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Orlando Magic Daily Roundtable: The preseason matters, except when it doesn’t

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Jonathan Isaac has built confidence as a strong defender. Now confidence has to come from his newfound strength and on offense. (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
Jonathan Isaac has built confidence as a strong defender. Now confidence has to come from his newfound strength and on offense. (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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ORLANDO, FL – OCTOBER 12: The Orlando Magic huddles up against the San Antonio Spurs during a pre-season game on October 12, 2018 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Gary Bassing/NBAE via Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL – OCTOBER 12: The Orlando Magic huddles up against the San Antonio Spurs during a pre-season game on October 12, 2018 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Gary Bassing/NBAE via Getty Images) /

The Orlando Magic have started their 2019 season and fans and the team itself are still learning who they will be. What have we learned so far?

The Orlando Magic have begun their 2019 season with a fairly loud statement. And then a pretty quiet whisper.

The team promised to be renewed defensively and showed that with some gritty plays to take a double-digit lead on the Miami Heat in the fourth quarter. In some instances, they seemed to “out-Heat” the Heat with that style of play. Mohamed Bamba, Terrence Ross, Jonathon Simmons and Aaron Gordon helped set the tone.

It looked like the Orlando Magic was building the kind of defensive team coach Steve Clifford always had with the Charlotte Hornets. That would be something sustainable.

Of course, it did not last very long. This is still a young team with limited (if any) winning experience. And the end of the game turned into a familiar comedy of errors as the Magic let an eight-point lead slip away in the final 2.5 minutes and they went without a field goal the final three-plus minutes.

That seemed to carry over to Friday’s second game against the Hornets. The Magic struggled to create any penetration offensively and their shooting percentage hovered near 30 percent for much of the game.

Eventually, the Hornets just blew out the Magic as their strong defense finally collapsed under the frustration of the team’s lack of offensive ability.

Both sides of this Magic team have already been on display during the regular season just as they were during the preseason. Everyone knew before the season Orlando was going to struggle some on offense.

Pundits could point to the Magic’s lack of strong point guard play and the lack of reliable shooters with ease. Orlando will, in other words, have games and moments where the offense just gets bogged down. The margin of error is very small.

The team still has a lot of work to do to get where they want to be. But all that work was expected in a promising but ultimately rebuilding year for the team.

The early part of the season is difficult. That begins tonight with a trip to Philadelphia to take on the Philadelphia 76ers and then Monday against the Boston Celtics — and the Portland Trail Blazers and Milwaukee Bucks right after that. Orlando cannot afford any more efforts like Friday. And the Magic at least want to stay above water through this difficult stretch.

There are still some big questions to answer and the preseason only gave a few hints of who this team could be.

We turned to the Orlando Magic Daily staff to answer some of the early questions around the league.