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Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: Holiday wish list

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Dec 16, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic forward Serge Ibaka (7) celebrates after they made a shot against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half at Amway Center. Orlando Magic defeated the Brooklyn Nets 118-111. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 16, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Orlando Magic forward Serge Ibaka (7) celebrates after they made a shot against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half at Amway Center. Orlando Magic defeated the Brooklyn Nets 118-111. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bismack Biyombo, Orlando Magic, Al Horford, Boston Celtics
Dec 7, 2016; Orlando, FL, USA; Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) drives to the basket as Orlando Magic center Bismack Biyombo (11) attempted to defend during the second half at Amway Center. Boston Celtics defeated the Orlando Magic 117-87. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

Who from the Orlando Magic will be getting coal in their stockings?

Iwanowski: I do not think any specific player can be pinpointed for being at fault for the Magic’s struggles, as they are all working hard and leaving it all out on the court. No one has been particularly disappointing — the team and players are performing about how most analysts predicted, save for Mario Hezonja who has not developed the way the team has hoped. To answer this, I take a step back and look at the direction of the franchise. The Magic do not have the assets they had two years ago and could be looking at a Sacramento Kings/ Minnesota Timberwolves style streak as a 10-12 seed for a while. For spotlighting who messed up and deserves the coal, I would look at whoever decided to speed up the rebuild faster than they should have. It sounds from the media like Rich DeVos and/or Alex Martins gave the front office the orders, so they would have to be the most reasonable choice here.

Jumani: As much as I hate to say this, I have to go with Bismack Biyombo. He has not lived up to the defensive expectations the Magic expected out of him when they signed him to a four-year, $72-million contract. For a player who is one-dimensional, and contributes only on the defensive end, this has been a disappointing year for Bismack Biyombo. Orlando is giving up a lot of points in the paint, 45.6 points per game allowed in the paint, which has them sitting at sixth-most in the NBA. This partly may be due to Serge Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic as well. But they both contribute to the team on the offensive end too. Out of the three rotational big men Orlando has, Biyombo has the worst defensive rating at 106.3, behind Serge Ibaka’s 105.6 and Nikola Vucevic’s impressive 101.4. Magic fans along with the front office expected a lot better from Biyombo, to say the least.

Grullon: Mario Hezonja will be getting coal in his stocking this year for sure! There were such high expectations for Hezonja this season and to see what has transpired so far this season… it is a tremendous disappointment. The Magic expected Hezonja to take a step forward in his progress as a player this season and to be a key contributor off the bench, but as of today, it has not happened. Hezonja has all of the skills needed to succeed in this league, but he has not been able to put them on display consistently especially on the defensive end of the floor. It is too early to put any labels on Hezonja as a player, but it is sure looking like the Magic may have made a very poor decision by deciding to draft him fifth overall in the 2015 NBA draft.

Rossman-Reich: It may not be coal, but Rob Hennigan has got to be feeling the heat a little bit right now. His team is still in the Playoff hunt, but on the outside looking in. Worse than that, the team is underperforming and struggling to meet its talent expectations. That defense has not taken hold and the team oscillates from interesting to terrible pretty quickly. Two 30-point losses at home are not a good look either. The pressure is on Hennigan the next two months to find some fix for this team while not completely sacrificing this team’s future to sell out for an 8-seed. Then again that might be what he has to do. That does not sound like a Merry Christmas.