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Line Change: Why the Orlando Magic need to shake up the starting lineup

By Zach Palmer

Nov 14, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel reacts to a foul call in the second half of the game against the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana Pacers beat the Orlando Magic 88-69. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 14, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel reacts to a foul call in the second half of the game against the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana Pacers beat the Orlando Magic 88-69. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Evan Fournier, Orlando Magic, Domantas Sabonis, Victor Oladipo, Oklahoma City Thunder
Nov 13, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier (10) drives to the basket between Oklahoma City Thunder forward Domantas Sabonis (3) and guard Victor Oladipo (5) during the second quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

The bigger issue

As noted, Jeff Green is struggling big time, but the rest of Orlando’s offense is right there with him. The five-man starting group is only shooting 39 percent from the field and 29 percent from deep. More concerning is the group is averaging 3.7 assists per 48 minutes with 3.9 turnovers per 48.

Posting those numbers against the level of teams they have been playing against is going to get the Magic destroyed against better teams.

There is plenty of blame to go around — scheme, effort, chemistry. The Magic have seen Serge Ibaka look his teammates off, Evan Fournier has struggled to make the simple plays and Nikola Vucevic has struggled to bring anything positive on the offensive end.

This lineup is completely ineffective, and Vogel needs to make a change before the good teams come to town. Once the schedule stiffens, Vogel will eventually make a lineup change again. But it may be too late.

The fixes are not easy. The team just has a bunch of players that do not fit well together. The Magic are trying to tap dance around the egos of players with large contracts.

That is all true, but the Magic can help themselves out and still maintain minutes for most of their large salary players.