The Orlando Magic hit the road for their first preseason games. These games are more extended practices and a check up on the foundation the team has built.
The Orlando Magic will arrive in a foreign arena for the first time this season. They boarded their chartered flight Sunday afternoon for the first time and took their first business trip of the season.
Nothing makes the NBA season feel more real than the first road trip of the season.
The Orlando Magic will take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night at FedExForum and then will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena in the first two of seven preseason games.
These two games represent a sort of check up on the team to see their progress and what might need some reinforcements before the regular season begins. It is a chance to build some more chemistry and get game experience.
“There’s going to be a lot of mistakes tonight,” Evan Fournier said. “The thing right now is run the floor, play very hard and be very sharp defensively. Those are probably the two things we are working on the most right now.”
But virtually no team is truly ready for that first game. Everyone needs more practice time. The Magic have had just seven practices. And it has been full of its ups and downs.
The downs start with injuries. Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon are not likely to play. Elfrid Payton is still out nursing a sprained hip flexor suffered in the first practice last week. Aaron Gordon has begun doing non-contact drills in practice, but has not participated in contact drills yet after spraining his ankle late in the offseason.
Serge Ibaka is out, according to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, as Ibaka has missed the last three practices with knee soreness. The Magic are holding him out until it subsides and he is day to day.
The ups though are the Magic do seem to be buying in and taking to the philosophies coach Frank Vogel is preaching. He said he has liked the physicality he has seen in practice — although that too goes up and down for his team. And the team has been more than willing to run it seems.
The hope with these early preseason games is to see the Magic build on their foundation and play with the effort required when the season starts.
“The early preseason games are really to evaluate some of your early camp guys and build those habits,” Vogel said. “They are extended practices against an opponent not wearing your colors. It’s definitely about habits.”
The focus will be on the Magic individually and less on the Grizzlies. Vogel said he will not tax players too much in the first game. Every player on the roster will get some playing time, Vogel said. The Magic’s main players may not see much more than 20 minutes in the first game.
And nobody is expecting the Magic to be particularly sharp — or the Grizzlies for that matter. There are going to be a lot of hiccups and sloppy, tired play. This is the first game after all.
Evan Fournier said he wishes the Magic could have a few more practices before diving into games. The good news for him and the Magic is they play these two games this week and then have another full week of practice before their next game. And the Magic have just one road game after this week’s mini-road trip.
But Fournier said games are still the best way to build chemistry and get into game shape. Practicing and workouts only take a team so far.
The Magic will get a chance to test themselves and all they have learned so far in training camp in these first games and on this road trip before getting back to work again at home.
“Our identity taking shape is going to take some time,” Vogel said. “We’re all new to each other. I’m new to this organization. We’ve got a lot of new faces coming in here and a lot of young guys. It’s going to take some time.”
The Magic will take some time to come together. And the first set of games will reveal where the team needs to make some adjustments and how firm the foundation from the first week is. The first few games are about building the right habits.
If there is anything to watch it is that.
Vogel said he wants to see his team play harder than their opponents, meaning they need to run the floor and be in attack mode offensively while playing within their defensive principles and rules. Effort will probably matter more than the score in the first few games.
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The Magic will have to tighten the screws on things almost certainly leaving these two games. The Magic are still building their base. And that will be what the first road trip of the season will reveal as the Magic head home to continue growing.