Only two weeks have flown by since the 2017-18 NBA season started. But much like the offseason, each day seems packed with a week’s worth of action.

The Cleveland Cavaliers look terrible defensively, the Gordon Hayward-less Boston Celtics are surging, the Golden State Warriors aren’t the defensive juggernaut they’ve been for the past three seasons and the Orlando Magic are atop the Eastern Conference standings. Wait…what? Explaining away the Cavs’ and Warriors’ woes is easy; good teams tend to not be locked in until later in the season.

But what is going on with the Magic?

Many mathematical models, including NBA Math’s own Rolling Team Ratings, had Orlando as a well-below-average team going into the season. But it’s continually exceeded expectations with wins over the Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies. The Magic are 6-2 and have fended off high-quality Western Conference opponents on the road in each of their last two contests. Everyone seems to be holding their breath for the impending free-fall back to the dregs of the Eastern Conference, but they stanch that particular banishment on a nightly basis.

And yet, still no believes in them. Which leads to one inexorable question…

How Have They Been So Successful?

Sometimes the easiest answer is the best: The Magic have been fast and efficient on offense.

More complicated reasons have contributed to the team’s success, but like Bill Russell once told Uncle Drew, “This game has always been, and will always be, about buckets.” And the Magic are getting buckets in a hurry.

Orlando ranks second in the league in points per game, third in offensive rating, third in assists, second in field-goal percentage, first in three-point percentage and third in pace. Simply put, this team gets up and down the floor, finds the open man and knocks down shots. The Magic shoot within the first two seconds of the shot clock on 6.3 percent of their possessions and convert on a blistering 65.9 percent of those shots. They also get a staggering 45.6 percent of their offense in the first nine ticks. Only Golden State—esteemed offensive company—generates more offense that early in possessions.

And while the idea of a team shooting 44.1 percent from three for an entire season seems ludicrous, the Magic are finding open shots in a variety of different ways. Watch on this play as the Magic use not one, not two, but three different off-ball screens to find an open triple:

The offense has blossomed this season, largely several key players have made huge leaps over the summer.

Throughout the offseason, conversations indicated that if the Philadelphia 76ers were the poster child for the success of “The Process,” Orlando was the polar opposite. Despite having six picks in the lottery since 2013, it came into the season without a franchise player and no truly “untouchable” prospect. But this year, three players have emerged as at least blue-chip prospects, but more likely as high-quality young NBA players: Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, and Evan Fournier. Their growth is the driving force behind the early-season ascension to the top of the Eastern Conference.

Vucevic has expanded his game in a remarkable way, adding a reliable three-point shot to his already expansive repertoire. He is already an effective pick and pop player, shooting 53.1 percent from mid-range this season. But by pushing his range out beyond the arc, where he is a 40 percent shooter, he has created a gravity defenses must be aware of at all times. Watch how much space he creates in this set by fading out beyond the three-point line so Timofey Mozgov can’t hedge and recover in time to challenge:

Last season, Vucevic attempted one three-pointer per game—a career high at the time. This season, he has increased that number to 4.6 attempts per game, converting on 40.6 percent of those looks. Not coincidentally, he’s also having his highest-scoring season at 20.7 points per game, up more than six points from last year’s 14.6. At 27 years old, the oldest of Orlando’s dynamic trio, he hadn’t inspired belief in the possibility of this kind of statistical leap.

Gordon, meanwhile, was once just a highlight-reel dunker, but those days are gone as the 22-year old continues to expand his game.

He clearly spent the summer working on his shooting and ball-handling, and both elements have paid off for him. He is averaging 21.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists while defending everyone from LeBron James to Anthony Davis. But the real growth is in his shooting form. Watch this clip from his rookie season in 2014:

And compare it to this clip from his 41-point performance against the Brooklyn Nets early in 2017-18:

The shot goes up quicker and smoother.

Refining his shooting form has been the key to unlocking his other strengths as a driver and post-up player, because defenses have to respect his ability to put the ball in the hoop from range and close out on him. In seasons past, Gordon would find himself amid a sea of foe baiting him to drive into the teeth of the defense. Now that they have to come to him, he is finding lanes to the basket all over the place.

While he probably won’t be a 57 percent three-point shooter all season long, Gordon has made tremendous strides in that department and will definitely see a year-long boost in his overall shooting percentage as a result.    

Despite the power forward’s tremendous growth, Fournier might still be the most impressive of the three Orlando breakout players.

The stats are impressive (22.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists), but they don’t really do justice to the jump the French swingman has made. He’s spent some time running the offense, especially after an injury to point guard Elfrid Payton, and is worth 0.97 points per possession as the ball-handler in pick-and-roll situations (putting him into the 76th percentile league-wide). He’s also become an energetic attacker off the ball, using his big frame to convert in the paint and find seams in the defense on D.J. Augustin/Vucevic pick-and-pops and Gordon drives.

But the icing on the cake has been his three-point shooting, where he’s knocking down 55.8 percent of his looks from beyond the arc. Fournier has always been an effective shooter, shooting nearly 39 percent from three for his career, but with his increased workload, it’s more evident than ever.

The Magic have also taken their time developing young, stretchy big man Jonathan Isaac. The rookie is averaging only 18.4 minutes per game but has put up some impressive numbers, both per-game and advanced, in those short stretches. He has a stat line that shows 0.9 steals and 1.0 blocks per contest and has compiled an astounding defensive points saved tally of 10.55 per NBA Math—the top score on the Orlando roster.

The problem for Isaac has been staying out of foul trouble. He has picked up three or more fouls in four of the Magic’s first eight games, with a majority of those whistles coming in the first half. Once he settles down and learns to use his considerable length to challenge shooters without fouling, he will become another contributing piece to this already formidable rotation.

The Xs and Os

The Magic offense is a single-action offense relying on one screen or one set of screens to free someone up and get them the ball quickly. Sometimes out of timeouts or on the first play of the game, head coach Frank Vogel will call a more complex sets, but he is largely dependent on his high-IQ players to know how to read and react off a single action.

This lends itself to getting attempts early in the shot clock and is a stark stylistic departure from what Vogel did during his five-year tenure in Indiana, where the offense never cracked the top 10 in pace. But this change speaks to the way the Magic have constructed the roster and his flexibility as a coach. With players like Gordon and Fournier, who excel in the open court and are quick to take (and finally make) open shots, they’ve seemingly have found a recipe for success.

On a conceptual level, it makes sense for Orlando to employ such a quick tempo.Teams that run at a higher pace and shoot more three-pointers create more variance in their outcomes. This is particularly valuable for squads that don’t play defense well, and that’s something that has plagued the Magic over the past five seasons.

In conjunction with this, Orlando seems to have abandoned the offensive glass (27th in the NBA in offensive rebounding percentage) in favor of getting players back on defense. All these factors together reveal a pattern about the offensive attack: The Magic want to take quick shots in volume and limit transition opportunities, relying on hot shooting and half-court defense to keep them in games. So far this plan has succeeded with flying colors, but in a small sample size.

Which leads to the next, and most important, question…

Is This Sustainable?

The question isn’t whether Gordon can continue to shoot 57.7 percent from three or Fournier can keep up his similarly staggering 55.8 percent pace. The law of averages says regression to the mean is inevitable.

A better inquiry revolves around how much this regression will hurt the Magic when it does happen.

If they regress back to last season’s mean—or their career averages…or whatever past metric you want to use—the magic (forgive the pun) in Orlando will evaporate overnight. Long-range shooting has become such a pivotal piece of the Magic’s success that they need to maintain their lofty conversion rates if they’re going to keep winning.

That said, the Eastern Conference is not great, especially in the sixth-to-eight-seed range.  So if Orlando can just be an average shooting team, a playoff spot is likely waiting for it. According to the Las Vegas SuperBook before the season started, the Magic’s over/under on wins was 33.5, but the latest projections from Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight have them finishing the season at 48-34, good enough for the second seed. Of course, that model is probably taking into account the current level of play without any regression and is reaching a little high for my tastes.

Even after writing this article and digging into all the Magic’s numbers, I remain a little skeptical of their ability to maintain this level of play. The shooting numbers are almost literally off the chart, and as they return to normalcy, the team will likely fall from the top of the standings. But don’t look for them to drop too far, because they are locked in and playing together—something fans of this team haven’t seen in a long time.

If they can string together a strong regular season and cap it off with a trip to the playoffs, this will certainly be the hip new squad to talk about as up-and-comers in 2018-19. But until then, settle in and enjoy this ride for as long as you can.

You never know how long it will last.  

Follow Alex on Twitter @AlexWestNBA.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from NBA Math, Basketball Reference or NBA.com and are accurate heading into games on November 1.