The Orlando Magic got hit by the injury bug during the preseason. That may have been good as it revealed the added depth on the team.
When the Orlando Magic acquired Shabazz Napier for a protected second round pick in July, there probably was not much expectation that he would even play. Napier’s difficult rookie season saw him slowly get buried on the Heat’s bench until he was simply discarded.
It seemed the Magic were simply taking a chance on a young player to see what he could do within their system. Whether he would play meaningful minutes or not though was probably less likely than not. Not with the point guard spot already chock full of Elfrid Payton playing in his second year and C.J. Watson getting signed to a free agent contract to fill out the backup role. Even Victor Oladipo and Evan Fournier have been rumored to platoon at that spot.
Napier would need an opportunity to play. More than that, he would need to earn his minutes too.
Injuries happen though. The Magic faced a lot of them in the preseason. And while they were unfortunate in respect to developing players together while playing Scott Skiles‘ system, it was somewhat fortunate the Magic could see exactly what they have.
That includes Napier, who took advantage of that opportunity in averaging 11.0 points per game during six preseason appearances, the third most points per game on the team. He shot a 64.3 percent effective field goal percentage. He also had 19 assists against eight turnovers, filling in at various times for Payton and Watson as they went through their own injuries and illnesses.
Napier proved some worth for the Magic. He got his third-year option picked up and it would not be hard to see Skiles finding some room in the rotation for him after his stellar preseason.
If the Magic could find any silver lining in the preseason it was just how much depth they potentially might have in seeing everyone get some meaningful playing time.
“If there is any silver lining, Shabazz got to play maybe more than he would have,” Scott Skiles said. “We have confidence in him if we need to go to him and put him in there. You’d rather have gone through not getting injured, but every team has something going on in exhibition season.”
The Magic should have the full complement ready despite the injuries and false starts throughout the past month. Skiles said Elfrid Payton participated in practice fully for the second straight day Tuesday. Aaron Gordon and Tobias Harris also participated in practice.
Barring any lingering soreness or illnesses, all three should be ready to go for the Magic’s regular season opener against the Wizards on Wednesday.
On top of being ready health-wise, Skiles lauded his team for doing everything the coaching staff had asked of them. Whether that makes them ready for the opener is another question.
That should give Skiles some levers he can pull when the time comes to get the team going in the right direction or to match up. That is not to say it is a perfect bunch. Napier did not play last year for a reason, after all and this is largely a young team growing into themselves in the league.
“I think this team has a lot more confidence not only in themselves but in the team unit,” Tobias Harris said. “We’re a lot more confident team than we used to be. Part of that is the work we’ve put in this training camp, the work everybody else put in individually has helped and just everyone buying into the system and taking full advantage of it.”
That confidence should only have grown with the way the team performed for each other through the preseason. there has to be some belief in their ability and added confidence that they can pick each other up when the team needs it.
None of this has been tested of course. It is just a quiet confidence at the moment, the kind you would expect before the season begins.
Depth though is a luxury. One the Magic have not had for a while either. And for a young team, the ability to have options is a good sign as the Magic try to become a winning team again.
“I think we have a lot of versatile guys, a lot of guys who can do different things,” Victor Oladipo said. “It’s going to be great. I’m excited, I know all these guys are excited. It’s going to be a good, fun, long year.”
The team has to get that test going up against different teams. It would be nicer to have the full complement of players to do so.
The season does have a bit of a fresh slate feel to it too. There is renewed optimism and determination about the Magic. They still have to prove themselves in a lot of ways.
Now perhaps, there are the tools and the confidence through the entire roster to develop and take those steps forward.