The Orlando Magic opened training camp under new head coach Scott Skiles. That comes with a new focus and precision to each moment they prepare for the year
The Orlando Magic opened training camp Saturday with clear goals and objectives and at least the beginnings of a plan to achieve them.
Scott Skiles said he and his staff looked to establish some general concepts and build on the things he and his coaching staff talked with the players about informally throughout the summer.
Nothing was foreign to them, this was just their first time putting it to work. This was just the Magic getting started with the long process.
“They are very good,” Scott Skiles said. “We knew the guys were in good shape anyway. So nothing surprised us. We didn’t look around now and feel like we were wrong. We were right, the guys are in good shape. We went hard. We made some fatigue mistakes and stuff like that, but overall it was very good.”
More than anything though, the big thing the Magic noticed in their first practice with Scott Skiles is his attention to detail, particularly on defense. Tobias Harris, a player who previously played under Skiles in Milwaukee, said Skiles is very intentional with what he instructs and how he uses his practice time.
That made a huge difference with the beginning of camp.
Skiles reiterated his players have the “want-to” to improve and to take accountability for the team. Players were quick to take responsibility for their mistakes and work to correct it the next time around.
The eagerness to learn and to improve stood out after the first practice. And for a first practice that seems to be a good place to start.
“He told us, we will put in the defensive stuff we are doing, just do them regardless of the outcome is,” Nikola Vucevic said. “Just do it over and over and over. And keep believing in it. We did some drills where guys changed it a little bit and he took points away from us. I thought that was pretty good for us to keep believing in what we do and not just do our own thing.”
The focus was very clearly on defense the players said of the first practice. The offensive sets run during scrimmages were still rudimentary while the attention and activity on defense seemed much higher. Or at least more vocal.
As the Magic work to build a defensive identity, it is not strange to see the team focusing more on defensive principles and rotations early in camp as the foundation for the team. It was not perfect, as Vucevic said, but it was high energy and provided that baseline to continue building.
Oladipo said Skiles was extremely precise and specific during the first practice on what he wants from the team as far as positioning and closeouts. Little details that can be a big difference for a team trying to improve defensively.
There still needs to be buy-in and belief that will grow over time.
The point of training camp right now is to begin laying that foundation. And, as Skiles said last week, make progress.
Roles are still developing. Skiles split up his presumed starters. No leaders have quite emerged although players said they noticed they were more vocal and that was a point of emphasis with Skiles when he observed some tape of last year’s Magic team.
It is still one practice.
Players have talked about Skiles’ open communication and Skiles has talked about how he will hold players accountable — whether it be instructing them after a mistake or pulling them from a game to watch.
There is no question how things need to be. When a mistake was made it was clear –either to themselves or as the coaches pointed out — what the mistake was and how to fix it.
That will help bring clarity as the Magic prepare and start camp.
“He’s very precise,” Oladipo said. “He knows what he wants and that’s what we have to do. We have to buy into that if we want to win.”
It is all still a bit of a feeling out process for the Magic. The work is just beginning though.