Stephen Zimmerman is not with the Orlando Magic on this current road trip. Instead he tore it up in his D-League debut Thursday in Erie.
While the Orlando Magic have been out on the road this past week, they left one player behind. Or rather in Erie.
Magic rookie Stephen Zimmerman has not gotten much playing time — just 11 minutes in two games — so far this year. The raw second round pick was not expected to get a ton of playing time. But he is still very talented and the Magic wanted to watch their young player develop closely.
Frank Vogel said before the season Stephen Zimmerman would get significant time in the D-League. And situations like this week are exactly what he and the Magic had in mind.
Ahead of the road trip, with limited practice time on the horizon as the Magic go through their heaviest back-to-back stretch of the season, the team sent Stephen Zimmerman to the D-League’s Erie BayHawks. This would give Zimmerman his first major professional playing time.
And in his first game, Zimmerman delivered.
Zimmerman scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in Thursday’s Erie loss to the Maine Red Claws . Zimmerman made 8 of 14 shots in 36 minutes. This was the point of his trip — to get him massive amounts of playing time.
“It was a lot of fun,” Zimmerman told John Dudley of the Erie Times News. “Sitting with the Magic and watching those games is different, but there’s nothing like being on the court.
“They told me from the beginning I was going to get some good playing time, so I kind of expected that. A big thing was all the conditioning I did with the Magic. That definitely helped out a lot, even though I complained about it sometimes.”
It does seem the Magic’s plan to get him some playing time while they are out on the road is working.
He showed off his mid-range jumper and his ability to work around the basket. He looked like he could more than hold his own physically in the D-League and work around the basket. It was a good sign for the young player, finally getting some significant playing time.
This is exactly what the Magic wanted in this D-League assignment. It will not likely be his last. But the signs are encouraging from the rookie.
Zimmerman and the BayHawks play again Saturday against the Westchester Knicks. It is the final game for the BayHawks on this homestand. Zimmerman will likely get recalled back to the Magic for Wednesday’s home game against the Boston Celtics.
It seems Zimmerman accomplished what the Magic needed from him. He got playing time and appears to have reinforced what he has worked on with the Magic in practice.
That may not mean he will get much playing time still with the main roster. But these are all good signs it would seem for his development this year.
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