Without Nikola Vucevic, the Orlando Magic’s future is still far away

The Orlando Magic got a chance to see its promising future players star without Nikola Vucevic. And got a dose of reality that it is still far off.

Mohamed Bamba was the last name introduced in the starting lineup for the Orlando Magic with Nikola Vucevic out on paternity leave to be with his wife and newborn son.

For the entire year, this is a moment fans have eagerly waited for. Surely the Magic front office has waited for it too, even just a little bit. Even as just a check on where Mohamed Bamba is overall and a small glimpse into the future.

No matter how good Nikola Vucevic might play this year, all signs still point to the sixth overall pick in last year’s draft as the long-term plan for the team.

He is not ready to start yet physically, and, as coach Steve Clifford said before the game, Nikola Vucevic is still the team’s best player. It is hard to argue with that with the way the season has played so far.

But this was a glimpse at the future. A chance for the Magic’s vaunted B-I-G lineup — Mohamed Bamba, Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon — to share the floor in a meaningful way.

Unfortunately for the Magic, it worked just like Rudy Gay‘s interaction with Mohamed Bamba in the first quarter.

On a play early in the game, Bamba lost his shoe and Gay simply threw it out of bounds to keep it out of the way. That is essentially how the San Antonio Spurs treated the Magic and this lineup throughout their 129-90 win on Wednesday.

The trio of Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba combined for 29 points on 10-for-25 shooting and 22 rebounds. Their individual stat lines were not impressive with most of their work coming in garbage time. Or what might as well have amounted to it as the Spurs put this one away quickly.

What makes it clear is the Magic’s future — or what fans have always assumed is the team’s long-term future — is not quite ready to take off. They are not quite ready to take charge. They still need the balancing act of the team’s past and its present.

Given their chance Wednesday, they failed to deliver in a big way. The whole team did.

Gordon, Isaac and Bamba are not solely responsible for the deficit the Magic found themselves in quickly in this game. Evan Fournier had things going early but finished with just 12 points on an icy 5-for-15 shooting. D.J. Augustin was about the only player who shot with any efficiency. And Terrence Ross had one of his periodic bad shooting nights.

The game really came down to poor execution and settling for the mid-range jumpers. Orlando was trying to force its way into the paint and found the team’s drives walled off and cut off.

It was a team defeat.

But with Vucevic out, it was disappointing to see many of the Magic’s key players — for both the present and the future struggle to step up.

"“We’ve got to be every day,” Gordon said. “We win one or two and get happy. We have to stay even keeled and move on to Chicago.”"

Despite the Magic’s strong record so far, the team as a whole still requires a fair bit of patience. LaMarcus Aldridge bullied both Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba on the inside throughout the game. There was little the Magic could do there.

This physical disadvantage for both players is a big reason why the team has not really played this B-I-G lineup very much this year.

Entering Wednesday’s game, Bamba, Isaac and Gordon played nine minutes together. The trio has been extremely unimpressive — a 55.6 offensive rating and 89.5 defensive rating. Wednesday’s game felt much worse. In 11 minutes Wednesday, the Magic had a 114.3 offensive rating and a 136.4 defensive rating with the trio on the floor.

Small sample sizes aside, it does not seem like this group works well together yet. All three of Bamba, Isaac and Gordon are still developing their offensive games and their shooting touch.

The Spurs torched the Magic as all three seemed unable to step up to the plate.

"“I think we always have the right amount of fight, it was just a matter of readiness,” Bamba said. “It was a tough matchup. But I was pretty confident coming into it. I know my teammates have my back. It’s just about having that level of readiness collectively.“I’m learning this is an every night league. I have to bring it every night or stuff and things like this are going to happen.”"

All three of Gordon, Isaac and Bamba still have a lot to learn. And it is this reason why the Magic still need those veteran players to bolster the team. If the Playoffs are the goal, the Magic still need their consistency and hunger.

Orlando Magic

But in the short term, they especially need Gordon, the most developed of the Magic’s future three, to step up in these moments.

Gordon has struggled the most in the last few games. He made just 4 of 10 shots for 12 points against the Spurs. San Antonio did a good job doubling him in the post and forcing him to be a facilitator. He did that with seven assists in the game.

But whenever Gordon would go hunting for his shot, it felt like it was a struggle for him. He was trying to force play rather than letting things come naturally to him.

While Gordon has become much more efficient with his scoring overall this year, his numbers are down. And in his last four games, Gordon is averaging just 9.5 points per game and shooting 30.2 percent from the floor overall.

Things are coming hard for him. And Clifford said he needs to help him more and get him in better spots to score. Clifford said Gordon is most successful when he is able to run the floor, attack the offensive glass and score off cuts.

That was something he could not do much with the Magic asking him to get on the ball more against the Spurs and the team unable to get stops to create transition opportunities.

More than anyone, Clifford said, he missed Vucevic.

"“If anybody misses Vuc, it’s Aaron,” Clifford said. “All the stuff we run for Aaron is predicated on Vuc being out on the perimeter and throwing the ball to him. Vuc is such a good passer that a lot of Aaron’s stuff comes off that.”"

The Magic will get Vucevic back soon. Clifford said before the game, the Magic are hopeful Vucevic will return to practice Thursday and travel with the team to Chicago to take on the Chicago Bulls.

And they certainly need him. But if he needs more time, he will get it.

While Orlando is high on its trio of youngsters, they still need plenty of time to grow into their games. The Magic know that and planned for it to have some veterans to even the team out and give them a fighting chance.

Right now, it is the fight the Magic need most and everyone committing to their role.

"“When you are a team like us that wants to prove a lot of things, you have to come out a certain way,” Evan Fournier said. “You have to be thirsty to be a good team and thirsty to make the Playoffs. Sometimes we act like we have been there before and we haven’t. That’s been the main problem.”"

Orlando is still finding out how to get everyone in the right roles and finding a way to win when everything is not quite perfect.

Without Vucevic, the Magic got a chance to test out its future and found that it was far from ready. And the present still needed plenty of work too.