There was a tinge of disappointment from the Orlando Magic faithful as the Magic passed the midpoint of their homestand and moved on through Friday’s penultimate game of this five-game set.
Markelle Fultz was on the court before every home game going through his paces with Magic shooting coach Bruce Kreutzer, taking shots on the move and from the foul line.
Feeling down? Here is Markelle Fultz getting his shots up pregame to make you feel better. #MagicTogether pic.twitter.com/UdY77Uaoav
— Orlando Magic Daily (@OMagicDaily) January 28, 2022
It has been this way for several weeks now for those lucky enough to be in the Amway Center early or right when the doors open to the public.
His return still feels so tantalizingly close. He has been practicing with the team in some capacity since early December, joining the team on the West Coast trip in Los Angeles for a few practices and working out with the Lakeland Magic when he was not traveling with the team.
It seemed like the calendar had created an opening for him to return. A perfect spot for him to ease back into the grind of the NBA schedule. The Magic would not be traveling. They would have practice time and maintenance days at the AdventHealth Practice Facility.
The window seemed like it was open.
That was the hope, at least. The Magic have never put a timeline on his return and frustrated fans have been left in the dark. They just wanted something beyond these pregame practice sessions.
Markelle Fultz remains out for the Orlando Magic and will sit out the rest of this homestand. His return still feels imminent but waiting for the perfect conditions to bring him back once he gets final clearance will only hurt his integration.
But the homestand is now over.
Fultz is once again listed as OUT for Sunday’s game. That window to bring him back is over. And that perfect opportunity for Fultz to return and ease his way into the schedule is seemingly gone.
It is hard for anyone to predict when the Magic might aim to bring Fultz back. This window though has passed them by.
Orlando will have to wait for Fultz to return.
The real truth is though, there is no perfect time to bring back an injured player of this magnitude. There is no lining everything up perfectly for a player’s return, as much as a team might try. The schedule rarely allows for this kind of comfort.
That is the brutal nature of the NBA. It is nearly impossible to perfectly plan a player’s return.
With the Magic still so quiet about his recovery and how close he might be to a return, fans have had to fill in the vacuum.
The bottom line is Fultz may not be ready or cleared to play by any measure. And there should be no recovery without that.
The team has made it clear it will not rush any player back from major injury. So there are still things he has to cross off before he is cleared to play.
With a month of practices under his belt, there is clearly something that is keeping the team from giving him those final clearances.
While ensuring his health is the top priority and there can be no coming back without him clearing all the health checkpoints, the Magic cannot wait for the perfect time to bring him back. Once he is healthy and has all those clearances, he needs to dive right in and enter the fray.
There are just typically too few of these perfect conditions in an NBA season to bring a player back.
There will almost certainly be some restrictions early on — minute restrictions for sure as well as the likelihood he gets held out of back-to-backs — but Orlando needs to be willing to play him once he is cleared.
There are just so few of those “perfect” moments to not only play him in the comforts of home but have the chance to check on him inside the practice facility and with the home medical staff. They are going to have to deal with something that is imperfect.
The next time the Orlando Magic play consecutive home games will be next weekend when the Magic play back-to-back home games against the Memphis Grizzlies and Boston Celtics. Orlando then embarks on their second West Coast road trip of the season. They have just one more game after that before the All-Star Break.
If Orlando is hoping for a second “perfect time” to bring injured players back, it will be after the All-Star Break. There is not only the cushion of a few days of practice heading into the resumption of play but the Magic will also have a three-game homestand and nearly a week at home after the break to bring a player back.
Orlando does have a home-heavy finish to the season. Another long homestand waits in mid-March and there are no road trips of longer than two games after the break.
In other words, all those conditions that fans thought would make this homestand a perfect time to bring Fultz back will exist plenty after the All-Star Break. Orlando does not put timelines but likely are feeling fortunate for that favorable schedule.
Perhaps the Magic already know this and that is part of their calculation. Why rush Fultz or anyone back knowing perfect conditions to bring players back await after the All-Star Break.
What are another two weeks for a 10-40 team?
The Magic though have to follow their recovery plan. When Fultz is healthy, they need to see him play.
They said it themselves, one of their goals is to reintegrate these players with long-term injuries back into the lineup. So far, that goal has been left unfulfilled. And already half of the season is gone and the three-quarter mark of the season is quickly approaching.
There is a favorable schedule for the team as a whole upcoming in the next few weeks. There will again be an opportunity for these players to rejoin the fold (the shifting roster at the trade deadline may also further open doors).
But Orlando should not wait for these chances. If Fultz is ready to rejoin the team, they should be willing to give them the clearance to play.
If the Magic keep waiting for the “perfect” time to bring a player back, they may run out of time.