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Rob Hennigan: Youth still a problem for growing Orlando Magic

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Oct 30, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Scott Skiles talks with guard Victor Oladipo (5) as the game goes onto overtime against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Amway Center. Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Orlando Magic 139-136 in double overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 30, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Scott Skiles talks with guard Victor Oladipo (5) as the game goes onto overtime against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Amway Center. Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Orlando Magic 139-136 in double overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Rob Hennigan assessed his team with the Orlando Sentinel and noted the team’s youth has been both a strength and a weakness of his growing, improving team.

The Orlando Magic are young by age. The key players on the team are all under 25 years old even though they have been in the league for three or four or five years. There is a youth component to this team that cannot be erased.

Scott Skiles came in, and the players repeated this line, saying youth would not be an excuse. He said it would become a strength for this team — assumedly meaning he was hoping to use the energy and athleticism that comes from having young players to harass teams on defense and push the ball on offense.

So far, that has had mixed results. The Magic are in the bottom 10 in the league in terms of pace and have started to struggle mightily on the defensive end of the floor. It is a problem that will take a lineup change, Victor Oladipo’s scheduled return to the lineup Friday and something a bit more.

There are a lot of issues with the team that will need to be resolved as the team continues to grow and build toward a more consistent winner rather than just a promising collection of talent.

That falls squarely on general manager Rob Hennigan. And he will freely admit one of the issues with this year’s team is that they are very young — almost too young — in certain areas. And so growing pains have continued.

He spoke with Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel about a number of issues with the team at the midpoint of the season:

"We’re extremely young. We believe in our young players and we’re embracing our youth. If anything, we might be too young at times, which obviously produces inconsistent play. So the blame for that lands squarely on my shoulders, and maybe I haven’t stabilized the roster well enough to help support both our players and our coaches as we’re continuing to build. So these are questions I ask myself on a daily and nightly basis.But, again, if you look at it, our playing rotation is extremely young. The six players playing the most minutes for us have an average age of 22.5. So that’s basically a college team, and we’re asking and expecting our guys to learn how to consistently win NBA games collectively while, at the same time, they’re all learning the ropes of the NBA individually. And that’s a lot to ask."

In one way that youth has shown up is with dealing with adversity in games and stretches of the season. This Magic team is winning largely for the first time in each player’s career and there is a different expectation and weight that comes with that.

They have largely never experienced being in a Playoff hunt before or having to play high-pressure games with opponents focused intently on stopping them and their pet plays. That adjustment has been a big part of the season as much as anything.

Magic players seem to be leading by committee as Skiles and players on the team have noted they are addressing and talking about their issues fine. There just is no implementation of those fixes.

A veteran player to calm the team down or give more specific reference might help the team.

This team right now does not face a youth gap as much as an inexperience gap. One the Magic will have to fill this offseason at some point, if not before.

Next: Changing the Orlando Magic's lineup will not fix the team alone

Those are pressing issues for Orlando for sure, ones the team will have to address. At the same time though, the Magic have played well and had a surprising and successful first half of the season overall with still lots of room for growth.