NBA scores 2016: The Magic are stuck in limbo yet again

Orlando is wanting the best of both worlds as they try to win and develop players. They’re not really getting either.

Dec 5, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

What are the Orlando Magic? At this point, they may not even know. After a win on Sunday against the Pistons, the Magic remain in this bizarre limbo between developing young players, trying to win now and ultimately failing to do either one all that well.

Orlando is 9-12 now — three games from .500, three spots out of the playoffs, but just 1.5 games back of the No. 8 seed. The win on Sunday was a win against that No. 8 seed (Detroit), and the Pistons can boast of a couple more solid wins against San Antonio and Oklahoma City. On the other hand, the Magic lost to Miami, Minnesota and Phoenix, making it exceedingly difficult to figure out what makes this team tick.

Are the Magic good? There’s a case for it. Four of the team’s last five losses have been by less than five points, and they’ve won three of the last four. Serge Ibaka is a strange star player than no one could have expected, but he’s making it work. Evan Fournier is prone to getting completely locked down, but his 18 points on 44-percent shooting has him leading the team in scoring.

The Magic have the second-worst offense in the league, but their defense is third best. That’s why Nikola Vucevic is still so important, even after he was moved to the bench in favor of Bismack Biyombo in the starting five. Vucevic’s a classic case for a low post scorer who is better suited to beat up on second units, after all, especially since he hasn’t been able to join the growing trend of NBA big men who shoot threes.

Orlando has the third-worst assist ratio in the league, so the biggest offensive problems come from the team not having anyone to create shots. A breakout season from Elfrid Payton could help that, if he can get past D.J. Augustin starting over him. Maybe there’s another option somewhere on the roster, too. Maybe that’s all that’s holding the offense back.

But that’s the argument for the Magic being good — a lot of wishful hoping that ignores the actual reality that the team is three games under .500 with an easy schedule and a minus-four point differential on the year.

It’s not as simple as calling Orlando bad, either. Solidly below average fits better, or decidedly attempted and failing to be good. The Magic definitely aren’t trying to be a young team, not after trading Victor Oladipo and Donatas Sabonis for Ibaka this summer, and not after burying Mario Hezonja on the bench all year after selecting him fifth overall last draft, and certainly not after starting Augustine over Payton.

Trading Oladipo was not necessarily a tragedy — the Magic were running into a Celtics-like problem where they had too many quality young players but none who rose above the next level. It seems like Oladipo has hit his ceiling, more or less, so packaging him for a quality veteran who could help Orlando win games now is an idea that is reasonable. But whether Ibaka was the trade they needed to make is highly questionable, especially as Aaron Gordon continues to flounder attempting to play small forward when moving up to the four clearly suits his game better.

It’s hard to fault the Magic for growing tired of losing 60 games per season, but it’s just hard to say that losing only 45 this season — in a fantastic draft, mind you — is ultimately a better route for the franchise. And as the Magic alternate between looking alright winning games like Sunday and losing four straight games like they did to close November, it’s clear that’s their current trajectory this season.

The Clippers wasted no time Clipper-ing

The Clippers have spent a month trying to convince us they were a contender worthy of Cleveland and Golden State, and has now spent two weeks trying to pretend that literally never happened.

Sunday’s loss to Indiana — their fourth loss in six games — at least came with Paul George in the Pacers’ rotation, after Los Angeles lost to a George-less Indiana team a week ago. One loss came in double overtime, and one of the two wins was a blowout of the Cleveland Cavaliers. But still, we’ve seen a 14-2 team quickly fall to 16-6, without a clear reason why.

It might just be the bench, which you’ve surely heard before. After a blistering strong start to the year, Los Angeles’ second unit has struggled to shoot — Austin Rivers, Marreese Speights and Paul Pierce are all shooting under 40 percent in the Clippers’ last six contests. Chris Paul’s strong start has pattered off too in those recent games. As good as Los Angeles looked to start the year, it feels like there’s a switch they can flip once by March or April, when they really need to be playing at 100 percent instead a needle that wavers between 70 and 95. But because they have no real playoff success, the Clippers don’t get that benefit of the doubt, nor should they. Only time will tell if this team has the potential we were all ascribing to them in mid November.

Russell Westbrook is back at it

Michael Jordan in the 1988-89 season recorded seven straight triple-doubles. Westbrook’s fifth straight on Sunday is the closest anyone’s got to that since. Allow me to print Westbrook’s seasonal averages for you now.

31.2 points

10.5 rebounds

11.3 assists

1.4 steals

5.5 turnovers

24.3 shots per game

43-percent shooting

It was a big deal when Westbrook broke the triple-double barrier with his season averages a few games ago, but now he’s carving out space to breathe. This is unprecedented since Oscar Robertson did it. This is wild in every sense of the word.

I love that Westbrook is also on pace to break the NBA record for turnovers in a single season. Of course he is, given the way he’s playing, and no, we don’t really care like we probably should. Look, as long as Westbrook can average a triple-double for a season, he could probably defraud the federal bank and I’d just be like, “Ah man, it’s whatever and we all make mistakes. Look at that triple-double thoooooo.” So just let Westbrook be Westbrook, as if anyone could prevent him if they tried.