Orlando Magic: Being cautious about Jonathan Isaac’s return

Jonathan Isaac is going to play in a scrimmage game on Monday night, but the Orlando Magic should be cautious about his return.

Despite losing their opening two scrimmage games, the Orlando Magic received a huge boost on Sunday with news that Jonathan Isaac would be available to play in their final tune up game against the Denver Nuggets. The news was first reported by Josh Robbins of The Athletic.

This brilliant news for the franchise, and exactly what their fans want to hear. Isaac has been out since New Year’s Day with a left knee sprain which looked much worse than that in the moment. He would have missed the rest of their season had it not been postponed for the length of time that it was.

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With Markelle Fultz also back with the organization, the Magic look like they will be at full strength once the seeding games begin later in the week. All such positive news, it was unclear if Isaac would return this soon, despite his own proclamations that he was good to go. But we need to be cautious when talking about Isaac getting back out there too.

As of now he is clearly the cornerstone of the franchise and looks to be a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year in the next few years if he keeps on improving on that end the way he has so far. The Magic also don’t have anybody else who can take that position right now, with Aaron Gordon having tried before and Fultz still figuring out who he is.

So the Magic would want to be really sure that Isaac is good to go before playing him in a meaningless game, which is what they are going to do. This is a guy who played only 27 games in his rookie campaign and had issues staying on the court last season as well. For somebody of Isaac’s body type, long and rangy, although he is putting on muscle, this is not ideal.

In fact, you could question if playing him against the Nuggets is the right move at all, in case something unfortunate happens. The counter to that of course is that a game such as this one, where the score doesn’t matter and Isaac can be easily put on a minute’s restriction, is actually the perfect time to bring him back.

That may be true, but the prospect of anything happening again is scary. Isaac should be in the bubble with the team, and he has taken over six months out to heal the injury and get back to the shape he was in. But risking anything else happening in the bubble, is that really the smart thing to do?

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No matter what the Orlando Magic aren’t getting close to a championship this season. Do you know what would get them on the right path properly? A fully healthy trio of Isaac, Fultz and the noticeably bigger Mohamed Bamba all taking a leap forward together next season. That is on track to happen, and to jeopardize that for the upcoming slate of games could backfire massively.

Then again, the return of Isaac is the key to what can be an elite defensive unit on some nights playing at that level every night. Isaac changes their ceiling on that end that much. This is important because offensively the Orlando Magic have looked as inconsistent as before, and so will need to lean into defending if they hope to do anything in Florida.

Even if all goes to plan, the franchise should think about bringing Isaac off the bench when the seeding games start. Certainly putting him on a minutes restriction even then, and perhaps giving him a DNP or two against opponents that the team should be beating. They literally cannot be too cautious in how they handle the situation.

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Fans understandably want to see Isaac back out there again, but the front office knows better than to cave to any pressure like that. So we have to believe that he is coming back for the right reasons, and not because he pestered the coaching staff into letting him get back on the court.

What would be brilliant to see however is Isaac improving on the 33 percent he was shooting from deep before going down. He continues to get better in the paint, and his passing and vision are underrated parts of his game. As already mentioned the defending is going to take care of itself and will improve for years to come.

But Isaac appeared to be back on the court shooting as soon as he was given the all-clear to do so, and that was before the season stopped. So if his shooting stroke could improve at all, as well as the 12 points per game he was averaging, it would open the court up for him so much more and give the Orlando Magic another much-needed weapon.

It would also keep Isaac out of the paint and potentially stop him from banging into anybody else, although we already know that defensively he is going to give his all and jump passing lanes and block shots with enthusiasm. It is great than Jonathan Isaac is back and going to contribute for the stretch run, but every precaution must be taken to ensure his long-term health, whatever that may be.