Orlando Magic star's accuracy has been terrible

It’s time to start worrying about the Orlando Magic after they’ve fallen to 3-5. Aside from winning the season opener against the Miami Heat, a state rival, they’ve done nothing special and appear vulnerable. Beating the Hornets in Charlotte and blowing out the bottom-feeding Washington Wizards wasn’t a real atonement for a four-game losing streak, and now their latest setback came in a loss on Tuesday in Atlanta versus the Hawks sans Trae Young. 

Coach Jamahl Mosley fell on the sword for his crew after they stunk up the joint worse than a Nickelback concert. About 10 percent of the season is in the books, a minuscule sample size, yet it’s felt like the team believed all the positive press clippings about themselves without doing the work for it. If it isn’t the defense playing below standard, it’s the offense going colder than a corpse despite its surplus of weapons. 

Furthermore, the offense has been 23rd ranked with the offseason additions not having the anticipated impact. It only gets worse: Desmond Bane isn’t playing nearly as well as Miami’s Norman Powell, and the Heat didn’t move four first-round picks to get him. 

There’s blame to go around from players to coaches, but here’s reality: There’s a history of teams with expectations stumbling and the head coach paying for it early or late. It happened to Stan Van Gundy, Paul Westhead, Michael Malone plus Taylor Jenkins last year, and Hubie Brown, who suffered the indignity of getting canned with three games left in 1981, to name some. If they keep lollygagging, it could cost Jamahl Mosley his job.

Keep in mind that five of the top eight roation players in minutes were drafted by the Magic. It's staggering why a team with established DNA is struggling after some alterations. To boot, Paolo Banchero deserves a lot of the blame. He’s only making league-average efficiency at 0-3 feet, and he should be feasting there, even if he plays in a clogged lane. He also needs to eliminate the double clutch from his arsenal when taking jumpers because it makes his job exponentially harder. 

To pile on, Banchero’s only making a 37.8 effective field goal percentage on shots with the closest defender between four and six feet (open); and he’s making a 33.3EFG percentage on attempts with the nearest defender being six feet away or more. There is no way to slice it: he has not been a big-time player. He needs to be at an All-NBA level for the Magic to get where they want.

The Magic could be a second apron team next season, which makes going on a deep playoff trip this year of paramount importance. The Magic need to correct themselves now so they develop the habits and skills to get there because teams usually don’t find success flipping a switch in March. Securing home court advantage is also a necessary tool needed for playoff success, so for now, they need to treat every opponent with a Game 7 mentality before this season slips away from them.