Victor Oladipo’s availability for the season opener remains unclear

Guard Victor Oladipo jogged a bit, threw down some dunks and took a few jumpers at the outset of the Orlando Magic’s open-to-the-public practice Monday night, marking the first time he’s taken a shot on Amway Center’s game court since the end of last season.

The Magic and Oladipo aren’t providing a timetable on when he’ll return. It could be overly optimistic to expect Oladipo to have recovered fully from his right knee’s sprained MCL by the time the Magic open their regular season on Oct. 28 in New Orleans.

“It feels a lot better,” Oladipo said. “It’s a day-by-day process. A sprained MCL is kind of like a scab. You’ve just got to let it heal. That’s pretty much what I’m doing.”

Oladipo wore a brace on his knee when he participated in the first 25 minutes of the team’s workout, but he watched from a courtside exercise bike as his teammates spent the next 35 minutes doing some light transition defense drills and some low-intensity scrimmaging.

Oladipo’s injury likely is less severe than the sprained left MCL that power forward Channing Frye has. Frye watched all of Monday night’s one-hour practice from the sidelines.

It seems next to impossible that Frye will be ready for the opener.

Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol and Washington Wizards power forward Nene suffered MCL sprains last season. Gasol missed 61/2 weeks of games, while Nene sat out 71/2 weeks.

If Frye misses a total of seven weeks — and that’s merely a guess — he would return on Nov. 20. The Magic will have played 13 regular-season games by that point.

Asked if there was a chance Oladipo and Frye could be ready by the opener, Magic coach Jacque Vaughn answered, “I don’t have a timeline. I think we’ll use these next couple of days to see how they progress and see how their bodies respond to more stimuli.”

This preseason was supposed to help the Magic to establish some continuity.

Even under the best of circumstances, creating cohesion was going to be difficult because of the offseason turnover on the team’s roster. The Magic have eight new players on their team: Evan Fournier, Frye, Aaron Gordon, Ben Gordon, Willie Green, Devyn Marble, Elfrid Payton and Luke Ridnour.

Frye and Oladipo haven’t played in any exhibition games.

“The only thing that we would love for those guys to be playing is just the understanding of where their teammates are on the floor, the feel of it,” Vaughn said.

“[If] a point guard comes across [the lane], where is Channing going to like the basketball? Is he a bounce-pass guy? Does he like it on a string [a bullet pass]? Little things like that, that you only get from playing — those are the things that we’ll have to play catch-up on.”

Oladipo has tried to remain patient during his recovery.

“It’s been tough, but at the end of the day, it’s a part of basketball, and I’ve gotten stronger,” Oladipo said. “I’ve gotten stronger mentally just watching. I see things that maybe I didn’t see when I was playing and I can apply to myself when I’m out there playing.”

Layups
* A Magic spokesman estimated that 2,000 fans attended Monday night’s free practice, but that estimate may have been too high.

* The Magic are scheduled to practice today.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.