Orlando Magic must mix up their rotation to regain some intensity

The Orlando Magic have officially hit a rut. Coach Frank Vogel finally seems open to changing his rotation. Now appears to be the time to make a change.

It was hard not to be frustrated with the way the Orlando Magic played in a lifeless first half against the Boston Celtics. The team was essentially out of the game early on and the second half felt like extended garbage time. The terrible habits of previous seasons remain — Orlando’s frustration overcomes any intention for effort and only digs them into a deeper hole.

For the first time all season, coach Frank Vogel was ready to make some changes to the rotation. Or signal his willingness to make changes to search for any kind of intensity or demand some accountability from his team.

To start the second half, Frank Vogel started Jonathon Simmons for Evan Fournier. He said after the game he wanted Jonathon Simmons’ defense on Kyrie Irving. It did not help that Evan Fournier was in one of his worst shooting games of the year despite an otherwise intense game from him. The Magic were not playing up to their standards and were going to force some semblance of effort with playing time.

In the third quarter, the Magic had a quick hook. Make a defensive mistake and a player was coming out of the game for a time. Aaron Gordon got a quick hook. Evan Fournier got a quick hook. All for repeated defensive mistakes. Nikola Vucevic was in and out of the lineup.

That inconsistent rotation might be part of the reason the team fell behind by as much as 30 points at the end of the third quarter. But the message was clear: It is time to shape up or see minutes drop. Vogel had given his team enough time to figure it out on their own, he needed to employ the stick to push the effort he knows this team can produce.

Perhaps after losing seven straight games and nine of the past 11, it is time to go a step further.

It is time for the Magic to make some lineup changes and mix up a group that is clearly not working. Whether it is a significant rotation change — perhaps tightening the rotation to nine men rather than 10 as a small move — or a starting lineup change, something is not working for the Magic. And their season is quickly slipping away in a form of complacency.

In several games this year, Orlando has lacked urgency. The team has sort of gone through the motions and seen is offensive energy dissipate. That sucks the team dry elsewhere. And the Magic have to scramble to get back. Often too late, Orlando plays with the attention that it needs.

That was enough to score a win against the Phoenix Suns, snapping to attention in the second half. But against the Portland Trail Blazers, it came far too late. Against the Utah Jazz in a 40-point loss, it never came. The energy disappeared in the second half with a lead against the Indiana Pacers. Orlando has simply lacked consistency.

A starting lineup that worked so brilliantly early in the season is struggling in the last 11 games. The starting group of Elfrid Payton, Evan Fournier, Terrence Ross, Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon has a -10.7 net rating in the last 11 games. And it has nothing to do with their offense. The group puts up a 117.3 defensive rating.

Orlando Magic

That is simply unacceptable. No team can win consistently giving up points that easily. So while Orlando’s offense continues to hum along at a fairly consistent rate, the true change for the team in the last 11 games is how the defense has collapsed.

There are a number of reasons for this. One might be the Magic’s defense had a fair amount of luck in the first eight games. Teams missed open 3-pointers or missed close basket and the team was able to recover. The Magic have always been one of the worst rebounding teams in the league this year.

Another might be the roster’s deficiencies have finally come through. Orlando is not a team full of strong defenders. This is no secret. And so as the team slipped, these deficiencies became more pronounced. Especially as the team’s depth was stretched thin.

Fixing these problems is a difficult proposition. A lineup change likely will not do it alone.

But a lineup change could certainly snap players back to attention.

Last year, when the Magic moved Elfrid Payton and Nikola Vucevic to the bench for a spell both players responded. Vucevic averaged 14.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game off the bench in some angry minutes. It was some of Vucevic’s most inspired play of an otherwise forgettable season. They were also about his season averages anyway.

There is very little evidence of what is working right now for Orlando. The Magic’s best lineups all seem to include Jonathan Isaac. He is still out with an injury. And it would seem playing him in at small forward over Terrence Ross, who has played really good defense this year, or Evan Fournier, perhaps Orlando’s most consistent offensive player, comes with its own problems.

The same questions exist if the Magic try to put Jonathon Simmons in somewhere in the wing. He needs the ball in his hands to succeed and that might kill some of the ball movement this current team needs.

The Magic have not tried many lineups with Bismack Biyombo and Elfrid Payton together. That makes sense considering both player’s poor shooting. But Bismack Biyombo has played more energetic defense of late and would certainly help the team on that front if that is what the team wants to fix.

There are no easy answers on the roster to fixing this starting lineup. There is little evidence of what can work in the first 20-or-so games because things either worked perfectly or did not work at all.

Perhaps Orlando has held onto the belief things will turn back in its favor for a little too long. Vogel was deliberative with his lineup and rotation changes last year. Perhaps to a fault, as things fell apart.

Clearly, things are going wrong for the Magic. This is not merely the team coming back to earth. It has lost a lot of the urgency and attention to detail that marked the first eight games of the season.

Sometimes a change is needed to snap everyone into attention. No matter what the change is.

Orlando seems to have reached that point. Hoping for things to work themselves out is quickly passing. The Magic need to try to force the team out of this complacent rut and find a new lineup that works.

Next: Grades: Boston Celtics 118, Orlando Magic 103

What they are doing clearly is no longer working with the same efficiency.