Orlando Magic get their welcome in Summer League debut

The Orlando Magic are a relatively young Summer League team and showed some flashes and also got a rude welcome in a blowout loss in Saturday’s opener.

Stephen Zimmerman had his moments of discomfort early on. There were plays when he was a step late and was watching a player zoom by him and into the space he was supposed to be. Even in Summer League, the game is much faster.

Then there were the moments when he looked like he belonged. That initial discomfort went away and instinct took over.

Zimmerman lined a player up in the post, bumped off him and scored over the top of the defense. He came flying from the weak side and blocked a shot emphatically.

There were plenty of those moments for Zimmerman. Plenty of moments where he looked like a player with potential. All pretty impressive for a player in his first year playing his first professional game.

“A big thing is always finishing by the rim early,” Zimmerman said. “I think that was a good way to warm everything up and to get everybody more relaxed. Throughout the game, I didn’t keep that up. I’m not going to force shots or anything. It’s just how the game rolled.”

Maybe that was part of the message. Just take everything in and get used to the speed.

Zimmerman himself is kind of a slender player, definitely in need of some maturing physically and putting on weight. The 19-year-old center was taking it all in. Just as the rest of the roster was in a 93-66 shellacking to Joe Young (22 points on 8-for-12 shooting and 5-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc) and the Indiana Pacers in the Orlando Magic Blue’s Summer League opener.

Zimmerman was one of the few bright spots statistically in the game, scoring seven points and grabbing four rebounds. So too was Devyn Marble, who scored 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting. The Magic offense shot just 33.7 percent and 4 for 21 from beyond the arc.

The Pacers shot 13 for 22 from beyond the arc as the Magic had some struggles locking in completely defensively and finding their footing throughout the game.

“It’s more of a group message,” Magic assistant coach Chad Forcier said. “Let’s go out and try to play the game the right way. Play together and try to make each other look good. Despite the score, I think our guys attempted to do that for each other.”

Forcier was certainly keeping some things loose with the team. He joked the game went according to plan before saying he would burn his pregame speech. The Magic’s staff has been together for less than a week, having been officially announced Thursday and starting Summer League practices Wednesday. Things are still a bit of whirlwind.

The Magic began showing the basics of what they want to do, focusing on getting the ball in transition more, and playing a more motion-based offense. Marble was cutting well on backdoor screens and finding himself some space to score.

The Magic were far from a finished product.

That was clear as Forcier introduced himself to the team. Many players raised their hand when Forcier asked them if this was their first professional game. It was a new experience for them whether they wanted it to be or not.

“A lot of them guys, this was their first time playing pro-type style basketball game,” veteran Summer Leaguer Devyn Marble said. “Experience-wise, they definitely had that on us. We just have to make strides and development in the next coming days. Hopefully we can put something together.”

The team features several rookies and have some growing pains to go. The team will have to play better to put on a better showing when they return to action Monday.

Overall it was not a great result for the Magic, even if the effort — albeit imprecise and inconsistent for large chunks of the game — was not completely there. The Magic likely saw some things form the players they wanted to see but not all. Marble scored well, Nick Johnson had eight assists and five steals and Tyler Harvey seemed more comfortable off the ball — he had seven points on 2-for-9 shooting.

The Magic will certainly hope for better results next game out from some of these featured players.

White team scores win in opener

The Orlando Magic’s White team, the team full of D-League prospects and potential free agent signings scored a 79-74 win over the Charlotte Hornets in their Summer League opener on Saturday at the Amway Center.

Orlando slowly took the lead with some strong defense and good team play in the typically sloppy play seen in Summer League games.

Arinze ONuaku scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead hte Magic. Kevin Murphy was impressive with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting. Patricio Garino added 10 points for the Magic.

What turned the game though was the defensive effort. The Hornets shot only 37.7 percent from the floor. Orlando was fairly disciplined defensively and worked well together to survive the typical droughts and inconsistencies that mark Summer League games.

The Hornets won the fourth quarter and made the game a little closer than the rest of the game would suggest. Orlando controlled this one throughout, holding a double-digit lead for most of the second half.

No one though truly stood out.

Garino stood out in the first half with his length and defense. Onuaku was big and was able to bull his way around the basket. Kevin Murphy had flashes too.

Next: Evan Fournier to re-sign with Orlando Magic

There was certainly some talent for the Magic to mine for their D-League team and observe for the rest of the week.