Veteran Presence: Business is booming for Orlando Magic, but why?

With the Orlando Magic struggling to open the season, Frank Vogel has jettisoned the youth movement and turned to some NBA veterans to help right Orlando’s leaky ship.

This past offseason, the Orlando Magic made it clear they brought in a lot of the guys they did because they wanted to have veterans help lead Orlando’s youth into maturity.

Guys like D.J. Augustin, Serge Ibaka and Jeff Green were all supposed to help accelerate Orlando’s youth movement. These veterans were going to come in and show the guys the nuances you pick up when you stick around the NBA for a while.

But this plan has gone awry only 11 games into the season. Veterans Damjan Rudez, C.J. Watson and Jeff Green have played a much larger role than many Magic fans could have imagined. Aaron Gordon was taken out of the starting lineup in favor of Green. Mario Hezonja struggled mightily and has since been banished to the pine.

Frank Vogel has even been quoted as saying, “You turn to veterans when you’re struggling.”

Now, it is hard to argue Aaron Gordon or Mario Hezonja really earned the right to keep the role they had been playing.

Hezonja is shooting 17.9 percent from deep and only 30.8 percent overall. Gordon was completely hijacking the little offensive rhythm the Magic had. In that sense, these moves were justifiable.

There is a problem, though.

The guys Vogel chose to replace Hezonja and Gordon have struggled just as badly or possibly even worse than the two young guns.

C.J. Watson has taken over all of Hezonja’s minutes at the shooting guard spot. Through 10 games, Watson has managed to actually shoot worse than Hezonja. Watson is shooting 18.5 percent overall from the floor.

Now the argument Vogel would make in favor of Watson is simple: defense. But his defense has not been all that spectacular. And Hezonja’s defense was significantly improved from last season.

The real reason is Frank Vogel, just like many other NBA coaches, believe there is some kind of mystique behind “veteran presence.” It is something many NBA fans across the globe groan about. Coaches love to talk about how veteran players make a mistake but do not let it snowball.

But this rationale is weak. When a player is shooting 18.5 percent from the field, that player cannot possibly be playing mistake free basketball.

This is not a hit piece on C.J. Watson. He is still an NBA-caliber player and his 18.5 percent shooting is an aberration. He is better than that and his numbers will certainly improve.

The issue is Mario Hezonja, who is shooting 30 percent, was just as likely to improve as Watson. And he needs the experience so he can take a major step in his game.

Watson is a finished NBA product who might be nearing the end of his respectable career. Hezonja was the Magic’s fifth overall pick last season. They made a major investment in him and have now decided wins are more important than his development.

This mindset is a problem, however, as it discounts the fact Hezonja had actually been playing better than his replacement. At least statistically.

The Aaron Gordon project has hit a similar frustrating snag.

After trading for Serge Ibaka this past offseason the Magic made a commitment to playing Aaron Gordon at the small forward position.

Gordon started the first eight games of the season at small forward. But the Magic then demoted him in favor of Jeff Green. As a starter, Gordon struggled mightily on the offensive end barely shooting better than 40 percent.

On the plus side, Gordon was Orlando’s only passable perimeter defensive player. In Green’s first four starts (entering Saturday’s game), Green shot 22 percent from the field and has not done anything warranting him starting on the defensive end.

At least to my eye — Frank Vogel said he has been pleased with Green’s stability on defense and how he sort of stays out of the way offensively sometimes.

Once again the myth of “veteran presence” clouds this decision. Vogel has bought into something statistics are not showing and the eye test does not necessarily agree with.

Veteran presence is a real thing, and it is even a valuable thing to have. The issue with this veteran presence is it seems to overshadow the fact some veteran players just are not outplaying their younger counterparts.

Riddle me this, if a 10-year NBA veteran is playing at the same level as a second-year player, who would you rather play?

The 10-year NBA vet is playing at this level with all the experience in his system, he knows all the tricks of the trade. The second-year player is still playing mostly off of talent and instinct.

The only way the second-year player learns the tricks of the trade and hones his skills to the NBA’s speed is to play through it. The second-year player needs the experience to get better, to get the chance to become a trusted veteran.

So there is the real problem with Orlando turning to all the veterans. Forget development. Forget about contracts. If the team is about winning, and young players are outplaying your veterans, why is the team not letting them run free?

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Vogel may be relying and banking on veteran consistency. But the bar is not particularly high. The risk of a few mistakes seems lower than the potential reward in the long run.