Orlando Magic still have the tools to make Playoffs despite injuries

The Orlando Magic face a daunting task without Nikola Vucevic in the lineup for likely the next month. But they still have the tools to make the playoffs.

It was easy to sense when the Orlando Magic talked about the upcoming season, they knew their injury luck was not going to last.

The team understood its incredible fortune last year with health — the team’s top six players all played at least 75 games — and that there was some tragedy around the corner. There would be some adversity and the team would have to be ready.

Orlando tried to build some depth — sending some key players from last year’s playoff run in Khem Birch and Wesley Iwundu to the deep bench, knowing full well they would be needed at some point in the season. The team was trying to be prepared for when the inevitable would happen.

Still, no one can ever be ready when that injury strikes. No one can ever truly be prepared for the challenges that come when a key player has to miss games. And now Orlando will be without two key players for at least a short time — and without its best player for much longer.

The Magic understand their way to play rests on a precarious balance. The team’s offense is always on the verge of running into the mud — most of it coming from breaking the lineup for the bench group. And throwing out perhaps the team’s best player in Nikola Vucevic only makes things worse. The team has a team-worst 90.2 offensive rating with Vucevic off the floor.

Orlando will have some reconfiguring to do to stay afloat and give itself a chance to make the playoffs. The team is going to struggle to score and the faster they find a way to get good shots consistently, the better the team will be.

At this point, it seems hard to think about the postseason. Vucevic is a major loss. And if Orlando is without him for the next 10-15 games or more, it is going to find things tough. No game will feel like a sure thing.

The Magic will have to survive these next weeks and find a way to stay in the race.

But the season is far from over. All the team’s goals are still achievable. And the team should not lose focus on the playoffs and its long-term season goals.

Aaron Gordon sat at his locker after the game against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday and quietly proclaimed, the team has enough to withstand these losses. There is enough talent on this team if players step up to the challenge.

Evan Fournier has already done his part. The offense does not work without him either — he shares a lot of minutes with Vucevic, but the team has a 90.9 offensive rating when he is not on the floor — but he will take on more ball-handling and playmaking responsibility.

He has returned to his career shooting averages after a down year last year, averaging 17.1 points per game on a 58.4 percent effective field goal percentage and 3.5 assists per game. But he will not be someone who can create his own shoot off the dribble.

The team will still need superb ball movement. That was something Vucevic provided a ton of from the center position, inverting typical ways teams distribute the ball.

The good news for the Magic is Khem Birch can help get players open. Birch is very solid at setting screens. While he will only pope to the perimeter on select shots, his ability to run to the rim will give the team a new way to attack defenses. Assuming players can hit shots.

The Magic will have their work cut out for them though. They will need several young players to step up and take on a larger scoring and playmaking load.

Markelle Fultz has already attracted a lot of attention and has given the Magic a new attack. Even under his current minutes restriction, Markelle Fultz has provided a positive impact for the team. The ball should go into his hands more as a way to set up Evan Fournier’s spot-up opportunities. He will have to work well especially with his bigs now in pick and rolls to create pain penetration.

Fultz will have to make the most of his minutes. He has already been positive.

Nobody on this team stands to gain more than Jonathan Isaac. He is still using only about 16 percent of possessions and his field goal attempts per game have only gone up by 1.4 attempts per game. The Magic are going to run a whole lot more offense for him and Jonathan Isaac is going to have to be ready to step up.

When Aaron Gordon eventually does return, the Magic will need him to take a more central role in the offense. More than anything that means Gordon has to be more efficient and precise with his attacks. The aimless probing dribbles and isolation moves that do not get him closer to the basket or set up fadeaway jumpers.

Everyone is going to have to be tighter with their decision making and ball movement. But these are all players with upside to fill these roles. The Magic are going to learn a lot about their young players in the next month and just where they are.

That will bode for the future.

But that future will still have to produce results in the present. And the Magic’s present still has hope. If all those players are able to step up or increase their production, they can hold the ship steady.

And that is really all the team needs to do. They just need to stay in the race for their reinforcements — both Gordon in the near future and Vucevic in a few weeks — to return to the lineup.

Entering Friday’s games, Orlando still sits in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. But they are as close to the last-place New York Knicks (2.5 games) than to the sixth-place Indiana Pacers (2.0 games). The Eastern Conference standings figure to stay this packed for a little while. But this is now the time of the year where teams begin to separate themselves.

The Magic will be without their best player at a time when the league begins separating itself. And that makes it more important than ever for the team to stay in contact with the playoff race during this time.

When Orlando was 20-31 last year, the team was just 4.5 games out of the final playoff spot. To make up that ground in that short time, the Magic needed a 22-9 run to make the playoffs by the penultimate game.

The Magic will have more time but still will need to rally and make up the ground they lose. They cannot fall too far behind.

They will have to scratch out wins. Losing eight of nine as the team did the last time Vucevic missed significant time would bury the team.

Orlando just has to tread water at this point. The team has to find a new way to win and find new players to step up.

The Magic can still do this. They can stay afloat. And the playoff hopes are still very much alive.

The team has all of its goals still in front of it. And the players capable to keep the team in the race.