National Basketball Association

Orlando Magic must duplicate their 3-point success

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

foxsports

The Orlando Magic are not considered a 3-point shooting team. They do not have to be. But they were successful in one area and must do so again.

The Orlando Magic are decidedly not a 3-point shooting team. The perception around the team is they lack a ton of shooting. There are not a lot of great shooters on the team. Or at least that is the perception.

The Magic’s likely starting and finishing lineup seems to lack many players perceived as shooters. Evan Fournier shot 40 percent from beyond the arc last year. He was one of four players to shoot 35 percent or better from beyond the arc last year. Three of those players are no longer on the team.

As much focus as the Magic are ready to put on the defensive end, someone has to score. And someone will have to shoot to make room for drivers and easy scoring opportunities.

Frank Vogel and the Orlando Magic will have to figure out how to create this space and create shots. The Magic are already not a heavy 3-point shooting team — their 22.2 3-point field goal attempts were 22nd in the league and 35.0 percent shooting was 16th.

This does not mean the Magic have to become the 2009 Magic or the Golden State Warriors overnight. If they are not a 3-point shooting team, they do not have to be. Seven of the top 10 teams in terms of 3-point field goal percentage made the Playoffs last year. But so did five of the bottom 10 teams.

What really has to happen is the Magic have to make the most of the 3-point attempts they do get. The Magic were middle-of-the-road shooting team with the 3-pointers they did get. So the question then is how to get quality 3-pointers.

Last year, the Magic were good when given open looks, as Zach Harper of CBS Sports noted in breaking down 3-point shooting in the league.

They took 10.8 of their 22.2 3-point attempts per game when wide open, defined as no defender within six-plus feet by NBA.com, making 39.3 percent of them. That was the 10th most attempts per game and the 12th best 3-point field goal percentage in those situations.

More interestingly is who was good at making those kind of shots. Evan Fournier made these shots at a 45.2 percent clip. That is expected.

Elfrid Payton though made these shots at 43.1 percent. He had 0.7 wide open 3-point shot attempts per game. More established shooters like Fournier had more and even Aaron Gordon got more. But teams should ignore Payton when he is off the ball at their own peril, it would seem.

The Magic made open 3-pointers (defined by NBA.com as a defender within 4-6 feet) at a similarly effective clip. Orlando was not nearly as effective in getting these kind of shots or making them — 8.7 attempts per game and 32.9 percent shooting.

Orlando’s offense then was seemingly good at creating wide open 3-point shots and making them. With the Magic’s apparent lack of shooting though, perhaps the goal is to take 3-pointers only when they can get these kinds of open looks.

Then again, the Magic changed a lot. They will not have the same mix of shooters.

They added shooters in D.J. Augustin, Jodie Meeks and even Serge Ibaka. Nikola Vucevic has reportedly been working on his 3-point shooting and has been making 3-pointers at Eurobasket qualifying for Montenegro.

As Harper writes on the outlook of getting open shots:

How different will it look under Frank Vogel? Magic loaded up on big men this summer, and are hoping for a bounce back from Serge Ibaka (34.4 percent). Jeff Green is in Orlando now but shot just 35.5 percent overall between the Clippers and Grizzlies. D.J. Augustin split time between Denver and OKC and finished with 44.4 percent on 54 attempts. It will all come down to how well Payton, Ibaka, and Gordon shoot when left open.

The Magic this year are not likely to be a 3-point heavy team. They do not have the personnel for it.

Frank Vogel’s Pacers teams were not big 3-point shooters either. Last year, with a smaller more versatile lineup than his previous teams, the Pacers took only 7.6 of their 23.0 3-point attempts in wide-open situations. Indiana shot 35.1 percent overall, 14th in the league and not much better than the Magic.

Last season, Scott Skiles employed a passing and motion offense. When the team executed and ran it, it did get the most out of the Magic and their offensive capabilities. But it did get bogged down. And without a great one-on-one player to generate penetration and force the defense to collapse, the offense could sputter.

There are still many of those concerns as Vogel may run a similar motion-based offense, using passing to find the open man and attack defensive rotations.

The make up of the roster, without a true dribble penetration threat, too could limit the shots the Magic get.

Fournier could see more time on the ball. But he was extremely effective and efficient shooting open 3-pointers — he made 148 of 356 shots (41.6 percent) with a defender four-plus feet away, including 219 shots categorized as “wide open.” If he is on the ball more, those shot attempts will surely go down.

The quality of the Magic’s 3-point shots could very well determine whether they can have a successful offense. With so many players who struggle to shoot or, at least, do not have a shooting reputation, figuring out how to unpack the paint will be a key to their potential success.

The Magic do not need to take a lot of 3-pointers to be effective. But they do need to get quality 3-point looks with the ones they do get.