Paolo Banchero looked at one of the walls inside the AdventHealth Training Center after the Orlando Magic finished their first practice of this season and couldn't help but feel a real sense of satisfaction.
A new addition was there: The banner commemorating last season's Southeast Division championship.
“It’s awesome," Banchero said. "Getting to put a banner up and have something that you can point up to as a symbol of the work you put in that year, that season ... just looking at it, I think it’ll be the start of something even greater. Hopefully we can put a couple more banners up.”
The Magic won the division by a game over Miami last season; Orlando won 47, Miami won 46. That continued a wild trend of the Southeast not seeing a 50-win team — there's been only one club in the last nine seasons to win that many out of that division, that being the 53-29 Heat in 2021-22.
For comparison's sake, the Northwest Division had three 50-win clubs last season alone.
“You have to take what you want out of this league," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "And you can’t be afraid of the competition. Can’t be afraid of proving it in between those four lines. And that's the type of competitors we have in our locker room.”
It looks like Orlando and Miami should be the two top teams in the division again, which isn't much of a stretch since the Southeast wasn't exactly loaded a year ago.
The five teams combined for a .402 winning percentage, the worst by any division since the Atlantic finished at .395 in the 2014-15 season. Atlanta won 36 games, while Charlotte (21 wins) and Washington (15 wins) were two of the four worst teams in the league.
The division had just the Heat and Magic make the playoffs. The Heat lost to Boston 4-1 in Round 1, the Magic lost a Game 7 at Cleveland in Round 1.
“These guys have talked about what they learned from that seven-game series," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Well, now there’s a hyper-focus to do what you can do individually to get better. That’s part of the process. And then it's what you can do collectively to get better.”
A look at the Southeast, in predicted order of finish:
No team in the Eastern Conference has climbed higher in the last two seasons than the Magic, who went from a 22-win team in the season before drafting Banchero No. 1 overall in 2022 to a 47-win club that won the division last season under Mosley. The 25-win improvement is second-best in the NBA over that span, behind only Oklahoma City’s plus-33. It’s a young core, Banchero and Franz Wagner leading the way. Adding two-time champion Kentavious Caldwell-Pope helps the 3-point shooting. The Magic open with seven of their first nine on the road, an early test.
Jimmy Butler’s future remains unclear; he could leave as a free agent after this season, which could make him a trade target if Miami stumbles at any point. He and guard Terry Rozier were hurt and couldn’t play in last season’s first-round ouster against Boston. The core is largely back intact from the 46-win team of a season ago, led by All-Star big man and now two-time Olympic gold medalist Bam Adebayo. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was an assistant on that Olympic team. A key for Miami: how forwards Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic develop.
Trae Young almost always leads the team in scoring and assists. He'll now have to lead in other ways. The Hawks beat the odds to land the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, and the selection of 6-foot-9 Zaccharie Risacher could pay off. The 19-year-old from France has impressed the Hawks with his feel for the game, athleticism and a shooting touch. He could join Jalen Johnson, who emerged as a strong scorer and rebounder last season, as Young’s most productive sidekicks following the offseason trade of Dejounte Murray to New Orleans.
New coach Charles Lee won his second ring as an assistant last season by helping Boston to the title. He will be stressing defense as Charlotte looks to snap a league-worst eight-year playoff drought. Point guard LaMelo Ball, the only player in franchise history to receive a max contract (five years, $204 million), has missed 106 games over the past two seasons due to injuries. Brandon Miller won three Eastern Conference rookie of the month awards last season. He and Ball will be focal points of the offense, along with forward Miles Bridges and center Mark Williams.
There's nowhere to go but up for the rebuilding Wizards, who were a franchise-worst 15-67 last season. They'll expect more production from guard Jordan Poole, who struggled early on in his first season with Washington (15.6 ppg before the All-Star break, 20.9 ppg afterward). Kyle Kuzma is coming off a career-best 22.2 ppg season. The arrival of veteran center Jonas Valanciunas will help rebounding; the Wizards were outrebounded by nearly eight per game last season, the NBA's worst differential in a decade. Brian Keefe is the full-time coach; he finished last season as the interim.
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AP Sports Writers Charles Odum in Atlanta and Steve Reed in Charlotte, along with Associated Press Writer Ian Quillen in Washington, D.C. contributed to this story.
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