NBA Free Agency 2017: 5 offseason needs for the Orlando Magic
By John Buhler
3. Reliable 3-point shooting
They call it 3-and-D for a reason. If a team plays good defense and knocks down 3-point field goals with great regularity, well, then that team has a decent shot at winning. This term usually applies to guys that play out on the wing at shooting guard and small forward.
Orlando needs help at that position group desperately. The Magic got stuck in that annual glue trap known as Jeff Green. Hennigan bought into the allure of what Green might be able to do in a support role. All he did for the Magic was average 9.2 points per game on 39.4 percent shooting from the field and 27.5 percent from beyond the arc.
As a team, Orlando shot only 32.9 percent on 3-pointers this past season. That was the second-worst mark in the league. Fournier and Ross are the only rotational players in Orlando that were strong 3-point shooters for the Magic, averaging 35.6 and 34.1 percent from distance, respectively. Keep in mind that Ross only played about a third of the season with the Magic.
C.J. Watson struggled with his 3-point stroke, making just 30.5 of his tries from distance coming off the Magic bench. Mario Hezonja, Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton were all under 30 percent for the season.
Fournier and Ross can’t be the only two reliable perimeter scoring threats on this team next year. There may not be a ton of great shooters in the top of the draft, so chasing a free agent like Bojan Bogdanovic may be the way to go. Improved 3-point shooting will go a long way in towards getting the Magic on an upward trajectory.