Jason Smith is the secret veteran for the Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic are a young team lacking age. Though young himself, Jason Smith is using an old man’s game to help the Magic.

It has been written in these digital pages and many more besides that the Orlando Magic are a very young team.

They have six players 25 years old or younger, and just two over 30 in C.J. Watson and Channing Frye, each of whom are only 31 and 32 respectively. Hardly well-weathered dinosaurs.

A term thrown around the league very often is “veteran leadership.” The concept of more experienced players coming in and sharing their hard-earned secrets with the youth of today, to be a steady hand in choppy waters, and more often than not implement rookie pranks.

The Orlando Magic seem to have found a player who can be this steady hand. Who plays his role in the team and manages to do it with hardly anyone noticing.

Is Jason Smith secretly a veteran?

Smith is 29 years old. This is his seventh season. Surely that immediately excludes him from the veteran club? He has played 425 games. That is less than Steph Curry. Heck, it is less than Michael Beasley.

Despite this hindrance, closer examination of Smith and the way he handles himself may change the decision.

He was the 20th pick of the draft, just a shade outside the lottery, by the Miami Heat in 2007, though he never suited up for them. Smith spent the next three years playing in Philadelphia (including an entire missed season due to a knee injury), before playing the next four with the Hornets, having a quick stop in New York last season, and landing firmly at Amway Center.

Jason Smith, Orlando Magic, Jared Sullinger, Boston Celtics

Nov 29, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Boston Celtics center Jared Sullinger (7) battles Orlando Magic forward Jason Smith (14) during the second half of a basketball game at Amway Center. The Magic won 110-91. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /

So already in his short career, Smith has been around the block.

On that journey around the block, he’s had his struggles. He has never averaged 10 points per game. He has not had great percentages for a big man. He has not even been able to stay on the court for many seasons.

Life experience. Smith has had his fill. And he has sometimes struggled to find a role, a niche that fits him. It is all too common in today’s NBA.

This season, perhaps he has found that niche.

The Orlando Magic are filled with thrilling, exciting and athletic players. They shoot clutch threes and hammer home dunks. They have back-breaking post moves and embarrassing handles.

With all due respect to Smith, he has never had any of these attributes.

So he should not fit in right?

Well no, because the Magic have plenty of that, what they need, is a solid, defensive presence who can knock down jumpers when he needs to.

And that is exactly what Smith does. He gets under the basket and does the dirty work like a Nick Collison or Zach Randolph. He uses his 7-foot, 245-pound frame for what it is designed for: bruising.

At the same time, Smith has perfected a little mid-range jump shot, which many end-of-the-bench forwards will tell you is the secret to a long NBA life. And it complements the Magic perfectly.

Elfrid Payton, Victor Oladipo and even Tobias Harris like to cut into the paint and dish. In the Magic’s recent game against the Celtics, Payton found Smiththree straights times, hanging out in mid range, swishing jump shots, stretching the defense.

Smith is not a numbers guy. He has scored 10 points this season just once, the same for rebounds. But veteran presence is not based on numbers.

Really, it is showing the young guys how to do what is needed for your team. Whether he is the one to put the hard foul on the other team’s scorer, whether it is physical boxing out or even just holding the ball up and resetting the offense.

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These things seem small right now but become magnified as the season goes on. A team like this needs a level-head, and coach Scott Skiles needs someone to be a voice of reason both in the locker room and on the floor.

When it comes to the end of the season, where every game and every possession is magnified a hundred times, fans might just be able to see Jason Smith’s effect: that of doing what needs to be done, of sacrificing and of playing smart, might be rubbing off on the Magic’s young players.

Because one thing is for certain, combining the athleticism and talent of this young Magic group with some smart heads on top of their shoulders will make the Magic a very, very dangerous team.