Introducing the Magic’s swing offense

What is the Magic offense right now?

That is a question plenty of people are probably wondering as they look to evaluate Jacque Vaughn in this his third year. Orlando has players that it probably views as part of the long-term future in Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton, Channing Frye (four years, $32 million says he is part of the future) and Nikola Vucevic. The program building really beings this year with a roster that contains more players this franchise sees as part of the future.

The fire-selling of veterans is done. The Magic need to figure out who is worth keeping and who is going to be moving on.

If Monday’s win over Detroit showed anything, it is that there is a ton of potential in this offense, perhaps much more than we previously realized. Instead of an offense struggling to score, the Magic are posting 100.4 points per 100 possessions. That is still near the bottom of the league, but it is a number that has slowly been inching up the last few games.

Elfrid Payton’s ability to attack off the dribble is a big part of the Magic’s offense early this season.Photo by Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

In the Magic’s last five games, the team has a 105.6 offensive rating, 11th in the league in that time span entering Tuesday’s games.

Orlando’s offense has come alive in a major way. Certainly Monday’s 33-assist performance does a lot to show exactly what this team’s potential is. Jacque Vaughn has said for the last two years that he does not know who is going to be the team’s leading scorer on any given night. This year, it really feels like that vision is coming to fruition.

As part of the program Vaughn and Rob Hennigan are trying to build, they want an offense that will be part of the program. They want a system that will last and fit the personnel they have. They have talked about this on numerous occasions. There is a deeper basketball understanding they want to establish.

“It’s the ultimate of understanding how to play the game of the basketball,” Jacque Vaughn said during training camp. “That when things break down in the fourth quarter and first quarter, it doesn’t matter, being able to play out of concepts and principles, you’ve got to push through.”

It is very similar to the style of play that Vaughn’s coaching career began with in San Antonio. There were more than a few thoughts after the Pistons win that the Magic looked like the Spurs.

Indeed, Orlando’s offense is similar to the swing motion offense San Antonio runs. The best explanation of the basic principles for San Antonio’s offense actually comes from a development video for NBA2K15:

You can see from the explanation of the basics of what the Spurs run (and how cool is it that 2K took the time to add these basic sets to their game?) it is based on ball movement around the perimeter and screening on the weak side. It is a very basic principle. From this, however, the team can set up pick and rolls, create lots of action away from the ball to take attention away from the ballhandler, work the high post or create post ups.

Everything the Magic run, virtually comes from a similar set. While isolations are possible to create out of this set, it obviously is nowhere near as effective. In fact, an isolation is probably the only thing that that can break up the rhythm of this kind of offense. There is always the possibility to return to the base set and work for a good shot.

Often when the Magic’s offense is really humming, they are running something off this base set — setting up pick and rolls off quick ball reversals and taking advantage of the defense rotating to keep up.

Here is one example of how the Magic are running this offense from early in the Pistons game:

Victor Oladipo initiates the offense by making a pass to Evan Fournier on the wing. This begins the spacing necessary to free up the shooter. You will note the team is going to start in a basic 3-out/2-in set with Oladipo in the middle and Channing Frye trailing. Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic are in the opposite corner.

The initial look here is going to be a screen and roll for Fournier with Frye. This is where Frye can really be deadly because of his ability to pop off the pick and roll. What Orlando does here is interesting though. Instead of having Oladipo just cut to the corner, he goes and sets a screen on Frye’s man, making it easier for Frye to go set the screen. This forces the defense to make a decision in how much to help and rotate and can free others up.

Already defensive decisions have to be made. Frye will get across the lane pretty easily to set a screen and roll for Fournier. Fournier has already shown he is pretty adept at handling the ball and getting into the lane to create for his teammates.

He will have some options here as he comes across the Frye screen. He can attack the basket. Dish back to Frye, who can then dish back to Oladipo wherever he goes after setting this screen. Or he can find Tobias Harris who will cut to the top of the key in Fournier’s sightline when the defense sinks in to stop the dribble penetration.

What makes this offense interesting is that off-ball movement opens everything up. Fournier comes of the screen and has multiple options. Nikola Vucevic cuts into the lane and has pretty good, deep post position. Oladipo is cutting to the corner on the weak side and pre-occupies Harris’ defender. Fournier has a head of steam with his man caught on the Frye screen. Fournier opts to pass to Harris and feeds him for the open 3-pointer.

Now, there is some lazy defense here. But the Magic also executed it pretty flawlessly to get a good shot. Harris got a great look and knocked it down.

When you have a system though, options are the key. If Harris is not open, Fournier can attack the basket or find Vucevic on the post up. Frye might be peeling out for a 3-pointer, or Harris could end up with the ball and attack himself with Vucevic setting a screen and Frye on the perimeter and Oladipo in the corner or Fournier setting a screen for him to cut baseline.

This is all part of what the Spurs run.

Former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he sees some similarities between what he ran as the Magic’s coach and what the Magic are running now in that Vucevic seems to be the fulcrum on which the whole offense is based. Certainly there are flashes of that play in the way the Magic whip the ball around the perimeter and use pick and rolls to free up ball handlers without a true isolation threat.

But the offense is very different too, relying on quick ball reversals and off-ball movement to get shots rather than the gravity of Dwight Howard cutting through the lane.

Take another play here:

The Magic are coming off an inbounds against Chicago and need to attack quickly. Payton takes the pass to the far side of the court and initiates with a Tobias Harris screen. Note the spacing of the Magic players to begin with.

The play appears designed to get Evan Fournier to flare off a double screen from Vucevic and Frye to the top of the key. Pau Gasol is playing center field and is cutting off the driving lane for Payton to attack (the first option off the screen). And so he takes a wider angle off Harris’ screen to give Fournier room to cut, presumably.

Instead, a lot more happens.

Frye is the one that pops up instead. He feeds the ball to Vucevic in the high post and he gives it to Fournier to run a second pick and roll. Note that only two seconds have come off the clock since the Magic inbounded.

The Magic are making quick decisions and reading the defense appropriately. Payton saw there was nothing in the middle and so made the second read to Frye at the top of the key. Frye pump faked and could not get a look and so gave it to Vucevic who started the secondary action, this pick and roll with Fournier.

Fournier will come around that screen and make another necessary read. Mike Dunleavy and Kirk Hinrich have sunk in to prevent the dribble penetration or the roll to Vucevic. So Fournier resets out to Payton.

Here is where the Magic’s great spacing comes into play. Frye has positioned himself on the wing and Payton flips it over to him quickly as Hinrich tries to close out. Gibson is late getting to Frye and he drains the 3-pointer.

Here the Magic used some quick decisionmaking and excellent spacing to get a good shot. All without ever getting the ball into the paint or really attacking the basket. The ball never really leaves the 3-point line in fact. The defense though has had to work because the Magic had multiple actions going on and the floor spacing that made it tough to react.

Already the spacing from Channing Frye has lifted the lid off the magic’s offense. Photo via USA TODAY Sports.

If Frye did not have the three, a pump fake and drive could have been an option or a rotation to Harris for an attack from the corner or a side pick and roll involving Frye and Harris. The way the offense is set up to constantly replace and move makes it harder for the defense to settle within one possession.

That is what the Magic are after offensively. The offense tends to bog down when the team is standing and watching one player work rather than getting guys moving and sending the ball across the court at least once, if not multiple times to try and get the defense out of position.

Some of this is part of the learning process. Some of it is still getting the defense down to set up the offense and create fast break opportunities and potential mismatches. The Magic can make quick decisions, but the more time they have to operate, the more efficient they can be in creating a really good shot.

“I think we need to understand that when we get defensive stops, we need to make sure we get good shots on offense,” Frye said after the loss to Toronto on Nov. 1. “With this new system and new guys, guys got to know when their shots are coming, what’s the right pass, what they’re looking at. I feel like today, we figured it out in the first half pretty quickly, they made some adjustments and then we were like ‘ah crap, what do we do now?’ We’ll see that on film and get better.”

The team appears to be getting better at this and making the right read more consistently. This is a good sign for the Magic as they implement more of this kind of offense.

Without a true one-on-one threat, it is going to take teamwork and trust in this system to score points at a high rate. Already the Magic are exceeding expectations on the offensive end and part of it has to be the system they are running and the growing trust they have in it.