National Basketball Association

Orlando Magic go high-low and give clue of half-court offense

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Orlando Magic tipped their hand offensively in their first two games. Pairing Nikola Vucevic and Bismack Biyombo revealed plenty of high-low potential.

The Orlando Magic were back in action this week for the first time this season. They had games to play and got to go up against someone not wearing the same uniform as them. It was a point to learn something about the Magic and their progress.

Or maybe it was not.

The Magic were without three starters for the first two preseason games. And it was easy to tell that this was not a complete team. It was not a team that was completely together either. There is still a lot of coming together.

This was the first chance to test things out for the Magic and get some understanding of who this team.

The lessons and the takeaways from the first two preseason games are small. These first two games do not make any larger statements about the season as a whole. Things are still very new for the team.

This was more a test run than a test to be passed.

The results of that test run? There is still a lot of work to do. And the team is no closer to figuring out its identity. Not yet. Everything is still formulating and getting worked out. And the Magic still need to get to full health.

But one area where this experiment began to take shape was with the big men and the offense the Magic plan to run.

The Magic are going against the tide in the modern NBA. While everyone goes small, the Magic went big. And piecing together that puzzle is one of the big tasks ahead for Frank Vogel.

The Magic got to test out one of those combinations in the first two games — the unlikeliest of the post combinations — in their first two games.

A Serge Ibaka–Nikola Vucevic pairing will look very different than a Bismack Biyombo-Nikola Vucevic pairing.

So far this preseason, the Vucevic-Biyombo duo has helped the Magic produce an 88.5 offensive rating and a 105.1 defensive rating, according to NBAWowy. It was not a productive duo for the Magic on the court. Vucevic struggled with his efficiency as he was left largely on the perimeter.

Frank Vogel admitted that is not a lineup the Magic would use against every team. Against smaller, more mobile teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Magic would not use that kind of lineup. Against a team like the Memphis Grizzlies with two bigs, it can work much more often.

In either case, do not expect the Magic to do very much with those two on the floor together.

But the way those two played together revealed something of how the Magic might manage their post players.

Typically one of the first plays middle schoolers learn are basic high-low sets where one of the post players rolls onto the block while the other sets up in the high post and can dish down low or anywhere on the perimeter. The plays that can run off this are basic, but it is tried and true. And there are a number of variants — dribble handoffs, screen and rolls, flex cuts, etc. — to build off this basic action.

The Magic, using Vucevic primarily in the high post, used this kind of offense a lot with Biyombo having limited ability anywhere outside the paint.

The threat of Vucevic in the high post and his ability to roll to the rim or run pick and rolls created space for Biyombo to post up:

First points of the preseason! #LetsGoMagic https://t.co/VJVnxmMyMP

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) October 4, 2016

This may very well be a clue to how the Magic will run things when Serge Ibaka returns to the lineup. It certainly fits what Vogel and the Indiana Pacers ran when they had two bigs in David West and Roy Hibbert.

This kind of high-low work takes advantage of the shooting threat Vucevic and Ibaka have and create a lot more options and outlets for the Magic in the pick and roll.

Vucevic already has recorded a solid number of assists — eight total assists in two games — and was one of the best passing big men in the league last year. Among centers who averaged at least 24 minutes per game last season, Vucevic was fifth at 2.8 assists per game.

In that stellar 2014 season for the Pacers, Indiana got 3.9 assists per game from David West and Roy Hibbert. About 2.0 assists per game from a center is a pretty solid number. And Vucevic has proven himself to be a more adept passer.

Orlando is going to make use of Vucevic’s passing ability whether it be from the low or high post.

Ibaka has never shown that kind of an ability — he averaged only 0.8 assists per game last year and has posted 1.0 assists per game just once in his career. The Magic probably will not run a lot of passing sets with Ibaka in the high post. Then again, he has never played with another offensive big like Vucevic.

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The potential for the Magic to run high-low sets though — whether it is out of horns or floppy set ups or using one big in a pick and roll to try to occupy the interior defense and free up a post player on the weak side — is one of the benefits Vucevic’s passing ability and the Magic’s versatility in the post provides.

The Vucevic-Biyombo combo does not provide this kind of versatility. Biyombo simply is no threat outside the paint unless he is running a pick and roll. And the Magic may very well have done that at points.

But with Vucevic-Ibaka, they can run more sets with Vucevic in the high post or run some sets where Ibaka has the ball in the high post because of his threat to shoot and make the mid-range jumper, and maybe attack some off the dribble.

What will be key if the Magic are planning on using high-low actions to free up their bigs is to balance how they are used. The Magic have to get Vucevic his post touches as he is much more effective offensively when he gets on the low block. But the Magic too have to get Ibaka some post touches so that he is not just hovering around the perimeter and can expand his offense.

The Magic though have shown some of their hand to this point with how they will use these two bigs.

They will set them up using each other, hoping Vucevic’s strong passing ability and IQ to decide when to shoot and when to feed the post will give the offense an element of unpredictability and versatility.

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