Orlando Magic’s young players showing growth in bigger roles

The Orlando Magic have had to turn to their young players to step up with key players missing from the lineup. They have stepped up to help the team.

Once Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic went down with their injuries, the Orlando Magic knew their offense was going struggle. Even more than it already was — the team was 28th in the league with 103.3 points per 100 possessions entering that fateful game last week.

It was going to be up to their young players to step up and play bigger roles. And for the most part, they have.

Although the Magic have gone 1-3 without Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic, players have shown signs of growth and improvement which creates anticipation for their return.

Beginning with Jonathan Isaac, he was the player that people were looking forward to see how he would react to the unexpected role change. In the four games since the injury, he has averaged 16.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.3 steals per game.

Even though these have not been the most efficient shots (45.0 percent shooting and 50.8 percent effective field goal percentage on15.0 field goal attempts per game), it is a good sign he is comfortable with taking them.

Jonathan Isaac posted a career-high 25 points in the game against the Indiana Pacers, displaying his shooting potential. He started showing a lot more willingness to drive and display different elements to his game.

At the same time, Mo Bamba has the most to prove with more minutes. He has responded by playing with more energy on both ends of the court.

During this four-game stretch, he has averaged 8.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. Those numbers are not anything special. But they are an improvement.

By the eye test, Mohamed Bamba is more active and being a factor.

That was pretty clear with some of his games in this stretch. He had seven rebounds against the Pacers. Then he came back with another 12 boards against the Detroit Pistons, standing toe to toe with Andre Drummond.

That all culminated with Bamba’s 15-point performance against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. A relief for a young player who has struggled to get himself going offensively.

Furthermore, Markelle Fultz is becoming a steady starting point guard the team can rely on for double-digit scoring.

He has stepped up by putting up 14.0 points, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game with the two starters out. This is good to see since many regarded this season to be his rookie year and went from not knowing if he will play this season to becoming the starter early in the year.

More than that, it is clear the Magic are much better with Markelle Fultz on the floor.

For the season, the Magic have a +4.8 net rating with Fultz on the floor, second only to Vucevic on the team. The same goes for the team’s offensive rating — 108.3 points per 100 possessions with Fultz on the floor.

In the last four games, the Magic have a 110.1 offensive rating. That is the best mark on the team since the injuries. The team’s +6.3 net rating with Markelle Fultz on the floor is only bested by Wesley Iwundu‘s mark in that stretch.

All this success is not directly attributed to Fultz. But the correlation is hard to ignore.

Then finally, Evan Fournier has impressed with his scoring numbers while Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic are sidelined.

Evan Fournier has averaged 23.5 points per game during this stretch of four games and has put the offense on his back. He has stepped up once again and has been better at picking his spots or when to move the ball.

All of these guys have stepped up when they were needed most and will have to continue as Vucevic is still a few weeks away from returning. There is obviously more all have to do to keep the offense humming along.

Gordon should be returning soon and it will be interesting to see how these players respond to Gordon returning to the lineup.

They must keep this level of play and intensity up regardless of who is in the lineup, and this upcoming stretch will show if they are capable of that.