Orlando Magic’s margin for error is small

The Orlando Magic have Playoff dreams this season. They have a pathway to success and the players to do it. But their margin for error is small. Very small.

The preseason has seen the Orlando Magic sit players for rest and for injury. The team has only been at full strength once in six preseason games. For a team that has seven new players and a new coach, that is pretty significant.

Still, there will be times during the season where key players are out. Not everyone makes it through the 82-game schedule unscathed. Most players do not.

There are going to be nights where Nikola Vucevic cannot play. Or Aaron Gordon. Or Serge Ibaka. Or Bismack Biyombo That is the reality of the NBA.

The Magic have shown plenty of flashes throughout this preseason. Plenty of moments where they look like a Playoff team or a potential Playoff team.

Even in Tuesday’s disheartening 107-77 loss to the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena, the Magic had their moments.

The starting lineup came out guns blazing, rotating well and defending strong. Serge Ibaka recorded blocks. Nikola Vucevic was an impediment. The Magic were good defensively. The offense responded too. The Magic were able to get points on the inside with their post players.

They were not dominating the Heat, but they had a nice early lead and left the game ahead as Frank Vogel began his rotation.

It was this way Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks too. The starters got off to a good start, doing their job. And then the bottom fell out. Without Bismack Biyombo to anchor the team defensively, the Heat were able to get into the paint with easy and impunity. It freed up the 3-point shooting on the perimeter and the Magic’s offense cratered even further.

It may still be just preseason, but the same patterns continue to emerge. At some point, the Magic lose their energy and the wheels fall off. And it can happen for any number of reasons. But the last two nights revealed a truth about this team.

The margin for error for the Magic is incredibly small. A momentary lapse on the defensive end or momentary discouragement from a missed shot can send the team spiraling. Missing the wrong player and stretching the Magic’s depth thin can knock off the rotations and create lineups that do not have the same intensity or ability the Magic need.

The Magic were without one of their two centers in the last two games. Each time, Arinze Onuaku and Stephen Zimmerman struggled in their second-quarter stints to maintain the Magic’s momentum and keep the Magic’s defensive momentum going.

It is a precarious situation for a team that already knows it has to play next Wednesday’s season opener against the Heat without Biyombo (suspended for flagrant foul accumulation in the Playoffs) and knows there will be games missed down the road. Perhaps the team is not ready for that challenge quite yet. Maybe no team ever is.

This was a season that already had a lot riding on it and a fair amount of risk at play. The Magic need young players to step up into new roles. They need a complete buy in defensively with their projected offensive frustrations — already apparent in the preseason.

That leaves little to upset the apple cart.

That balance was upset in Tuesday’s game. It was upset in Sunday’s game with the Magic having to slide a third-string center into backup minutes. It was upset with the struggles Mario Hezonja has had through the preseason and having to bring Jeff Green into the starting lineup or out of the lineup at all. Aaron Gordon too, for all he is and can be, still is valuable to making all the players fit together and in their role.

The Magic do have more depth. They should have more players they can rely on in tight spots. But that is a one-through-nine depth. The Magic are not going to rely solely on a 10-man rotation, platooning a bench unit with a starting unit.

The reality is the Magic need Ibaka or Biyombo on the court at all times to protect the rim and anchor their defense. They need all the players in the exact right spots and in the exact right roles to work.

So far, at least, one piece out of place makes the whole thing tumble down.

It is just preseason. Vogel has not had a real, firm look at his roster for more than a game. The Magic are still learning things and still getting to know each other. The team has not set a final rotation. The preseason provides only clues, but few answers to this team.

This season in pursuit of the Playoffs is possible. The team has shown plenty of potential throughout these last two and a half weeks of preseason games. This team has looked like a Playoff team in brilliant stretches.

But there is still a lot of work to do.

For the Magic to get where they want to go, everything has to fall exactly into place. There has to be complete buy in. Players have to fill their exact roles. Someone is going to have to step up — more than they currently are, at least.

The preseason does not clear many things up. It is the preseason.

Orlando has versatility to run Vogel’s defensive schemes. The team has offensive options and shootings — off the bench, at least — to have a functioning offense.

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One thing does seem clear though. The Magic have a small margin for error this season. There cannot be any lapses. There cannot be any missteps on this road to the Playoffs.