Consistency elusive for Orlando Magic

Inconsistency a product of Magic’s many problems

Orlando’s problems are many, but they all go back to the theme of finding consistency and giving forth the same level of effort and focus game-to-game and play-to-play. It is an issue coaches and veterans see, as Channing Frye told Mary Stevens of Basketball Insiders in December:

"“I don’t think we really nailed down what we are going to do every night and who is going to be producing for us like that at a level that we can win. I think that we have guys that can produce, but I think we only average about 92 points so it’s tough to win games like that.”"

Indeed it is tough to win games like that. It is also tough to win games when you do not quite know what you will get from your players on a consistent basis. That goes from game-to-game and quarter-to-quarter and play-to-play.

This was back in December. And the answer was not reached in April before the season ended. It remained hard to figure what this team will do at any point. And when that is the case, it typically means they will do something bad.

“That’s what basketball is really all about,” Evan Fournier said at exit interviews at the end of the season. “You’ve got to be consistent. You play against good teams and the best players in the world every night. So you cannot be very focused and locked in one game and relaxed the other game. You have to stay focused and stay engaged for 82 games. That’s what good teams do and that’s what we don’t do yet. But we’re going to be a very good team soon and that’s basically where we need to go.”

It was the same refrain then, just as it is now.

Next: Growing pains are part of the process