Orlando Magic still searching for free throws
The Orlando Magic have not been a great team at drawing free throws. That is one of the many things that will have to change for the team this year.
The Orlando Magic could not stop the parade Wednesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. In fact, the Pelicans made 16 of 20 free throws during a 37-point second quarter on their way to attempting 51 free throw attempts for the game.
Some of that is preseason. Teams get sloppy and tend to foul a lot in the preseason. But it is still a large concern for the Magic.
Something that has leaked through the past few seasons.
“We continue to talk to the whole team about it,” Scott Skiles said before Wednesday’s game against the Pelicans. “The discrepancy just can’t be as big as it is. If your opponents are making more free throws than you shoot, that’s a bad statistic. There is almost nothing you can do to overcome that. You might win a game here or there, but in a 10, 12, 15-game span, you are going to be well below .500. We’ve got to either get to the line more or stop fouling as much so the discrepancy isn’t as big.”
It is no secret Orlando has had trouble drawing fouls in the past. Last season, the team was 29th in the league with a 23.0 percent free throw attempt rate. The year before, the Magic stood at 23rd in the league at 25.3 percent and in the first year of the rebuild the Magic were 30th with a 19.7 percent free throw attempt rate.
Not seeing improvement last year was certainly troubling.
In addition, the Magic had 38 games last season where their opponents made more free throws than the Magic attempted, according to Basketball-Reference. Orlando spent nearly half the season making up a major deficit in free throw opportunities. Only the New York Knicks had more such games last year with 40 (and surprisingly Golden State had the fourth most such games with 32).
Adding further insult to injury, the Magic averaged the fewest free throws attempts per game last season at 19.1 per game. That put some undue pressure when they did go to the line. The Magic finished 24th in the league, shooting a 72.9 percent from the foul line.
For whatever reason, the Magic could not get themselves to the line. And opponents drew fouls against the Magic — getting 3.8 free throw attempts more per game.
Getting to the foul line is and should be an emphasis. Getting there and solving this deficit is another issue entirely.
“We just have to play better defense,” Victor Oladipo said. “One not foul too much. And then we’ve got to get to the foul line. We can make free throws. We have got very good free throw shooters. We have to get to the line more.”
On Thursday, the Magic did work on drills finishing through contact. Skiles said the team brought out pads and worked on finishing through bumps and contact. He has emphasized to his team not to change their shooting motion, double pump or fake through contact. They will have to finish strong and normally to get the officials’ attention.
Specifically during this preseason, fouling has been an issue. It is preseason, and so some of that is understandable. Skiles singled out the fouling as the one thing that caused the Magic defense problems except for the poor second quarter.
He noted some of that is how physical he lets players play during practice and how the coaches swallow their whistles in order to change the attacking mentality and have players fight and play through contact. That might have to get dialed back now that the season is preparing to start.
The hope is defensively, the Magic will be able to make that adjustment and decrease the fouls they concede. Learning how to draw fouls. That has been something that has been a work in progress for some time now.
Victor Oladipo talked about it being a skill he had to learn throughout all of last season. Oladipo averaged 4.4 free throw attempts per game, drawing 3.6 fouls per game (for reference, Tobias Harris drew 2.8 fouls per game and Nikola Vucevic drew 2.9 per game last year).
Oladipo certainly wants to do a better job getting to the line and drawing even more fouls. It is something the team talks about continually, but it is not something Skiles can really teach his team.
“I think it is more of an art,” Skiles said. “I don’t think a coach can teach that. We can talk about it, we can look at tape. The real sort of issue with it is if you are going to go to the basket, especially at this level, you have to have your head up, you have to go off of one leg and you’ve got to appear to be extending for a layup as opposed to going off of two feet and double pumping. We just have to be stronger with the ball and with the idea to finish. But also if they come at the last second, be able to kick it, drop it off or whatever it is. There is definitely a feel.”
Getting to the foul line more would certainly improve the Magic’s chances to win games. They have to get more free opportunities at the line. And, with better defense, they should be able to reduce the deficit on the other end.