The Magic seemed set on building a defensive minded team with the way they have drafted the last few years — Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton — and the overall direction the franchise seems to want to take. Even last season, the Magic’s defense was probably better than their record might indicate — 18th in the league with a 104.8 defensive rating.
If the Magic were truly going to turn the proverbial corner this season, it would have to come on the defensive end of the floor.
Through the preseason, the Magic’s defense seemeed to be stellar. Preseason stats can be misleading though.
Through two regular season games, then, the Magic’s defense has left a little something to be desired. Two games giving up more than 100 points and plenty of schematic oddities — switching on off-ball screens not involving Nikola Vucevic that led to times when Elfrid Payton was guarding Ryan Anderson in the post, for instance.
Two games is hardly enough to making any sweeping conclusions. Jacque Vaughn is not prepared to do so either. But so far the defense has not quite been what was hoped for to this point.
And everyone knows it has to be to get the Magic where they want to be.
“I think we’ve been doing pretty solid defensively,” Nikola Vucevic said. We can always do better. It’s something that we are going to look at to be an advantage. When teams play us, they know we’re a good defensive team. That’s how we have to play. We’re not a team that is going to go out there and score 120 points per game. We have to limit teams as much as we can on their offensive end so it can give us a chance to win.”
The Magic’s paint defense has had its struggles through two early season game. Photo by Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Magic are currently giving up 105.6 points per 100 possessions. A noticeable drop from last year’s total and, with an offense that has already sunk near the bottom of the league (granted, Oklahoma City and Golden State also have found homes there too. . . I do not think that will last too much longer).
That number is going to change as more games get played and data sinks in. The Magic are going to have to work and improve to make that number better.
“I think overall after two games, you continue to look at what shots are you giving up are they contested shots,” Jacque Vaughn said. “How did the shots get produced? It is too early right now to put your hands on any numbers that matter except for turnovers. Those kind of correlate between preseason and regular season. I think those numbers have impacted any defensive numbers you have seen right now.”
Reducing turnovers will help and preventing easy baskets. Magic opponents are scoring 13.2 percent of their points off Magic turnovers. Getting the defense set will help the team improve on that end.
The more concerning part might be that 46.2 percent of opponent’s scores are coming in the paint. The Magic have to do a better job protecting the paint. The Magic tend to have Nikola Vucevic sit back on pick and rolls, but the way perimeter players are struggling to get stops has put him in some bad situations where he has to rotate quicker than he can or leave his man with no help on the back side.
The Magic are still very much learning how to play together. Bringing Channing Frye into the lineup has brought a moment and pause as he transitions into the rotation.
As defense becomes more second nature, it should improve. The Magic certainly have the talent to get there.
“I think we’re going to be very good defensively,” Evan Fournier said. “We’ve just got to do it together for 48 minutes. We can’t have a guy forget the play or something like that. Defense is about teamwork more than offense. We just have to stay focused for 48 minutes. It’s a habit. The more we work on it, we’re going to get better at it.”