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What the Orlando Magic Need From Jevon Carter
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- What the Orlando Magic Need From Jevon Carter
(Don Strouble/Roundtable Sports)
The Orlando Magic are going to have a tough road ahead of them through the Eastern Conference in the upcoming season after a chaotic summer of movement in the conference.
The Magic will now have to deal with Giannis Antetokounmpo in their division after he was traded to the Miami Heat , and Jaylen Brown and LeBron James are now members of the Philadelphia 76ers . These are just a few of the moves that have occurred that will make this anything but a simple path.
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For the Magic to succeed, they will need big performances not just from star players such as Paolo Banchero , Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane , but the support of role players as well. Recently, I discussed the Magic's free agent signings of N ikola Vucevic , Jevon Carter and Jonathan Isaac on the Full Court Magic Podcast.
I graded each signing, and I have begun writing about what the Magic need from each of them. After starting with Isaac, it is time to move on to Carter.
Can Carter produce as a reserve guard?
In discussing the return of Carter on a one-year deal after he was picked up by Orlando on the buyout market in February, I had this to say:
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"You know, brought a good veteran presence to the locker room, held his team accountable, which I think benefited this group, especially with their backs against the wall in that Play-In Tournament after the loss to the 76ers. And they just had one chance, you know, and they had to beat the Hornets to get into the playoffs.
And they did convincingly and then, you know, had a strong series against the Detroit Pistons up through game four before Franz Wagner got hurt. And, you know, Carter's one of those players, you know, he's still only 30 years old. And so he brings that good veteran leadership without, you know, being at the tail end of his career.
But the problem there is that, you know, he's only six feet tall. He's not much of a facilitator, averages less than one assist. And so when you're a small guard and you can't traditionally play a point guard role and get your teammates involved, your shots have to fall, and that has not been the case for Carter in his initial tenure with the Magic.
You know, I believe he appeared for 23 games with the Chicago Bulls. And in those games, he averaged 41% shooting from 3-point range, and that number fell precipitously to 33.6% when he joined the Magic. Now, obviously, you know, getting used to a new team, things like that. We'll see what he looks like after a full offseason and training camp with this group."
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The Magic are going to need Carter to maintain consistent shot making, especially if they need to rely on him to play consistent minutes at any point in the upcoming season. Given the injury history of the team, there is a very real chance Carter will need to be more than just a good locker room voice.
