The Orlando Magic are not going to be the best shooters in the league. Scott Skiles though wants to see more threes hoisted. It will be a key to the offense
Scott Skiles does not come to Orlando with an offensive reputation. His team’s highest finish in the league in offensive rating according to Basketball-Reference was 13th in 2012, his penultimate season where the Bucks missed the Playoffs. His best before that was his 16th place finish in his first year as head coach of the Suns.
To say the least, Skiles’ offenses have been uninspiring. And the main concern for many Magic fans was not that Skiles would not make the team better, but that his focus would only be on the defensive end.
The jury might still be out on whether Skiles can break that mold with this Magic team, a team that finished 27th in the league in offensive rating according to Basketball-Reference. Things, at least, cannot get much worse on that end.
To this point in the preseason, the Magic have displayed a new style of offense based more on player and ball movement rather than pick and rolls. Scott Skiles and the players have both said the team has not even really discussed pick and rolls to this point.
One thing certainly holding the Magic back is their 3-point shooting. Orlando finished tied for 15th in 3-point field goal percentage last year but finished 22nd in 3-point field goal attempts. Even though Skiles is not known for creating a 3-point shooting offense, he does see a need for his team to create more 3-point opportunities.
This question came up in a recent Orlando Magic preview I did with Matt Cianfrone of Pelican Debrief:
"2. Orlando was barely below New Orleans in threes made per game last season with 6.8. Does that improve this year as seemingly every team in the league moves towards pace and space and launching threes?Philip: The Magic have one issue when it comes to 3-pointers — they do not have a ton of three-point shooters. Victor Oladipo and Tobias Harris have improved, but defenses do not respect them yet. Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon are still working with a shooting coach on improving some fundamental parts of their forms.But another problem was that not only do the Magic not have a lot of shooters, meaning defenders are not respecting them as much, they are also not getting a ton of three-point shots either. So Skiles is working to increase the attempts the Magic put up in addition to making more.I think players will get better at three-point shooting. Victor Oladipo improved from 32.7 percent to 33.9 percent last year and Tobias Harris bumped up from 25.4 percent to 36.4 percent. So there is improvement to be made. Skiles is going to look to get them more shots from beyond the arc through ball movement more than anything else. It will just be about knocking them down."
Getting more attention on the 3-point shot not only fits the new wave of analytics and play style going across the league (the league’s total 3-point attempts continues to increase at record rates), but it is also important to create the spacing the Magic want for the cutting and movement in their offense. It will create driving space and it is a natural by product of quick ball reversals and passing.
Skiles’ offenses have never fully embraced the 3-pointer. Then again, he has not really coached with a team that could fire away from 3-point range. Not to say the Magic could do that either.
One thing that was apparent last year was that there were improvements in the team’s shooting. Oladipo and Harris, as noted, took steps up as shooters for the Magic. Channing Frye, despite his other problems, had a solid shooting year percentage wise.
The problem, as Skiles has put it, is getting more 3-point attempts. And quality 3-point attempts at that. That will be the task of Skiles in designing the offense.
For the record, the Magic are up to 26.2 3-point attempts per game in the preseason from 19.5 last year. They are just making 36.6 percent on 3-pointers in this year’s preseason after shooting 34.5 percent last year. Those are just preseason stats, but it is somewhat encouraging to see the Magic have shot a solid percentage while increasing their attempts.
It is yet to be seen if that lasts into the regular season.
Throughout the early part of the season, at least, 3-point shooting will be something to watch for the Magic and their new offense.
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