Orlando Magic: Three early season positives after hot start
By Luke Duffy
2. Unexpected Roster Depth
The Magic made some great offseason moves, none more so than adding Simmons. But they also got additional veterans to fill out their roster.
Already that depth has been on full display, with no fewer than eight Magic players hitting a 3-pointer in the win over the Cavaliers.
Even more impressive is the fact they did this and won that game with both Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton missing through injury.
Despite these being two of their starters, both of which have started the season brightly, the team barely skipped a beat, with Augustin and Jonathan Isaac filling in admirably.
In years gone by, the team’s rotation has thrown up some awful players coming in to try and hold a lead or extend it, but fail miserably.
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Now, however, there’s NBA champion Marreese Speights coming in to attack the glass, as well as Arron Afflalo. Both veterans who really want to play for this team and have been vocal about doing so.
Even Khem Birch and Wesley Iwundu, both end of bench guys, have shown a real desire to work hard on both ends in limited runs so far.
What that does is it covers the glaring holes that used to exist on this team. Mario Hezonja, a former lottery pick, still looks like a liability for this team most of the time he’s on the court.
But this is no longer as big an issue as before and in fact, the team can move on without him, as they have plenty of other guys ready to step in. It has been a key to building and maintaining leads.