Orlando Magic working to move practice production to games

The Orlando Magic have had good practices, coach Scott Skiles has said. But that productivity has not translated to games yet wholly.

Scott Skiles has been pleased behind closed doors. The Orlando Magic, he said, have had good practices. Almost all of their practices have been good. The intensity and energy have been good.

Translating that to games?

That has been the big issue for the Magic. A skill the team is still learning and figuring out even in the preseason. The intensity and precision needed in practice are slightly different than what is needed during games. Even preseason games.

“We have not had a bad practice yet,” Scott Skiles said. “When you start with two-a-days and you have some exhibition game sand you keep practicing and practicing and you haven’t had a real game yet, it wouldn’t be unusual to drive out of here late in teha fternoon one day and say, ‘Boy we just weren’t there today.’ We haven’t had one yet. I don’t anticipate that happening. We need more carryover from the intensity we have in practice and attention to detail, into games.”

Skiles has stated the same trope for several games now.

His team has had its good moments and its bad moments throughout the games in the preseason. He and his team are searching for more consistency in their mindset and approach to games. Skiles has said he wants his team to be sharper during shootarounds and in preparations for games. There are still many things this young team has to learn.

Practices have been good for the Magic. They have accomplished a lot and some of the concepts Skiles has implemented have sunk in during games. It may not quite be second nature which has led to mistakes and some points of struggle.

The energy and vibe is good though and that is at least a starting point.

“Just the energy, every practice that we have had has a good vibe of energy,” said Tobias Harris, who will miss Tuesday’s game against the Heat after banging knees in Sunday’s game against the Rockets. “Everyone is just really going hard. I don’t think you can have too bad of a practice if everyone is going hard. You might miss some shots, you might make bad plays, but the focal point of everyone just going full throttle has helped the practice flow.”

The trick, of course, is getting good practices to translate into games. That has been as much part of the learning process as anything else.

Skiles has not hidden from his team’s youth, although he has repeatedly said it will not be an excuse. He let the team flounder a bit in Sunday’s win over the Rockets as the Rockets were trouncing the Magic in the first quarter. At moments where a coach may have called a timeout, he left the Magic on the floor to try to figure things out for themselves — saying in as many words that he would not be there to rescue them from their poor effort or mistakes. And Skiles has been blunt to the media at times about how his team has played in those stretches.

But these moments are important too. They are teaching moments and highlight just how much work and learning this young team still has to go through. Translating a good practice into a game is a difficult endeavor.

“We don’t have a lot of guys who have won games in the NBA or played in big games,” Skiles said. “How many big games have these guys really played in? That’s part of it. We realize it. There is a learning curve about what it takes to perform at a high level and sometimes, particularly young guys, can think, ‘I’m doing good enough to win,’ when they are not. The encouraging thing is we have been very good in practice and we have had good moments in the game. We just haven’t had enough of them.”

“There is a learning curve about what it takes to perform at a high level and sometimes, particularly young guys, can think, ‘I’m doing good enough to win,’ when they are not.” –Scott Skiles

Skiles said at this midway point of the preseason he does not know what kind of team he has yet. It is too hard to pinpoint where their progress is because other teams might be preparing on different schedules than his team is.

That is understandable, he is worried about his team and where they are playing to his standard. He has highlighted the good but will not ignore the bad, hoping it slowly dissipates heading into the season.

Good practices are a good sign the team is willing to work and willing to learn. Application is all that is left to do and now is the time to make some mistakes and learn what the expectations are. Simulations of game minutes and rotations will come after the Brazil trip in all likelihood, Skiles said.

The Magic have a long task ahead of them. They know it too.

The good has been good and the bad has been bad. For now, the Magic have shown plenty of bad in their preseason games. It is just about reducing them and continuing to get better as the calendar ticks toward the start of the regular season.

“We have a lot of things to get better at,” Evan Fournier said. “That’s a new system. It takes time to get very good at it. I think we’re in pretty good shape, we just have to get better.”

Next: Orlando Magic seek consistency as Aaron Gordon returns