Orlando Magic’s injuries are pushing Jonathan Isaac out of his comfort zone

The injuries to key Orlando Magic players are forcing Jonathan Isaac to emerge offensively. He is going to have to do things that break his current mold.

Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac has a maturity that is really beyond his 22 years. He is someone who understands how much he still has to learn and grow as a player and the first thing he wants to do is support his team.

It is no surprise then after the Orlando Magic’s 103-88 loss to the Detroit Pistons, he was shouldering his share of the blame for the team’s defeat. It was not a game he particularly liked from himself.

With the team’s full complement, that would have probably been way off base.

Jonathan Isaac scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. He blocked four shots, one time biting on a Blake Griffin pump fake before blocking Griffin’s eventual shot on his second jump. He routinely makes incredible defensive plays like that and is already getting buzz to make the All-Defensive Team — if not win Most Improved Player.

But Isaac was not satisfied with his defense. He took on the challenge defending the Pistons’ best player one on one in Griffin. The still-hobbled Griffin scored 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting. In one notable third-quarter sequence, Griffin got the ball on the perimeter, gave Jonathan Isaac a pump fake and drove straight to the basket, getting and-1 when Evan Fournier failed to slide in for an offensive foul in time.

This was a player who still did plenty good defensively. But it still was not enough and he knew it.

With Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon out, the Magic are asking several key players to do more of what they would do anyway. Coach Steve Clifford has seemingly gone out of his way to try to preserve the team’s rotations and playing groups — at least for now — hoping that the injuries will be short-lived. There is at least some suggestion Nikola Vucevic’s injury is not as serious as once believed and Aaron Gordon, while out Wednesday after experiencing soreness in his ankle following a workout, is making progress.

But no one is getting asked to do more and different things than Isaac.

All of a sudden he is one of the featured players offensively, someone the Magic are relying on to score and create some off dribble. All of a sudden, Isaac has the main assignment of the opponents’ best player.

How Isaac responds to the added responsibility could very well determine how the Magic fare during this time. And whether they can stay afloat.

This is not entirely the role the Magic envisioned for Isaac. Not yet, at least.

At full strength, the Magic deploy him as a roamer off the ball to help protect the rim — he still did that Monday with four blocks and a steal — in his role with the full roster. The team would use him as a cutter and transition scorer with spot-up shooting opportunities.

The ball would have to find Isaac rather than him finding the ball. His relatively meager 17.6 percent usage rate is ticking up with his last two games. But that is still fairly low number — a number befitting someone who is essentially the fourth option among the starters.

Now, the Magic are having to run a lot more for Isaac and relying on him to do more offensively.

In his last two games, Isaac’s usage rate has ticked up to 20.3 percent. That is still a low number — maybe, too low. He is still essentially getting the looks of a replacement-level player. Isaac is not one who is going to hunt for his own shot.

When Clifford complained about the Magic’s over-dribbling, he is not likely talking about Isaac.

Isaac averages 0.65 dribbles per touch this season, according to Second Spectrum. Isaac does not even register enough possessions for the league to list his isolation possessions and he averages 2.9 drives per game (Second Spectrum defines a drive as going from more than 10 feet from the basket to 10 feet from the basket).

In the last two games (small sample size alert), Isaac is averaging 0.87 dribbles per touch (and his touches per game have jumped to 71.0 touches per game from 56.4 touches per game). He has 7.0 drives per game in his last two games.

That is a significant increase and suggests at least a willingness to attack more since the injuries took place. Jonathan Isaac is still staying efficient with his dribbling without a lack of dramatic scoring or shooting production — Evan Fournier, for instance, has seen his dribbling jump from 2.36 dribbles per touch to 3.54 dribbles per touch — but he is certainly on the ball more.

The question is whether the Magic expect Isaac to do more. They certainly need him to do more.

This is not really his game yet. The Magic have never used him offensively as more than a spot-up shooter and cutter. The team has not turned the offense over to him completely — clearly, the ball still centers in Evan Fournier’s hands and the team has even increased Markelle Fultz‘s workload.

But playing this way and being on the ball is not how Isaac has been wired in the NBA at least — Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel has more on how Isaac has evolved as a two-way player and notes his high school dominance. The team is trying to coax more offense from him at this moment.

Is it a mindset for Isaac? Is it about getting him more plays and touches?

Isaac is still playing a lot of his game. He is more willing to shoot on spot-ups and his 3-point percentage continues to tick up — 38.5 percent from beyond the arc, he is starting to become reliable and someone defenses will have to account for.

Isaac’s drives are still fairly simply — mostly two-dribble pull-ups or probes to kick back out when the defense stops him. And Isaac rarely forces shots. Maybe he takes a contested shot because he has gone into a formulaic move.

But unless there is a line drive to the basket, Isaac is going to kick it back out to keep the ball moving. His decision making and shot choices are still good with maybe a few errant passes thrown in from inexperience off the dribble.

The Magic are not running any isolations for him. His drives are more reactive to kick outs and not out of pick and rolls.

But this increased attention on offense, as small as it is, does represent a shift in his role. It does preview some of what he can do and how the Magic will eventually want him to grow.

This is the time for Isaac to show how his offensive game has expanded — and will continue to expand even as the shots get redistributed when players return.

This is all new for Isaac. He will have ups and downs — he followed his career-high 25 points against the Indiana Pacers with just 10 points against the Detroit Pistons. In Monday’s game, he was a bit too passive. Then again, the Magic’s primary creators did not move the ball effectively to get it to him.

Isaac is a more consistent scorer now, scoring at least 10 points in his last eight games, the longest such streak in his short career.

But this is a time where the Magic need Isaac to emerge from his cocoon and blossom offensively. They are pushing him to do a lot more on the ball offensively now, even if it is still relatively within the flow of the offense.

The Magic might need to force things more to him knowing Isaac will generally make the right play if there is no clear path to the basket or into his shot.

This is a preview of things to come with Isaac. A preview that is still very much in development as Isaac gets more comfortable with his expanded role.