Jalen Suggs embracing the good and the bad during rookie season with the Magic

ORLANDO – If Magic coach Jamahl Mosley didn't know Jalen Suggs played football in high school, he got his first glimpse of it at Summer League in August.

Instead of trying to maneuver around screens on defense, Suggs instead wanted to plow over whoever was in his way.

"He was not trying to duck through any screen," Mosley said. "Screen was set, he was trying to run a guy over."

Learning a smarter and less physically taxing way to play defense has been among the top priorities for the Minnehaha Academy graduate in his rookie NBA season.

"Trying to avoid getting hit, getting over, mixing in unders and anything you do to throw off the bigs," Suggs said. "Because pick and roll is such a big part of the game. If you can defend that, it's really easy to box a team up and ruin their flow."

Suggs' rookie season has been filled with learning experiences. There was a fractured left thumb that caused him to miss 20 games, and his shooting numbers might not be where he wants them to be (36% overall, 22% from three-point range).

When Suggs visited Target Center earlier in the season, he said adjusting to the pace of the NBA was one of his biggest adjustments coming out of Gonzaga. That's still a work in progress, he said.

"There's been good days, there's been bad days," Suggs said. "That's all part of the process and those are things you have to embrace or else you won't be great. You let those things stop you and hinder you from moving forward, that's how you stay average."

One area Mosley said Suggs has improved a lot from the beginning of the season is "knowing when to pick up the pace, knowing when to slow it down." Suggs credited teammate Markelle Fultz with helping him understand those nuances.

"We talk a lot about playing fast, stealing points and getting easy ones," Suggs said. "That's when time, score, situation comes into play. When we've had up-and-down possessions the last four or five, you want to slow it down, get into a set and make sure you're going to get a good shot. Learning from those situations, learning from being in the moment has definitely helped me and I'm just embracing it all."

That has been Suggs' attitude toward his rookie season, both the good and the bad.

"I'm definitely feeling comfortable as the season has gone on," he said.

Pick a favorite

Suggs was asked if the Wolves were his favorite team when he was growing up, and he demurred, saying he didn't really have a favorite team. But he did have a favorite Wolves player.

"Wally Szczerbiak," Suggs said. "That was my guy."

Suggs would have been about 4 years old during Szczerbiak's last season with the Wolves.

Suggs also gave a shoutout to Rashad McCants. Suggs said his grandfather was a chaplain for the Wolves and so there were team pictures and memorabilia around his grandfather's house when Suggs was young.

"It was good times," he said.

Injury updates

Wolves guard Jordan McLaughlin missed Friday's game because of right groin tightness, with coach Chris Finch saying his status is day to day. Jarred Vanderbilt (left quad contusion) was a game-time decision and was in the starting lineup. Anthony Edwards (left patella tendinopathy) and Taurean Prince (back spasms) came into the game questionable but were both in the lineup.