2015-2016 Depth Chart: Orlando Magic

Point Guard: Elfrid Payton, CJ Watson, Shabazz Napier

The owner of the best/worst hair in the league, along with some dazzling potential, is now the key to the Magic’s offense. Elfrid Payton showed some big time potential towards the end of last season, and should only get better from here on out. Really the only thing getting in his way is a bit of an inconsistent jump shot. Other than that, the future is bright for Elfrid. Night in and night out a triple-double threat, Payton will log a vast majority of the minutes as the offensive catalyst. Signed in the offseason, career backup, CJ Watson likely will not see much change in his career-long role. He won’t be counted on to do much more than come in, hit some threes, play some defense and give the rest of the backcourt a breather. Also new to the team, coming in all the way from Miami, Shabazz Napier. Napier will find it very hard to earn any sort of consistent minutes on the roster. It’ll take an injury to one of the aforementioned players, or some game-by-game tempo changes, foul trouble and so-on-so-forth for the Connecticut product to see more playing time.

 Shooting Guard: Victor Oladipo, Evan Fournier, Devyn Marble, Tyler Harvey

Coming off a big season, Victor Oladipo looks to enter the 2015-2016 campaign with a head full of steam. Already a freak athlete and great defender when he came out of college, Oladipo really improved his all-around game last season. The third year player should be primed for a ton of minutes this season, alongside Payton in a very dangerous backcourt. Evan Fournier is really the only guy on this list who could take any worthwhile minutes from Oladipo. He showed exactly what everyone already knew about him last season: he can really score the basketball. That’s mostly what he’ll be asked to do next season as one of the better offensive threats off the bench. We may not see much of either of the other two on this list. May be more so likely Devyn Marble after he racked up some minutes last season, but don’t expect anything more than a small handful of minutes. Tyler Harvey may not even see the court this season after being selected with the 51st pick this season.

Small Forward: Tobias Harris, Mario Hezonja

After re-signing this offseason, Tobias Harris joins a very talented roster in which he will continue to be a big part of. Harris is  another player who won’t face much challenge for his starting job. He will probably even rack up a large chunk of the minutes at the small forward position this season. It will be interesting to see how he and new head coach Scott Skiles treat each other in their reunion. Skiles coached a much younger Tobias when he was with the Bucks a while back, and never really unleashed the incredible talent that was Tobias Harris. That will be the only real question mark headed into the season for the five-year veteran. Also on this list, the most interesting man in the world, Mario Hezonja. If you ask Mario himself, I’m sure he would say something along the lines that he should start and he should log all the minutes. It won’t go down that way. He is a very exciting player to watch and showed that during the Summer League while making electrifying play after electrifying play. As a rookie behind Tobias Harris, he will probably struggle go find a consistent path to minutes when the team is at full strength. Not that Skiles is too fond of playing rookies anyways, ask Tobias himself. It should be an interesting rookie season for Hezonja.

Power Forward: Aaron Gordon, Channing Frye, Andrew Nicholson, Dewayne Dedmon

While Aaron Gordon is currently healing from a fractured jaw in a pretty bizarre circumstance (injured while “horsing around” with an older brother), I anticipate him starting once opening night rolls around. He was an absolute beast during the Summer League, and is such a freak athlete, I don’t see how Scott Skiles could manage to not start the 19-year old. Assuming he does not hurt himself playing with anymore family members, he is the most talented power forward on the roster and should be treated as such. Channing Frye will continue to fill the Channing Frye-role, as a guy who probably belongs on a bench as a stretch four, but will still manage to find ways to start some games and log some meaningful minutes at some point in the season. Coming off an offseason filled with trade rumors, it’s not even clear if Andrew Nicholson will even be on the roster come the start of the season. Nicholson is currently on the roster and he will be given a fair chance to get minutes just like everyone else. Consistently being one of those guys who mixes duds with some crazy stat lines, Nicholson is hard to figure out. On any given night he could be the best power forward on this list, and could very well be the worst. That about sums up how his minutes will fluctuate this year. Like I said, there’s no guarantee he’s even on the roster at the start of the season. Dewayne Dedmon will continue to be a bruiser and big body off the bench that will log some minutes at some point. Dedmon probably won’t play a meaningful role when the team is at full strength.

Center: Nikola Vucevic, Jason Smith

Coming off a breakout season, Nikola Vucevic is looking to build off that momentum and try to lead the Magic to some glory this season. Arguably the best player on a very talented roster, Vucevic’s minutes won’t be in question. The Southern California product will continue to log a good chunk of the minutes at the center position. The only real question is if he can lead the Magic to success like he has said he intends to, but that’s a conversation for a later date. His only backup comes in the form of newly-acquired Jason Smith. It is hard to tell whether or not Jason Smith has the talent to steal more than 10-15 minutes a game from Vucevic, as he was on a horrendous team last year with the New York Knicks. It was not too hard to look talented on a team that finished with the second worst record last season. Being on a talented roster, Smith will not being expected to do much, as he is relegated to the backup. With that said, he is the only other true center on the roster and will see action on the court this season as Nikola’s primary backup.