbag for your questions. There are a of great stories from the first week-plus of the season. Got some good questions this week on the Heat, Magic, Bulls and more to dive into. Plus the Pelicans—.
Pod Alert: Evan Turner is back to help me unpack some of the stories we discuss here. Can Miami win with a frenetic offense? Has Orlando lost its defensive mojo? Is Philadelphia for real? Listen here, here and here.
All right, let’s dig into that mailbag …
Mannix, listened to the last pod with Rachel [Nichols]. No talk about Miami? Why do the Heat not get any love from the national media?
Reasonable question, Roger. Short answer is I really wanted to watch Miami before commenting on its surprising 3–1 start. I saw the numbers—the scoring, the pace, the distribution offensively, the fact that the Heat were leading the NBA in scoring without their best scorer (Tyler Herro) in the lineup. I just needed a better understanding of how they were doing it.
I watched the last two games—Miami’s blowout win over Charlotte and a loss in San Antonio—and talked to a couple of scouts who have been monitoring them. First, full credit to Erik Spoelstra. He has transformed the Heat from a plodding, grind-it-out offense into an up-tempo team Mike D’Antoni would be proud of. For most of the Spo era, Miami has ranked in the bottom five in pace. Through five games this season, the Heat are second.
They don’t run plays. That’s not hyperbole. Like, —they don’t run plays, at least not in any meaningful way. You miss, they are running. You make, they are running. They are reading and reacting on . Consider: The pick-and-roll is a bread-and-butter play in the NBA. The Wizards and Lakers lead the NBA in percentage of plays in the pick-and-roll, around 20%. Miami is at 6.6%—the only team in single digits.
It’s worked. The Heat entered Thursday as the only team in the league with seven double-digit scorers. Norman Powell, who missed the last two games with a groin injury, has picked up where he left off in Los Angeles. Jaime Jaquez Jr. has shaken off a sluggish 2024–25 season. Bam Adebayo is averaging career-best scoring numbers. Simone Fontecchio is shooting nearly 60% from three off the bench. (Side note: Italy was Spo’s scouting assignment during the last USA Basketball cycle, giving Spoelstra a look at Fontecchio, who has been a flawless fit.)
Is it sustainable? . The Spurs game is an example of what could happen when the Heat play a good team. It took San Antonio a quarter or so to adjust to Miami’s frenetic style. The Spurs settled in, throttling the Heat in the third quarter before holding on at the end. Games invariably slow down and when they do Miami is going to need a sharp, efficient half-court offense. Maybe that happens when Herro returns. Stay tuned.
Who is the biggest disappointment?
I’m going to put the Magic on a shelf for the moment—more on them below—and point to the Pelicans. Not because I thought New Orleans was going to be great—though I did openly wonder why the over/under for a team two years removed from a 49-win season with a healthy (or at least skinny) Zion Williamson was pegged in the low 30s—but because I thought Williamson, Herbert Jones and a decent Pels rotation would be in the mix for a playoff berth.
Uh, maybe not. It’s early, but the 0–4 Pelicans have been awful. Entering Thursday’s games, New Orleans ranked last in offensive rating, per NBA.com. Defensively, it sat 27th. In a blowout loss to Denver on Wednesday, the Pelicans were outscored 39–11 in the third quarter. Willie Green’s seat is warmer than a summer Louisiana afternoon. One opposing coach, after playing New Orleans, told me the Pels “are just playing pickup at the park,” adding “it’s like they try to pull you down into a s—– game.”
Who’s to blame? Trey Murphy III forgot how to shoot. Jones, too, while Williamson was bottled up by Aaron Gordon on Wednesday and was not able to will New Orleans to wins in the two games it has been close in. Can’t fire the players—and they should not consider trading Williamson, either—which means Green will likely be held responsible by new executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars should this slide continue.
Dumars, of course, has every reason to need this team to be bad. New Orleans surrendered its 2026 first-round pick (unprotected) to move up 10 spots to draft Derik Queen, a move that was widely panned by rival executives. Queen has been O.K.—8.5 points, 5.5 rebounds—and has shown flashes of having a high ceiling. If he doesn’t, —that could turn out to be an awfully high price to pay.
What is going on in Orlando? Is Paolo Banchero overrated? Is Desmond Bane a bad fit? Should we wait until Jalen Suggs is at full strength?
Orlando looked sharp on Thursday, grinding out a win over the Hornets. Desmond Bane didn’t do much (nine points, seven assists) but the Magic got at least 20 points each from Banchero, Franz Wagner and Anthony Black, plus another 18 from Wendell Carter Jr. That, coupled with some sturdy defense, should earn Orlando a lot of wins this season.
But the Magic have been sturdy defensively this season. They are 21st in defensive efficiency, per NBA.com, a truly wild ranking for a team that finished in the top three in each of the last two seasons. Some of that can be attributed to an increase in pace offensively; after crawling to a bottom-five pace the last two seasons, Orlando ranks in the top 10 in this one. Some of it, frankly, can be attributed to effort.
“I think it’s a combination of everything,” Banchero told reporters this week. “We’ve just got to play with more heart.”
I’m choosing to remain optimistic about the Magic. You don’t just lose a defensive identity, not with largely the same roster. Suggs is still easing his way back into the mix after knee surgery and Bane is still figuring out his role. They will figure out the right pace, one that takes the pressure off what has been an anemic half-court offense that doesn’t gash them at the other end.
Are the Bulls for real?
I what I’ve seen from Chicago. Josh Giddey has been excellent (43% from three to start the season), Matas Buzelis has nearly doubled his scoring average and Nikola Vučević continues to be one of the most reliable offensive big men in the game. Meanwhile the defense, leaky for most of last season, ranks in the top five so far in this one.
But the real story is the bench. The Bulls’ second unit was just last season. They were middle of the pack in scoring (36 points per game) and net rating (-0.3). This season they are third in the NBA in scoring (48 points per game) with a top 10 net rating (+2.1). Ayo Dosunmu has been terrific, Kevin Huerter is giving off some of those early Sacramento Huerter vibes while Patrick Williams’s efficiency numbers have skyrocketed.
Is it sustainable? We’ll see. Billy Donovan has taken a share-the-wealth approach to his rotation. Nine players are logging at least 13 minutes per game and no one is playing more than 33. Still, they have squeezed out solid wins over Detroit and Atlanta while beating Orlando by double digits. And Coby White is still at least a week or so away from making his season debut. In the East, the Bulls might just have enough to compete.
What do you make of Philadelphia?
Who had the Sixers starting the season 4–0 on their bingo card? Better yet, who had Philadelphia undefeated with Joel Embiid playing 21 minutes per game?
What a start. Philly has the most dynamic backcourt in the NBA. Tyrese Maxey has been outstanding (an NBA-best 37.5 points per game) while VJ Edgecombe is more NBA ready than anyone could have anticipated and Quentin Grimes is among the best value contracts in the league. When Jared McCain returns, the Sixers could have the best backcourt rotation in the league.
Granted, it has not been flawless. Philadelphia’s defense has been terrible, particularly in third quarters, forcing the Sixers to have to mount some serious rallies in the fourth quarter to pull out wins. But that defense should improve as Embiid gets his legs under him. He won’t be the 34 mpg workhorse he was during his MVP season, but getting him into the 28-to-30-minute range should help a team that ranks in the bottom half of the league in opponent points in the paint.
Overall, Philly should be ecstatic. Maxey has taken a step forward, Embiid has not had any setbacks and Paul George is expected to return in November. Maybe this is the year the 76ers fulfill a decades worth of expectations.
