(Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
Despite an up-and-down start to the campaign, already the Orlando Magic have some players who are pushing for a bigger role.
At 5-7, the Orlando Magic have proven early on in this NBA season to be exactly who we thought they were.
The Magic have shown capable of impressive wins one night (on the road over the San Antonio Spurs), with bad defeats always a possibility (home-court beatdowns by the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers).
With this being the case, there were always going to be players who surpassed whatever expectations were placed on them to begin the year, and already this has been the case. Where it gets tricker however, is figuring out how to reward them with more minutes or a featured role.
There’s only so much to go around, and of the established players and perceived young core already in place, no one player has fallen well below their own expectations. What this means is that something has got to give.
The following three players all seem ready for more minutes for the Magic, but for very different reasons.
It is not just their own potentially improved play that needs to be considered, they also need to be graded against other players in their positions, to see if they are more deserving of longer spells on the court.
Finding more time for them won’t be easy, but there is also no doubt that this is a good problem for the organization to have at this stage of the campaign. Players pushing for more minutes on a growing team is never a bad thing.