Orlando Magic playing to a higher standard

The Orlando Magic are playing to a higher standard this year. Scott Skiles set the tone in benching his starters after a lackluster effort. More is expected

At the beginning of practice Sunday, Scott Skiles sat his team down and showed them 60-or-so clips from Saturday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets. The mistakes Skiles laid bare to the media were front and center for the players to see.

The lack of energy was almost certainly apparent. The times they were out of position were too.

It was nothing much to ruminate over. It was just time to get back to work.

“If we had really high level winning habits, we wouldn’t have won 25 games,” Skiles said. “It’s not just the youth. The answer is yes, there are a lot of habits we have to change. The good thing is the guys are willing.”

The Magic did get some good news Sunday. Evan Fournier participated fully in his first practice and barring any setbacks should play in Wednesday’s game in Louisville, Ky., against the Heat.

Saturday’s preseason game though served as a lesson to this young Magic team. Something Skiles said after the game and a few players repeated — OK is not good enough anymore. The team is playing to a higher standard.

So while the performance Saturday might have been “OK” for the first preseason game — and there were certainly some positives to take and plenty to grow from — it is not OK for the goals the team wants to accomplish this season. More than anything that was the lesson from Saturday.

“We come to practice every day or when we go into the games, coach tells us we’re not playing against the worst team in the league no matter who we come out and play against,” Dewayne Dedmon said. “We’re playing against the top team in the league, trying to play against the best and get ready for that. When we practice, we’re trying to practice at that level to get ready for that competition.”

The standard Skiles is judging his team against is a high one.

When he was hired, he said the goal for the team is not simply to make the Playoffs, but to be a winning team. Skiles said Sunday what the Magic played like Saturday may have been fine for the preseason, but the lesson he wanted to teach is that kind of attitude is not going to be OK when the team needs to win a game five on the road.

The Magic have a lot of growing to go. It is not about being perfect every night. Skiles was likely more peeved with the dip in effort after the half. That part likely added to his frustration at the end of the game.

The tape did not lie either. Jason Smith said the team saw repeated mistakes. At some point it takes a conscientious effort to change it. Seeing the tap probably helps ease that change. Certainly having a coach not willing to pull punches in his criticism even after the first preseason game should help too.

The team is playing where they want to be. They have standards, Smith said, of accountability. The team is challenging itself to reach a higher goal. That is the attitude Skiles wants to implement.

The setback Saturday seems to be a reminder the team is reaching higher. A necessary step for a young team trying to achieve a lofty goal.

“If this were a predominately veteran team that were a Playoff-type team,” Skiles said. “Today would have been a day where some things we did last night would have been uncharacteristic, we could have looked at the tape, done some things and gotten out of the gym. We have to stay with the work because we’re not quite at that level yet. The good news is we have willing workers. Nobody came in here today thinking we were going to get massages and go home.”

Next: Scott Skiles sends stern message in Magic preseason opener