The Orlando Magic have struggled mightily to begin the 2025-26 season, and Head Coach Jamahl Mosley deserves a fair share of the blame and criticism.
After a thrilling victory over their in-state rival Miami Heat, the Magic have now dropped three straight games and sit with a record of 1-3 and are currently the 12th seed in the East.
Although the team has collectively struggled as a whole, Jamahl Mosley has been far from perfect, and he needs to do a much better job.
Understanding Orlando's struggles
Let's start this off by giving Jamahl Mosley the benefit of the doubt and cutting him some slack (for now). There was a solid amount of moving chess pieces to the Magic's roster this offseason, both with the coaching staff and players in the locker room.
Orlando hired assistant coaches Joe Prunty and God Shammgod to help improve the team's offense. The Magic added two rookies through the draft, Jase Richardson and Noah Penda, along with two notable veterans, Tyus Jones and Desmond Bane.
That's also without mentioning the fact that they don't have Moe Wagner, who is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last December. Jalen Suggs didn't play a single moment of the preseason, was limited in camp, and is still currently on a minutes restriction.
Now this doesn't submerely dismiss Mosley, because we've seen him do more with significantly less, especially last season when Orlando was decimated with injuries and he was finding improbable ways to win.
If Mosley can get the credit and praise he deserves when things go his way, he should then receive a bulk of the blame and scrutiny when things go south.
Coaching Problems
A glaring issue that has consistently hampered Mosley has been his reluctancy to call timeouts to stop the bleeding when teams go on runs.
One of the more recent examples of this came in a gut-wrenching loss to the Atlanta Hawks last Friday evening, when the Magic allowed the Hawks to go on a 22-5 run in the fourth quarter. After Atlanta had stormed back to tie the game up at 93 a piece, Mosley called a timeout after a 9-0 Hawks run, and they wouldn't look back after that.
Mosley has also done a very bad job with his rotations and putting his players in the best position to be successful. It's no secret the Magic are still not a great three-point shooting team, but you'd think you'd put guys on the floor who are at least a threat to shoot the ball?
In last night's game against Philadelphia, Mosley ran a lineup in the first quarter that featured Tyus Jones, Anthony Black, Noah Penda, Paolo Banchero, and Wendell Carter Jr. Not only is the floor spacing terrible with this lineup, but nobody outside of Paolo in this lineup can score and create for others at a high level.
The fact that Orlando's best bench player this season in Tristan da Silva, didn't check into the game until the 3:08 mark of the first period and played a whopping 5:08 minutes in the first half is coaching malpractice.
Lastly, Mosley’s unwillingness to give young players like Jase Richardson, Noah Penda, and even Jett Howard meaningful minutes to prove themselves is bewildering. All of them offer far more upside, and at the very least, they’re likely to contribute more than Tyus Jones and Jonathan Isaac, who are non-factors on the court.
Final thoughts
Yes, Mosley can't control guys making shots and their effort level on the floor. But Orlando, top to bottom, is a mess, and it's more than just the coach.
Jonathan Isaac is out of the rotation, Tyus Jones looks lost, the team can't shoot the ball, they can't hit their free throws consistently, and the effort level on the defensive end is lackluster at best.
Oh, and Wendell Carter Jr looks like a shell of himself. I wonder who could've seen that one coming.
Jamahl Mosley has to do a better job of getting these guys prepped and ready night in and night out, especially on the defensive end, and they can't afford to fall any further in the standings in the midst of a five-game road trip.