Jonathan Isaac was left off the NBA Rising Stars Challenge roster. But it is clear his improvement is coming quickly and he is earning a larger role quickly.
There was little surprise Jonathan Isaac was left off the roster for Team USA at the Rising Stars Challenge.
As an exercise as an All-Star exhibition game, a player who is not much of an offensive force or full of highlight-reel worthy defensive counting stats. When it comes to defense, centers are the only ones who seemingly get glory for their defensive work.
Aside from that, the sophomore wings on Team USA are pretty stellar — Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Kyle Kuzma and John Collins are all worthy. There are only so many spaces on the team.
Jonathan Isaac’s stat line does not read like anything impressive. Last year’s sixth overall pick has averaged only 8.2 points per game while shooting just 40.8 percent from the floor. His counting stats are hardly impressive.
Even Thursday against the Indiana Pacers, Isaac had a career game. He had his second career double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. He was great tracking down rebounds in traffic and made some stellar defensive plays.
Even though he shot just 4 for 12 from the floor and 1 for 6 from beyond the arc, he showed a ton more confidence with his shot and offense. Isaac was driving and finishing aggressively around the basket.
He followed that up with another double-double effort in the Brooklyn Nets. Adding three blocks and three steals to boot.
The statistics are still muddied — his coach Steve Clifford would say Jonathan Isaac is not one to care for statistics — but the flashes of confidence are plenty apparent.
"“I just think with every single game I am getting more and more comfortable out there,” Isaac said. “Just coming into my own. Playing with the guys on the floor and being more comfortable playing with certain guys and having minutes on the floor. I would say it’s just the timetable and the more and more I play, the more relaxed I become.”"
The injuries that kept him out for most of his rookie year essentially rendered it a redshirt year. Isaac is going through all the normal growing pains of a rookie this year. If something of a rookie-plus. Even his Summer League efforts were strong, but still wanting.
Isaac’s development has been slow but steady for the most part. It has required a lot of patience. Patience that Isaac has been willing to give.
As Clifford said, this is not a league for the impatient. If you are looking for instant gratification, you are in the wrong place. Isaac has had to wait his turn in some ways.
But it feels like Isaac has just gotten started. As he has found his rhythm after a mid-season ankle injury, Isaac is starting to assert himself more and more on the defensive end. His confidence is growing on the offensive end too.
"“I think he has been doing it steadily all the way through,” Clifford said. “I have the advantage of watching him every day in practice and the way that he works. He is understanding the importance of having a routine. He is a very serious-minded guy. He is very bright and picks things up quickly. I think he has played better and better. Now he is getting more confident. As he does, he is going to continue to make quick progress.”"
It is slow and still in bits and pieces. Flashes here and there. But the time is coming where the Magic need to trust Isaac and push him outside of his comfort zone. It feels like he is ready and the team needs him to be ready.
And it is this the exact reason why the Magic need to put their trust in Isaac more. He is ready for the added responsibility.
Delivering on Patience
Jonathan Isaac was always a player who would take time. The Orlando Magic understood that when they took him. The criticisms of him coming out of college were about his still-developing jumper and lack of aggression. He would fade into the background and defer to older players.
That is something young players eventually grow out of as they gain confidence. But it did not help with Isaac’s development into the NBA. The Magic’s biggest desire to win also probably shoehorned him into a smaller role. His injuries did not help matters.
But now Isaac has played what amounts to a full season of NBA action — 74 total games and now 39 straight games, 12 more than he played all of last year — and Isaac has looked every bit the rookie at times.
But he has also flashed plenty of his potential. Especially on defense where his length and natural instincts can take over in a way they would not otherwise.
Plays like this against Montrezl Harrell of the LA Clippers shows what Jonathan Isaac can do when he gets down in his stance and defends. His long arms allow him to reach without fouling and he is quick enough to knock the ball away from slower defenders.
This kind of defense marked Isaac’s rookie year. The team was significantly better defensively with Isaac on the floor. But it was admittedly a small sample size.
This year has seen less of an impact. The Magic have a 107.9 defensive rating with Isaac on the floor, the third-worst mark of any player on the team.
Development is rarely a straight line. And the impact he might have had defensively last year was likely a bit overstated. Certainly, with more minutes, he has a larger sample size to build from and there is less room for his flaws to hide.
Still, it is hard to ignore the good when Isaac is on.
He makes one-handed grabs of outlet passes as he deflects and disrupts passing lanes. He blocks Joel Embiid and plenty of other players at the rim. When he gets down and defends, he is extremely disciplined and tough to get by. When he makes a mistake he can recover quickly with his length.
There are plenty of highlight plays like this.
Isaac is becoming adept at reading plays off the ball and sliding over to make blocks. This was the early season highlight for Isaac. But there are plenty more subtle plays exactly like this where Isaac read what was in front of him and adjusted.
That is clearly seen in the way he has played lately. He has recorded back-to-back double-doubles for the first time in his career (just the second and third of those in his career) and totaled three blocks in Saturday’s win against the Brooklyn Nets, setting a clear tone defensively.
Isaac’s biggest weakness is still awareness. He tries to help too much or he jumps on pump fakes too eager to get a block. There is a discipline he has to learn through experience. Here you have to pause and remember this is his first run through the league.
Isaac here makes a smart decision to try to defend the first pass. But takes too sharp of an angle, leaving Jayson Tatum open. While this is an example of Isaac making an OK read, it shows how he is still caught ball watching a bit and can get drawn too deep into the paint and leave open shooters on the perimeter.
Still, his defended field goal percentage is better than the average defended field goal percentage. Opponents are shooting 45.3 percent against him according to NBA.com, -1.1 percentage points better than the average when he is on the floor.
All the defensive numbers are lining up for Isaac. It is clearly where he is best and most comfortable. The question then is when are the Magic going to be ready to push him forward?
Building Defensive Trust
Jonathan Isaac still is not getting the premiere defensive assignments. Among the perimeter players, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier defend more shots than Jonathan Isaac. And both get the main calls on perimeter offensive players — typically Aaron Gordon first for forward than Evan Fournier for guards.
With Aaron Gordon in foul trouble against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, Jonathan Isaac got a look guarding Paul George. George took advantage of the rookie making an array of tough shots to score 31 points in the first half.
A lot of that was not Isaac’s fault. He still has to put on muscle and weight to absorb contact without giving up positioning.
On this play in transition, Isaac has the positioning and is in front of George forcing a difficult shot. But George is able to create separation on his strength alone. There were several instances exactly like this where the veteran George was able to create space from footwork, strength and momentum alone.
Isaac has a lot of plays where he makes the initial stop and then gets taken out of position going for an overeager block. Isaac still looks like a rookie in many ways.
But there is a bit of a process over results.
Coach Steve Clifford said a lot of young players entering the NBA these days simply do not have the understanding of how they need to play. The NBA has had to get more into the development business than ever before with the run of one-and-done players.
Isaac has been a bit different.
Yes, he needs development but he has had a much different focus. He gained both Frank Vogel and Steve Clifford’s trust with his willingness to play defense and sort of stick to his role. He has shown improvements and confidence but his willingness to learn has endeared him to coaches and he makes an impact.
"“It’s going to come as it comes,” Clifford said before Thursday’s game. “He’s not about the numbers. He wants to play well. He wants to know — a good example, we’re in Houston and he comes back on the plane and sits with Pat Delany and wants to watch the game. The NBA isn’t for guys, if you want instant gratification, this is not the league for you. That’s not how this works.”"
There is a level of trust there with Isaac. But it is not fully there. A lot of that has to do with production and experience. But it is becoming clearer the Magic should turn more responsibility to Isaac.
At the very least, Isaac has earned more than a cursory look at playing a more prominent defensive role and taking on a bit more responsibility.
And it all has to do with his play recently.
The Growing Confidence
The biggest thing for Jonathan Isaac throughout his short career is just being patient. He had to be patient through injuries and had to face a lot of doubt in the process (if you have not read Josh Robbins of The Athletic on this). It was not an easy thing to do, especially for a young person.
That is where Isaac has had to pause and remind himself the work will be worth it and to stick with it. To Isaac’s credit, he has put in the work and his growth has started to come. Especially in recent games.
Since January 9, Isaac is averaging 9.3 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game and 1.3 blocks per game. He is shooting 41.7 percent from the floor, but he has not been afraid to let his shots fly and is playing more assertively and aggressively.
The development of his offensive game is ultimately what could drive up his playing time and create more trust in his other skills.
Take this play from Isaac in the win over the Indiana Pacers:
This is an opportunistic play and the very basis of young players with poor outside shots. They are sometimes told to spread the floor and look for moments to cut when the defense is not looking.
Jonathan Isaac here waits for Thaddeus Young to turn his head and watch the ball too much before cutting in front of him to receive the pass. More impressively, though, Isaac gets the ball and makes a tough finish over Young.
This is not a play he would have made last year. Or maybe even earlier in the season.
Take this play from the win over the Houston Rockets.
Again, the defense is laying off him because they do not respect his 3-point shot (he is making 27.3 percent from beyond the arc). But Isaac cuts hard to the spot to receive the handoff and shoots in one, fluid motion without any hesitation.
That kind of off-the-cut 3-pointer was not in his repertoire previously. And that is the kind of confident shot-making the Magic need for him when the opportunity arises.
All this has happened very recently and is beginning to coalesce into some form of consistency. Isaac has had a really nice run of play for nearly a month now. It has only gotten better in the last week.
And the signs of his growing confidence are all there. It just takes a bit more faith from the team to reap it.
Investing in the Long-Term Project
The Orlando Magic knew Jonathan Isaac was a long-term project when they drafted him last year. Losing his rookie season to injury only lengthened that timetable for his development. This is a long process.
Isaac is in the middle of it and slowly getting the comfort and confidence to assert himself more and more. There are clearly a lot of signs of just how good he can be.
It has taken a lot to get there. Personally, Isaac has had to preach patience to himself. He is a selfless player and even his lack of offensive opportunities do not distract him. But the slow growth he has shown is still promising.
"“I don’t like to think about it so much. It goes into me not being so hard on myself,” Isaac said. “A lot of the times I beat myself up and think about not playing so much my first year. And this is somewhat my rookie year. I am taking it day by day and not beating myself up so much.”"
It is starting to come together for Isaac. And Clifford has a difficult decision to manage all throughout the roster on whether to continue working to develop his young players and to keep the team in a position to win.
Isaac is caught in the middle of that as he continues to grow and develop. But the Magic certainly should continue to invest in this long-term project and expand his role as much as they can.
His improved play during the last month — and especially lately — is begging for more responsibility. Even if that comes slowly.
Isaac may not have improved quick enough to make the Rising Stars Game in Charlotte next week. But that is not the end of his story.
Far from it.
Isaac is growing by leaps and bounds and very quickly. Soon he will demand a lot more attention and a larger role. The Magic would do best to find ways to take advantage of all this and put more trust in their young forward.