3 presents Orlando Magic want for Christmas

1. A star to emerge

Forget about putting a star on top of the Christmas tree, the best present the Orlando Magic can hope for is that one unwraps itself in time for 2020. Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz are the two most likely candidates, with most feeling that Isaac is already on his way to being the team’s cornerstone. That it is not happening overnight may annoy some, but these things take time.

Right now Isaac is among the league leaders in blocks per game (2.6) and has a defensive rating of 105.5. The 12.4 points per game he is averaging marks his first foray into double-digits in his third season in the league and the 34.1 percent he is shooting from deep is encouraging because he is taking a career-high deep attempts per contest.

In essence Isaac is trying to balance being one of the Magic’s best defenders already at only 22 with having to step up his play offensively to try and become their best all-around player. To Isaac’s credit he is doing this as best he can, but given his age and experience (he has played in only 130 games in his career so far), it is going to take time.

Time is something the Magic don’t have as much of anymore as they look to move toward playoff locks in the coming seasons.

For Fultz, his progress as a player is measured differently, because it was not clear before the season that we would ever see him at all. That he started the campaign and was inserted into the starting lineup early speaks volumes to how much trust the front office has in him. Coach Steve Clifford is known for being hard on younger players, but he has given Fultz the room to grow.

That is just it though, because Fultz is most certainly still growing. For all of the positives we have seen from him (confident stepping into all manner of shots, great driving to the basket, unselfish with ball in hand), he has only played in 62 professional games. He’s getting his groove back, but in some ways this is like an elongated rookie season for him as well.

A young player like that is always going to have ups and downs, and that is what the Magic are suffering from as an organization right now. They don’t have consistency because they don’t have guys who are close to being established star talent in the league.

Should one (or two) of them be under the tree in Isaac or Fultz, then the rest of this season is going to erase this bumpy start quickly.