Orlando Magic Lineups: Versatility is a Good Problem

The Moral of the Story

Retaining players up and down the depth chart from the successful 2019 campaign set the tone for what Orlando Magic management values: continuity.

They want players, the front office and the coaching staff to know one another over the course of multiple seasons. They believe it will push the team to greater heights than the 2019 Playoff berth.

Continuity cannot be everything, though.

Al-Farouq Aminu is now a part of the fold. And two other players already on the team, Markelle Fultz and Mohamed Bamba, used the offseason to recover from injury.

Taken all together, the Magic now sport several players throughout the roster with proven abilities to make meaningful contributions to NBA basketball games.

Coach Steve Clifford has a good problem on his hands. Finding and solidifying a rotation is of utmost importance, but it is certainly comforting to know the roster allows for high degrees of flexibility and versatility.

They now have offensive facilitators for both the starters and bench players (D.J. Augustin, Markelle Fultz and Michael Carter-Williams), big men who can play defense and shoot (Nikola Vucevic, Mohamed Bamba, Jonathan Isaac and Al-Farouq Aminu), still-improving offensive players (Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon), shooters and slashers (Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross), and heart-and-hustle guys (Carter-Williams, Khem Birch and Wesley Iwundu).

While the roster still starves for the superstar, do-everything player, Clifford can construct a five-man lineup to fit any game situation.

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If the team needs an emotional boost, Carter-Williams and Birch are there. If the team needs to play small and fast, Clifford would not seem to mind putting in Isaac at center while pairing Augustin and Fultz together.

Jeff Weltman has assembled a roster of players that can guard multiple positions and has the potential to improve on offense.

And, going a step further, the roster’s depth allows for injury insurance as well. The Magic were fortunate in the injury category last season. Should any key player need to miss time, there are proven players waiting in the wings.

Regardless of where Clifford’s lineup machinations take him and the team, the burden of having to calibrate the roster to winning combinations when the cupboard is full of talent is an enviable task for a NBA head coach.

Keeping the key players from last season while adding Aminu and a healthy Bamba and Fultz is a good problem. Having to manage a versatile roster is a good problem.

So, Clifford and Magic fans should relish the continuing resolution of this good problem. The lofty expectations the team places upon itself after a successful 2019 season should be reachable if not a benchmark it can surpass.