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Orlando Magic Rebuild: Even surprise playoff teams can get off to slow starts

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Paolo Banchero's stellar start to the season has not translated into wins for the Orlando Magic. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Paolo Banchero's stellar start to the season has not translated into wins for the Orlando Magic. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports /
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Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic
Donovan Mitchell was dynamic from the start for the Utah Jazz but the team struggled at the beginning of their season. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /

Rookie playoff teams who struggled out of the gates

Donovan Mitchell’s Utah Jazz (2017-18)

Record: 48-34, 5th in the Western Conference
Started: 6-10

Like so many other players, Donovan Mitchell seemed to take the league by storm in his rookie year. The Utah Jazz made the Playoffs as the 5-seed and Mitchell was a big part of it. He was a big part of the Utah Jazz pushing the Oklahoma City Thunder that year too with Donovan Mitchell going at Russell Westbrook throughout the series.

Utah exited that season knowing it had something cooking and a future star in its midst.

Mitchell ended his rookie year averaging 20.5 points per game as a relatively inefficient scorer. But he had enough burst to give teams fits and gain a ton of attention. The Jazz got better as the year went on.

They actually got off to a hot start too, going 5-3 on the season. But Utah’s youth kicked in for the next few weeks. The Jazz won just one of their next seven games to put themselves in a little bit of a hole.

Mitchell struggled a ton during this stretch.

He averaged 18.3 points per game during that seven-game stretch but shot just 40.9-percent from the floor. It is no wonder the team struggled with so much leaning on their budding young star early on — and a defense anchored by a young Rudy Gobert in his fifth year in the league.

That might be a big ask for a young team. Joe Ingles and Ricky Rubio, both older than 25 that season, gave some veteran stability, but this was a team short on experience. Rodney Hood was its second-leading scorer.

Naturally, the Utah Jazz broke that losing streak with a 40-point win over the Orlando Magic and the team found its center again. Utah won seven of its next eight, including a six-game win streak and all was right in the world and Utah was back in the playoff hunt.

As is necessary for a playoff chase, the Jazz caught fire again in February, winning 11 straight to cement their playoff status. So much of the league is weathering the storms and then finding your center long enough to allow for these bursts to really matter.