Rookie Suggs offers Magic hope but gets hurt in loss
If there’s one word that has been circling the Orlando Magic team for the last few years, it’s been “patience.”
For fifth overall draft pick Jalen Suggs, it’s the word that has been preached the most when it comes to not only his development on the court but in the way he plays the game in general.
The start to Suggs’ NBA tenure with the Orlando Magic has left much to be desired, mixed with his high-draft selection and the players picked before and after him getting off to better starts. With that being said, the slow progression of Suggs into the NBA game isn’t uncommon for his position, especially early in the season.
The Magic played the Washington Wizards on Saturday night, one of the better teams in the conference. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 23 points and Montrezl Harrell added 20 as Washington used a 20-0 firsthalf run on the way to a 104-92 win for its fourth consecutive victory. Kyle Kuzma added 17 points and 10 rebounds to help Washington improve to 9-3 for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
Cole Anthony scored 22 points for the Magic but he made just 4 of 16 shots. Mo Bamba added 14 points, 17 rebounds and three blocked shots for Orlando, which dropped to 0-7 this season when failing to score 100 points. Suggs, who had eight points, left with a right ankle sprain in the third quarter and did not return.
Offensively, Suggs had been given the freedom to have the ball in his hands and run the offense alongside Anthony. Suggs has been able to create shots for himself, create driving lanes and get in good offensive positions.
Finishing is the biggest thing missing from his game. The more that Suggs gets those opportunities, the better he’ll become in the long run for a very young Magic team.
For now, however, his 11.6 points per game, 3.5 turnovers and 30% shooting entering Saturday may sound some alarm bells.
Coach Jamahl Mosley, who was
brought in mainly to be the shaper of young players like Suggs, has seen the progressive steps he’s taking off the court, behind the scenes and between games.
“Continued growth,” Mosley said before tipoff against the Wizards. “The thing that I continue to tell everyone is that the way he’s seeing it and communicating it through film sessions, with our coaches, with myself on the sideline, he’s seeing it very well.”
The 2021 season is all about getting some much-needed NBA experience. If Suggs were on a playoff team loaded with veterans with expectations to advance, he wouldn’t average almost 30 minutes a game like he does with Orlando.
That’s the business of the league. Development comes at a cost, and in the shortterm that’s losing basketball games. It’s an
investment into the future of the players, not necessarily who they are in the present.
“Now, it’s just a matter of putting the physical side of it to it, and understanding when to slow down, when to speed up, the right reads, when it takes shots,” Mosley said. “He’s getting better at it slowly but surely. So as he can continue to communicate it, the better he’ll be as he sees it on the physical side of it.”
Looking at some of the success stories around the league like Luka Doncic (Dallas), Donovan Mitchell (Utah) and Darius Garland (Cleveland), ball-dominant guards who had slow starts to their NBA careers, they’re thriving as premier young players.
The learning curve is the same that Suggs is going through.
While nothing is guaranteed, the success those players are having a few years after being drafted should give the Magic hope that Suggs eventually will join them by turning the same corner.