Orlando Magic’s need for a frontcourt defender still a real one
Orlando’s frontcourt defense has been bad over the past six games, making obvious the need for a rangy defender to be drafted or signed this offseason.
The Orlando Magic’s frontcourt rotation is potentially much stronger defensively with Dewayne Dedmon, Aaron Gordon and Maurice Harkless serving larger roles. However, the need to add another premier defender to the frontcourt is indisputable given the recent dominance of opposing forwards.
Dewayne Dedmon has provided the Orlando Magic with a major interior presence. In the 103-98 win over the Boston Celtics, he had two rejections though the number of shots he changed seems nearly innumerable. Gordon added another rejection off the bench and Maurice Harkless had a block and three steals.
This is what needs to happen on a regular basis, but it has not been the norm, nor was it a picture without some serious and nearly fatal flaws in it—as we’ll see later.
With that trio, the Magic have a defender to match most oppositions; but there is strength in numbers and the Magic have struggled to contain a number of players in the last six games. Even with potentially strong defenders, the Magic bigs are still not defending at a high level on the perimeter when forced on switches or having to step out. The Atlanta Hawks frontcourt nailed 7 of 13 from three-point range as a result.
A number of forwards have flat out taken it to the Magic:
In the 93-90 overtime loss to the Miami Heat on Feb 25, it was small forward Luol Deng who hit four field goals in the third quarter as part of his 21 points, willing the Heat back into that game.
The next night out, power forward Paul Millsap hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Hawks raced out to a big lead and left the Magic playing from behind the remainder of the night.
Jump forward: Against the Charlotte Hornets, the Magic allowed Cody Zeller to get four offensive rebounds and score seven buckets, most of which were easy looks around the hoop. Al Jefferson’s 16 are easy to tolerate, but the Hornets got 27 from Zeller and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and also allowed the Hornets starting frontcourt to outbound Orlando’s own 31 to 20.
Against the Phoenix Suns on March 4, Markieff Morris proceeded to go nuts matching Victor Oladipo and negating a would-be run by hitting 11 of 17 from the floor on the night and posting a +14 while on the court. Morris conserved energy defensively by sagging on Dewayne Dedmon and Andrew Nicholson, who combined for 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting.
The Magic tried putting the athletic and rangy Aaron Gordon on Morris, but not much seemed to slow him nor the Suns attack in transition, as Phoenix scored 18 fast-break points and outpaced the Magic 34-17 in the third quarter.
Finally on Friday, swingman Rudy Gay went absolutely nuts on Tobias Harris as he scored 39 points and nearly gave the Kings enough juice to overcome Victor Oladipo’s 32 points and 10 assists.
Harris did not look particularly horrible necessarily, and Gay is a proven legitimate 20-point-per-game scorer — but he scored almost twice that, and he had no trouble getting to his sweet spots.
Harris may be an average defender, and that is the problem: average defenders in the NBA can be exploited by veteran scorers regularly. Gay has been around long enough to know how to exploit a weak interior like Orlando’s, and Harris is not good enough individually to put the clamps on an aggressive small forward. These are part of the compelling arguments given for not keeping Harris in the fold if the bidding gets too high this summer.
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Channing Frye had three blocks versus Sacramento, but he is not a presence that is going to prevent a guy like Gay from attacking the rim — and he most certainly did not, as Gay got in to draw five free throws and took 12 of his 26 field goal attempts within five feet. The Kings put up 38 from the line to Orlando’s 12 attempts.
That does not speak of an opponent afraid to contest the rim. Nikola Vucevic was out both the Kings game and Sunday night against Boston — but he has not shown that his presence does much to discourage the opposition either.
The personnel just is not here (yet) to block shots and force teams to pull up for jumpers.
Furthermore, the Magic allowed 19 offensive rebounds and were -6 on the glass for the contest in the victory. Considering that, the 119-114 victory was a gift. The Kings got to the line a ton, dominated the glass, and lost.
The Magic escaped with a 103-98 win over the Boston Celtics but allowed Brandon Bass to have a career game as he recorded 17 rebounds to go with a solid 19 points on 9 of 14 shooting. Of his 17 rebounds, 10 (yes, 10!) came on the offensive end. Magic fans know Bass, and the overwhelming theme of his offensive game is: opportunist.
Bass scored because the Magic were creating opportunities for him — by not boxing out, by not contesting a steady jumpshot, by not stopping the ball on the perimeter and forcing a big man rotation — and by continually allowing his hard effort to beat them on the glass.
Bass is a good pro, a great glue guy, but he is not a near-20/20 type of player, and that is what he was against Orlando.
Luol Deng. Paul Millsap. Cody Zeller. Markieff Morris. Rudy Gay. And Brandon Bass.
Only two of those players have been NBA All-Stars. None are superstars. Zeller and Morris are two fine young players, but they are likely glue guys at best, not guys defenses should capitulate to and allow huge games from.
And each has played their role in dismantling the Magic’s frontcourt defense.
The Kings had no problem snatching offensive boards and getting second chance points, and Bass must have watched the tape because he did the exact same thing Sunday night. Teams are going to see this Magic team lying with a spear in its side, but that spear is one that can be extracted through effort alone.
Rebounding is boxing out. It is keeping a presence of mind and not allowing guys to weave to the glass to create second chance points. There are beasts in the league like Andre Drummond, and even the likes of DeMarcus Cousins and Gay (who combined for nine o-rebs in the game), but it should not be a re-occurring theme that teams are staying in games because the Magic are not giving the effort on the glass.
Kyle O’Quinn has fallen out of favor, which is a disappointing development in light of how well he had played earlier this season. It is fairly obvious Dedmon has usurped his role as the primary backup at the 4/5, and now we are even seeing Dewayne starting.
The Magic have developments already here, but further fortification of the frontcourt is absolutely imperative at this point — still.
The draft will arrive and the Magic can look to names like Willie Cauley-Stein of Kentucky, Myles Turner of Texas or even highly touted Karl-Anthony Towns of Kentucky to solve some of these issues, at least on the interior. Free agency may be another chance to add a tough guy at the 4/5 spots who can cover weak-side.
The Magic are getting to a point now where an idea can be had of what is needed to complete at least the defensive side of the ball. And that need calls for a shot blocker and a big man who can be a utility defender.