Should fans worry about how bad the Orlando Magic are?
By Luke Duffy
The Orlando Magic don’t have an identity and are struggling mightily on both ends of the court, regardless
But to look at the team as they have been playing for much of the season, offensively, it is far from fluid. Wagner has bailed them out of a lot of possessions with his already fabulous game on that end, but in terms of running sets and finding the open man, they’ve fallen a long way fast from the days when everything flowed through center Nikola Vucevic.
Right now the Magic rank 28th in offensive rating (102.9), and are in the same spot in three-point shooting percentage (32.4 percent). Again, this isn’t an attack on Mosley or even the Magic as a group. They are a young team that is not only expected to lose games but almost encouraged to if it means getting another high lottery pick this summer.
It would just be nice to see the basis of an identity being formed around this losing. At this point, that should be the goal, and although it is surely being worked on and talked about in practice, it hasn’t totally translated into anything obvious on the court. Credit to Anthony again, though, as his personality is shining through often, win or lose.
He is loud, confident, gives a great postgame interview, and has clearly improved in his second year in the league. If you were making a list of Eastern Conference All-Stars, after the 12 who will get selected, he’s probably somewhere in the next 10-15 players, with Wagner surely in there as well.
That is great for the Magic and is a clear sign of progress. Yet his chip on the shoulder snarl that he takes to the court hasn’t translated to anything like sustainable success on the defensive end, either.
The Magic rank 25th (112.3), and on a lot of nights give up the kind of baskets that would have made Clifford shudder on the sideline and take every young player out of the game.