At the beginning of the season, the Orlando Magic could feel confident they were doing something right because their starters were playing well.
The thought was the team was so depleted by injury and dealing with so many depth issues that if the reason the team was losing was because of its bench players, that was not the worst thing in the world.
The players that mattered for the team’s future were playing well.
The Magic’s opening-night starting lineup of Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter and Mo Bamba was tearing the league up.
It still ranks 13th in the league among lineups that have played at least 100 minutes together with a +11.4 net rating. The group’s 94.1 defensive rating is still downright impressive.
The confounding part of the season at that time was how much the bench group struggled despite the starter’s seeming brilliance together.
The Orlando Magic’s celebrated starting lineup is a thing of the past now. Instead, Orlando is struggling to start games while the bench is asserting itself more.
Through Nov. 29 (when Suggs suffered his injury and the starting lineup went into long-term disarray), the Magic were 18th with 33.1 points per game off the bench. They had an overall net rating of -10.8 net rating.
To turn that around so much suggested how much the team was struggling once they broke the lineup.
The Magic have not returned to the opening night starting group since Suggs returned from his fractured thumb. It is hard to tell whether they will with Gary Harris playing significantly better than he was to start the season and, perhaps, in preparation for the returns of Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac.
Orlando has had to go through a few starting lineups this year as they dealt with injuries and the wave of health and safety protocols that hit the team in late December. But the team has not had the same lineup luck.
Instead, the team has gone from being able to rely heavily on its starting group to relying even more on its bench to get them back to the game.
This goes beyond the team’s struggles of late to start third quarters, as has been the big issue the last two games. The Magic have struggled to start games too.
In January, when the team has seemingly had more success and played closer games (ignore that 1-10 record, I suppose), Orlando suddenly is eighth in the league in bench scoring with 38.2 points per game.
The sudden re-emergence of Terrence Ross has helped in those matters. He has been a dynamo off the bench, regaining the form that helped spark the Magic to the playoffs in 2019.
In January, Ross is averaging 13.4 points per game while shooting a 50.0-percent effective field goal percentage. Those are not the killer numbers he had in December, but a significant step up from where he was to start the season.
It has also helped getting better play from guys like Moritz Wagner (8.9 points per game and 64.0-percent shooting in January), Robin Lopez (10.6 points per game) and even Chuma Okeke (8.1 points per game and a 47.9-percent effective field goal percentage) have all contributed in bigger ways in January.
Orlando has had to cycle through starting lineups because of injuries and health and safety protocols. So there is definitely a lack of stability too.
The Magic have used six different starting lineups in January. A few have included players on emergency 10-day contracts. We will throw those out for this analysis.
Orlando’s group of Cole Anthony, Gary Harris, Franz Wanger, Wendell Carter and Mo Bamba had a +23.9 net rating in the 10 minutes they played together in their one start against the Philadelphia 76ers on Jan. 5.
The lineup of Cole Anthony, Gary Harris, Franz Wagner, Chuma Okeke and Mo Bamba had a -43.5 net rating across 22 minutes in five games in January. They only started the one game against the Washington Wizards at Amway Center.
The next lineup of Cole Anthony, Gary Harris, Franz Wagner, Chuma Okeke and Robin Lopez had a -15.7 net rating in 53 minutes (the most-used lineup in January). That group started four games, including the win over the Charlotte Hornets.
The last two games, the Magic have used a lineup of Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, Gary Harris, Franz Wagner and Mo Bamba. That group has a net rating of -64.7 points per 100 possessions in 30 minutes across three games.
It is clear from these numbers how much the starting group is struggling.
The Magic are not losing their games right now by such wide margins — the Magic have had some stinkers lately, losing three of their last four games by a margin of more than 10 points per 100 possessions. But the starters have put the Magic in a hole to start games. And, yes, in that tell-tale third quarter.
It is a credit to the reserve group — buoyed by Suggs’ return for sure and better balance and comfort from several young players — they have kept Orlando in games.
The Magic have played six of their 19 “clutch” games in January. That is also six of their 11 games in January. The team has taken steps toward being more competitive, even if the results have not been on display quite yet.
That has to be a credit to the second units Jamahl Mosley has put together and how there have been shifts with the team’s rotation. The one thing he and the team have not done is find a starting lineup that was as successful as the group that started the season.
The Magic have struggled all season to tie things together.
Losing R.J. Hampton will hurt the team’s overall depth too. Orlando’s bench took another hit in that sense. They may be eagerly waiting for Fultz’s return, which will surely help. But the Magic right now need to find a group that gets them started the right way.
Clearly, there is still some experimenting going on. There are still players working their way back from injury.
At some point, the Magic will re-insert Carter back into the starting lineup too — it would be hard not to after he played so well in the loss to the Lakers while on a minute restriction after sitting seven games with a sore hamstring.
The Magic though have to get themselves off to better starts. They do not need their starting lineup to dominate in the way they were earlier in the season. The bench is playing better and can sustain runs a whole lot better.
But Orlando is always playing uphill. Usually playing uphill from the start. And while the bench has done better to get themselves back into games of late, there is no sustained success without playing with a lead more often.
The Magic went from not having a problem with their starting group to having a big one. Maybe the solution is to return to that group that started the season again.