Jonathan Isaac has a lot of work to do
to improve his impact on offense enough to equal his impact on defense, but he and the Magic remain patient.
LOS ANGELES — Eight Orlando Magic players, two assistant coaches, player development staffers, strengthand-conditioning specialists and athletic trainers gathered inside USC’s basketball facility Tuesday afternoon for an optional workout.
With assistant coach Jay Hernandez supervising, Jonathan Isaac, Wes Iwundu, Aaron Gordon and D.J. Augustin took turns guarding each other one-on-one for about 20 minutes. They worked on their offensive moves, honed their jumpers and refined their defensive footwork and technique.
The work was informal and relatively relaxed, but at times, it echoed sequences from recent Magic games, es-
pecially for Isaac, the team’s 6-foot-10, 222-pound rookie forward. Most of the time, Isaac’s height, long arms, agility and innate sense of when an opponent will shoot confounded Iwundu, Gordon and Augustin.
And when Isaac had the ball, attempting to score, he often encountered difficulty. On one sequence, with Augustin guarding him, Isaac defaulted to a 15-foot jumper even though Isaac enjoyed a massive size advantage over Augustin. Isaac’s shot rattled off the rim.
Isaac might have been more physical if a 6-foot point guard was defending him during an actual game, but the sequences against Gordon, Iwundu and Augustin reinforced a general impression about Isaac in the three games he’s played since he returned from a right ankle injury. At 20 years old, Isaac is precocious on defense but relatively close to a blank slate on offense.
“I’m not worried about him at all,” coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s going to be fine. He knows it’s going to take time. On both ends he’s really supposed to take time while he’s getting his legs under him to find his rhythm and timing. So I’m not concerned about that.”
Vogel made his comment Monday evening, after the Magic lost to the Utah Jazz 94-80 in Salt Lake City. Isaac continued to play superb defense that evening; he took a charge, recorded two steals and blocked two shots. And after Utah’s Joe Ingles dominated the Magic on the offensive end of the floor during the first half, Vogel assigned Isaac to guard Ingles in the third quarter, and Isaac shut down Ingles completely.
On offense, however, Isaac looked ineffective. He went 0 for 5 from the field.
Early in the second
quarter, he caught a pass on the right edge of the lane as 6-foot-1 Utah point guard Raul Neto stood behind him. Even though 13 seconds remained on the shot clock, giving Isaac time to try to back down Neto or pass to a teammate, Isaac attempted a turnaround, fadeaway jumper over Neto from 11 feet. Isaac’s shot was an airball.
Everyone within the Magic — the front office, coaching staff and players included — expect Isaac to be rusty on offense after he missed 26 consecutive Magic games because of his ankle injury. But it’s telling that Isaac’s sequence against Neto unfolded almost exactly as his one-on-one sequence against Augustin unfolded on Tuesday. Isaac still has a tremendous amount of work to do for his impact on offense to approach his impact on defense.
In his first three games back from injury, Isaac played a total of 50 minutes against Detroit, Memphis and Utah and went 1 for 9 from the field.
He insists his lack of production on offense hasn’t gotten him down.
“I rely on my faith to just keep going, keep pushing, and I just do what I can do now,” he said. “And I’ll be OK.”
Eighteen games remain on the Magic’s schedule, including tonight’s matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.
He said his ankle has healed fully, and his conditioning also has improved.
“I feel great,” Isaac said. “In Utah, it’s tough already [because of the altitude], and I felt good out there. I got tired a little bit, but I felt really good, especially when that second half started. So I feel like I’m ready to be in there for longer if that’s what Coach needs.”