3 players who can help the Orlando Magic’s defensive malaise

Tuesday night was a disappointing one for the Orlando Magic, as they fell 134-123 at home to a Milwaukee Bucks team that was missing Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Worse than that, the manner in which they defended during the game was tough to watch, and indicative of a young group that is figuring out how to become a competitive team in the league.

This loss was preceded by another tough home defeat to the Portland Trail Blazers. A damaging couple of nights in terms of the Magic’s hopes of making the Play-in tournament.

Even if that goal now seems beyond them, there is no reason why the Orlando Magic should not be trying to defend at a high level for the rest of the season.

Losing games, missing rotations and getting stung by superstars is understandable, and it is going to happen a lot more on the path to contention.

What is unacceptable however is the manner in which this young group defends on many nights. Lethargic from the jump, and with seemingly no interest in trying hard for 48 minutes.

This is far from the team that has ranked in the top-10 in defense since Dec. 7. Defense has been the Magic’s calling card for this team’s surge to even sniff the Play-In Tournament.

This lethargy needs to be phased out, especially with their defensive potential there for all to see. Let’s examine three players who can help overcome this malaise from now until the end of the season.

3 players to help Orlando Magic out of their defensive malaise

3. Kevon Harris

Remember we are trying to find players who can help raise the intensity level on the defensive end for the Orlando Magic. This will be to the detriment of how they play offensively for some minutes these players are on the court.

Two-way player Kevon Harris seems the perfect place to start then. After beginning the season as an underrated component in some high-intensity play, he has been phased out of the rotation.

This is both because he is on that aforementioned two-way deal and has to spend time with the Lakeland Magic, and because the roster is now much healthier than it was earlier in the campaign.

With the Magic ranking 19th in defensive rating so far this season (114.0), they need all the help they can get in order to close the gap to the league average by the end of the regular season.

Harris helps simply because he is playing for his career with the Magic, and so never takes plays off. He is a big body who makes scoring as difficult as possible for opponents and moves well.

The Magic’s defensive rating when Harris is on the court is a much more impressive 110.4, which would put the team firmly in the top five in this category.

The drawback of course is that Harris is not much of an offensive weapon. But head coach Jamahl Mosley should really think about inserting him in spot minutes when the team are playing with no energy.

Something which has been happening at an annoying rate throughout the entirety of this season.

3 players to help Orlando Magic out of their defensive malaise

2. Jalen Suggs

Guard Jalen Suggs is the perfect player to have on this list because it is clear he has a long-term future with the organization as things stand.

He is having an underrated second season after a poor rookie outing, and on any given night he looks like the kind of player that opponents hate to come up against.

He hounds people, gets back in transition and is getting better at switching when it is required, but really it is the on-ball defending that is already impressive and has a chance to be special.

The Orlando Magic currently are only marginally better off defensively when Suggs is on the court (112.4), but unlike Harris or any of the other role players on this roster, Suggs is also getting better offensively.

The 30.6 percent he is shooting from deep is ugly, but he is taking 3.6 attempts per night. Much better reading than last year, when he somehow attempted 4.1 and made 21.4 percent of them.

Suggs looks like he is going to be the guy who guards an opposing team’s best guard, and also stretches the court with a 3-point shot that will eventually keep people honest.

The Magic’s smaller version of what Marcus Smart does for the Boston Celtics? We’re not there yet, but the more minutes Suggs plays, the better the Magic are going to be on the defensive end.

3 players to help Orlando Magic out of their defensive malaise

1. Goga Bitadze

Big man Goga Bitadze was added to this Orlando Magic roster a number of weeks back for this exact reason, which is why he tops the list here.

With Wendell Carter currently out injured, Bol Bol not a defender at all and Moe Wagner experiencing a slump in form, the importance of what Goga Bitadze can do has suddenly come to the fore.

Using words like “big” and “tough” are generic, catch-all phrases. But in the case of Bitadze, they are also true. The Magic don’t have another player like him on this team.

He played 170 regular season games for the Indiana Pacers, and in roughly 10 minutes of action in four games for the Magic so far, he has managed to chip in with 6.3 points while shooting a seemingly out-of-nowhere 33.3 percent from deep.

A small sample size, but also a career-high and encouraging if he is to receive more minutes.

These may be small numbers, but we collectively lost our minds with Bol Bol earlier in the season, and he is averaging a not too different 9.6 points per contest and 31.2 percent from deep.

Best of all, the Magic have a defensive rating of 105.8 when he is on the court, which would put them comfortably top of the defensive rating category.

That Milwaukee Bucks defeat was an indicator of how Bitadze may be used while Carter is unavailable, as he played for 20 minutes and managed 12 points and eight rebounds.

If the Magic want to remain competitive for the rest of the regular season, as they should, and keep chasing the Play-in while it is still possible, then the numbers show Bitadze can really help.