Orlando Magic eyeing the beginning of regular season

The Orlando Magic are literally counting the days to next Wednesday’s opener. As they prepare for the final preseason games, there is still work left.

The countdown is on.

Orlando Magic coaches have not let the players forget that next Wednesday the games start counting for real as they make their last preseason preparations for the beginning of the season.

Wednesday’s game against New Orleans and Friday’s game against Memphis serve as something of a final dress rehearsal before the curtain goes up for real on the season.

But it is not quite a dress rehearsal. While Magic coach Scott Skiles will increase his rotation’s players minutes, there is no guarantee either the Pelicans or the Grizzlies will do the same. And the Magic were without Elfrid Payton and Shabazz Napier for Wednesday’s game. The team has not had a full, healthy deck so far this season.

These last two preseason games are part of the Magic’s continuing effort to get the offense and defense down before the games start to count.

“The coaches have definitely preached that to us,” Jason Smith said before Wednesday’s game. “They are trying to set that in our brains to get going. And really these last couple games to fine tune a few things is really important for us.

“It also gives us a sense of urgency because Elfrid is out. You never know who is going to be out there on the floor. Develop chemistry with the guys who are out there. Go out there, play hard, run our sets efficiently. If we have good, high execution, we’ll be OK.”

Time is running out to get things down pat and pay attention to the little details of the offense and defense — the kind of things that separate winning teams from losing teams at the end of the day. But there are still limitations.

The Magic’s injury issues throughout training camp have limited the different lineups and continuity Skiles could employ. Aaron Gordon‘s limitations because of his return from jaw surgery — he will still play limited minutes Wednesday night, but should still see some action early on with the starting group — has also limited what the Magic could see from their promising young player.

The Magic have not been able to see everything they have so far this year. They are still trying to get as much information as they can from their players in these game settings for whatever value they can have.

While it is true the Magic can look at certain combinations they might use during the regular season in live action during these preseason games, it can also be deceptive. Skiles pointed to the win over Houston where Orlando came back and won against Houston’s second unit and bench players. That may have been a positive result, but it was not indicative of much in terms of the Magic’s development and readiness for the season.

“It can be very deceptive in preseason just because all the teams are playing different combinations,” Skiles said before Wednesday’s game with the Pelicans. Maybe a guy who is going to play 10 minutes per game two games in a row plays 20 minutes. It’s still hard to get a gauge before the games start. Even the last couple exhibition games, teams have different philosophies. Some teams try to play their guys real and turn their minutes up a little bit and other teams that are established are in rest mode and don’t want to overdo anything.”

This is still preseason, after all. The Magic are not likely to see their opponents’ best players.

Skiles said he would try to turn up the minutes for his team in preparation for the regular season’s start. But a lot of that may still be conditioned on what the other team does. If they do not follow suit, he may not learn anything too valuable in continuing to play his key players.

And then, of course, there is the concern of tipping his hand too much and revealing too much of what Orlando intends to do on both sides of the court this year.

The finish line of the preseason is within sight. The deadline to get ready is coming up and the Magic have goals to reach before the practice ends.

“We’re working on ourselves,” Devyn Marble said before Wednesday’s game. “We’re working on our schemes and our principles defensively and trying to play with some pace offensively and share the ball and move the ball. From my point of view, that’s what you’ll see.”

Next: Orlando Magic to pick up Shabazz Napier's third-year option