As Nikola Vucevic took to the court inside FedExForum on Wednesday night against the Grizzlies, the 6-foot-11 center donned a blue Magic uniform for the first time in five years.
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Although he was flanked by new teammates who were all playing for the first time under a new coaching staff, the situation felt relatively familiar for Vucevic, who spent nine seasons of his 15-year career in Orlando.
“I gotta say I think I look pretty good in the blue with the stripes in white,” Vucevic said after practice Saturday inside the AdventHealth Training Center, which didn’t open until after his first stint with the Magic. “It felt pretty natural being back in that blue. It was good to be back.
“It was good to get out there with the guys, but I think the real, real feel will probably be on opening night. It was still nice to be out there and get a feel for it, so (we will) just continue to build on it.”
Orlando’s next opportunity to build off of Wednesday’s four-point preseason win at Memphis comes Sunday at Cleveland (6:30 p.m., ESPN).
The Magic and Cavaliers will face off twice in three days when Orlando hosts Cleveland for its preseason home opener Tuesday at Kia Center.
While Magic coach Sean Sweeney liked a lot of what he saw from his team against the Grizzlies – such as the team recording 35 assists as it shot 44.4% from 3-point range – he shared what he’s hoping the team focuses on against the Cavaliers.
“One of the things that I really want us to hit on as we go up there is our discipline on both sides of the ball,” Sweeney said. “Disciplined to be in the right spots defensively. Disciplined to make sure we make the right call every time. We want to have some things be a little bit more automatic when we know what we’re supposed to do. So not, ‘Should I? Or shouldn’t I?’ but some more automatic behaviors.”
“And then offensively, disciplined to be where we’re supposed to be,” Sweeney added. “Making sure we’re disciplined in our spacing and our decision-making. Just making sure we’re doing a good job continuing to build the habits that we brought into last game.”
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Sweeney said Anthony Black (right ankle sprain) and Noah Penda (right hamstring strain) both had good practices Saturday after they were full participants Friday. In addition, Jalen Suggs (illness) did more in practice and looked more like himself, Sweeney said.
The Magic coach, however, was cautious when talking about their availability for Sunday after the three missed Wednesday’s game.
“For any of those guys, you can’t skip steps,” Sweeney said. “You can maybe take them a little faster, but, in general, it’s step-by-step.”
Jonathan Isaac, who missed Wednesday’s preseason game at Memphis due to personal reasons, was not seen during the media-viewing session of Saturday’s practice for the second day in a row.
Regardless of who’s available for Sunday’s exhibition, Sweeney has a positive outlook about other players on the roster, including second-year guard Jase Richardson who started in place of Suggs at Memphis.
“Just in general what I would say is, anytime somebody’s out, it’s another opportunity for someone else,” Sweeney said. “I thought Jase did a really good job in a number of ways with his minutes last game. Jevon (Carter) did some good things as well.
“The other thing that it allows you to do when you play is it allows you to learn a little bit more about what is needed. And at the end of the day, you’re always trying to prepare for the test, take the test, make the corrections on things you need to correct and then move forward.”
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Jason Beede can be reached at [email protected]
Up next
What: Magic at Cavaliers, preseason
When: 6:30 p.m., Sunday, Rocket Arena
TV: ESPN