Orlando Magic end their big experiment and gained so little
The Orlando Magic were a team in need of a shakeup and did so on the night of the 2016 NBA Draft — trading their pick as part of a deal for Serge Ibaka. Their offseason did not get really confusing, though, until they signed Bismack Biyombo to a four-year deal. With Serge Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic already in the fold and Aaron Gordon’s development a continued priority, it was puzzling. How were the Magic supposed to employ all these various tools and players with such a logjam in the front court?
The Magic sold their decisions as zigging while the rest of the league zagged. Their theory was with rim protection in Ibaka and Biyombo, they could wall off the paint and become an elite defense, figuring their offense would come largely in transition.
None of that worked, of course. The Magic before the All-Star Break were virtually the worst offense in the league ranking 26th in field goal percentage (44.1 percent) and 29th in offensive rating (100.6 points per 100 possession). The defense didn’t work out either. The team before the break was 21st in defensive efficiency(106.9 points allowed per 100 possession) and 25th in opponent field goal percentage (46.4 percent).
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That pairing of Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo? In 561 minutes together the Magic gave up 112.2 points per 100 possessions. Orlando’s defensive gamble failed dramatically — as it has done for others.
Worse still, Gordon’s development was uneven. Sure, he became a solid defensive presence on the perimeter. But it seemed to be the only saving grace. Moving him to the small forward was clearly an odd fit. He is averaging a career-best 11.2 points per game, but shooting a career-worst 43.2 percent and still struggling from beyond the arc, making 28.6 percent of his 3-pointers. Having him on the perimeter for a team that already lacked a ton of shooting hurt its efficiency greatly. Gordon played virtually no minutes at his seemingly more natural power forward thanks to the logjam.
All of that changed when the Magic traded Serge Ibaka to the Toronto Raptors for Terrence Ross. The Magic now had no choice to go small. They threw out their two-big lineups and put Aaron Gordon at power forward. Orlando finally modernized their rotation.
“Speed is beating size league-wide right now,” Magic coach Frank Vogel said after the Magic’s 105-86 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. “What you saw tonight with Aaron was an example of that. He was able to beat his man off the bounce not just in regular close-out situations but as the screener. He’s getting the ball now with space and no one between him and the basket. Whereas when he was playing on the perimeter they were backing up and there was a body in front of him at all times.”
Gordon scored 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting. His shots were coming much closer to the rim. Vogel said at power forward, Gordon could use his athleticism more effectively. Once he gets past his man at there, he has a free run to the basket rather than having to navigate another layer of the defense. He also helped hold Paul Millsap to 3-for-10 shooting after Millsap averaged 16.3 points per game and 45.8 percent shooting in the previous four games against the Magic.
To many, this was a “well, duh” moment. Vogel said everyone seemed to be back in their “right positions” as the Magic romped past the Hawks. Even in an 112-103 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, the first game with Terrence Ross since the Ibaka trade, Orlando was noticeably more energetic. And the spacing Ross created on the perimeter too seemed to boost the offense. In the last two games, the Magic have a 102.6 offensive rating. That is not setting the world on fire, but it at least shows some competence — and the defense, largely bolstered by that effort against Atlanta on Saturday, has a defensive rating of 96.4. The early signs are good for the Magic.
The question that remains is what exactly took the Magic so long to realize this? Why did the Magic invest so much in size in a league that is increasingly getting smaller? Perhaps Orlando did not foresee offenses jumping the way they have this year. Maybe the Magic (rightfully at the time) believed defense would carry them to the playoffs.
Still, the way the team went about building its roster never truly made sense. The Magic devalued shooting and spacing and banked solely on the defense getting them there. Even Aaron Gordon’s most optimistic observers knew he would have obvious flaws offensively as a wing. And those struggles proved warranted. It was an experiment worth trying, but not while the team was trying desperately to win and make the playoffs.
All of the Magic’s plans this year went wrong. Painfully so. And all their gambles — whether it was banking on defense, banking on size or trading for Serge Ibaka in the first place — failed to work out.
Now the Magic are doing what everyone felt so obvious. And, at least through two games, have found success. Going small has re-energized a team that seemed going nowhere and had certainly disappointed in 2017.
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It begs the question why the Magic took so long to adopt something so obvious. And what might have gotten lost in the process.