Orlando Magic PG Cole Anthony Embracing New Role

The Orlando Magic have a lot of depth on their bench, and Cole Anthony appears ready to lead them, and to be the spark off the bench this season.

In the first two seasons of Cole Anthony's young career, the Orlando Magic believed that he would work best as the starting point guard. While his averages were there, his percentages, unfortunately, were not.

This past season, the Magic took a different approach and brought Anthony off the bench. He started in only five of the 60 games that he appeared in, and it seems that Anthony benefited from this change.

While Anthony's point average dropped from 16.3 to 13.0, this came as a result of his decreased playing time, and not poor play. His shooting percentages raised drastically, as it seemed that Anthony was very comfortable coming off of the bench and leading the second unit.

Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony (50) drives past Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton / Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

With him becoming increasingly more comfortable with his new role, Anthony is looking forward to making more noise with his guys this season. He talked more about the bench of the Magic at practice on Thursday.

"I just think we got a bunch of us who are ready to play and who are high IQ players in that play hard," Anthony said. "So I think we're all just ready to kind of get out there and get to that regular season."

Anthony and the rest of the Magic wrapped up the preseason last night against Brazilian club Flamengo. Now, the team is about to embark on its 82-game schedule, which begins Wednesday at home against the Houston Rockets. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Amway Center and can be seen on Bally Sports Florida.