Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: Rounding for home
What do you want to see the last four games? What should be the team’s goals?
Philip Rossman-Reich (@philiprr_omd): I am that guy who still finds value in wins. So I want to see the team continue to try and push for wins. The obvious thing is to see Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon playing together. But the big thing I want to see is Aaron Gordon continue to refine his game. His near triple-double performance against the Phoenix Suns was incredibly encouraging. It showed a level of playmaking that he has within him. Hopefully, it lays some seeds for next year. But Gordon has to continue playing within himself. This is his team now — especially without Evan Fournier and Jonathon Simmons in the lineup holding the ball — and Gordon has to find a way to deliver. Doing that in a win? Even better.
Zach Bethel (@Bethelhub): I love high draft picks. But I also know that immense amounts of losing and complacency breeds failure. So what do the Magic value more now? Well, I think wins cannot exactly be the goal. Paramount is improving as a squad. Grabbing repetitions, building on team chemistry, pushing for an identity. If the wins do not fall, that is fine, but the team needs to be playing for the pure sense of growing. You could argue that lessons from just a brief span of games at the end of the season will not transfer into next year, but at the base at least let the youth play. Well, okay so a top three pick would be nice…
Jean Racine (@jeangracine): For the remaining games this season, I want to see the Magic progress, but still lose. I want to see players have good individual games, but the team find a way to lose. A top-three pick is more important for the team going forward. It is encouraging to see Jonathan Isaac playing well at the small forward position. He scored a career-high 15 points against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, and I want to see him continue to build off that game. Isaac’s development should be the most important goal for the remaining games this season.
Ricky Scricca (@scricca1): Experimenting with different lineup configurations and younger players is probably the most productive direction long term because it allows the organization to evaluate what it has while not rolling out lineups blatantly designed to lose (which is a bad look, bad for morale and makes evaluation more difficult) that still probably will not hurt the team’s lottery chances. Minutes for Rodney Purvis and Jamel Artis should either remain steady or increase and the Aaron Gordon/Jonathan Isaac tandem should be tinkered with even more.
Zach Palmer (@FmrTankCommandr): At this point the goal of the team needs to be play Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac together as much as possible. They are the only two guys on the team that you can really make a case for as guys who you could potentially build around in the future. The real key is to find out how they work together offensively. So far, on defense things seem to be going well. But Isaac’s lack of polish on offense is really hurting the other players on the Magic.