Orlando Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman always preaches patience. He is not someone who overreacts or overcorrects to errors and mistakes. He knows he has a young team and has been careful to give that young team room to grow.
This season for the Magic saw them add an important veteran in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and double down on their development and internal growth. It seemed like a good bet. The Magic were not rushing to put another star player in the way of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner’s growth.
The important thing to remember throughout this whole process is that they will go as far as Banchero and Wagner will take them. This season was as much about figuring out their limitations and what they need to make them successful.
How far or how long that evaluation needs to go is the ultimate question. It feels like the Magic need Weltman to act. The evaluation period is over. This team is lacking key ingredients to keep it afloat and keep it in the Playoff hunt.
Weltman cannot sit on his hands before the trade deadline. He must add to the team – adding offense, creation and shooting – to put this team back on track this year and set them up for their next stage next year.
Despite the team’s protestations earlier in the year, the Magic are not enough right now. Things are too difficult for Banchero and Wagner to operate.
With another frustrating, lifeless 119-90 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, the pattern has emerged. The team that relied on its intensity, effort and energy through their surprising November and December run have lost all of that intensity.
Losses like Thursday’s game have become all too common. The team’s defense falters. Their offense gets drained as they miss shots and further drains the offense.
“They turned up the heat on us,” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We turned it over. We didn’t respond very well to their aggression. That was not an Orlando-Magic-played basketball game. We were soft. We got punked. It’s not who we are.”
The problem is that this is who the Magic have become. This is not the first time this team has felt this feeling.
If something like Thursday was an aberration, there would be little room for panic. But this has happened repeatedly.
Where the Magic were resilient and withstood these moments a few months ago, now they let mistakes snowball into problems. They went 4-11 in January as their defense collapsed.
That speaks to a deeper issue with the culture and the team right now. They are having a crisis of confidence. They do not have enough to survive right now – not with Banchero and Wagner still working their way back from injury.
Everyone understands the Magic will need to make an offensive injection and trade to improve the roster. The group as it stands does not have enough offensive force to make a difference or compete for a title. The trade is coming if not now than before next season.
That the team is struggling to compete and has the second-worst offense and the worst 3-point shooting the league has seen in more than a decade is only emphasizing this need. Orlando cannot sit still anymore.
This team needs help and needs a boost offensively. They need to regain their energy and their fight.
Right now, Orlando is struggling to find its fight. The group does not have many answers internally right now. Losing Jalen Suggs should not tip the team’s identity this much.
By next Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, the Magic must make a move to push themselves into the Playoffs.
