Frank Vogel: Speed beats size in today’s NBA
The Orlando Magic in two games have seen something of an offensive and energy renaissance. Speed beats size in the NBA today.
The Orlando Magic said they were trying something unorthodox in the modern NBA when they constructed their roster this summer. Their plan to pair two bigs together with stretch-4 Serge Ibaka and Nikola Vucevic or defensive-minded Bismack Biyombo was built on the idea that defense would deliver them a Playoff berth.
The roster was not exactly built for that. The Aaron Gordon “problem” remained and his poor 3-point shooting was not going to help the team’s spacing.
For nearly the entire season, the Magic offense seemed stuck. It was one of the worst in the league — regularly 29th in offensive rating and field goal percentage with little deviation. This was expected. But it did not matter since the defense settled in at the bottom of the league.
Orlando is all but officially out of the Playoff race and nowhere near where the team thought it would be back in September. The team needed to change.
It was obvious. And made even more obvious with the Magic’s re-energized play the last two games — the first two with Terrence Ross since the trade last week.
The poorly fitting Magic were indeed a poor fit.
“Everybody is now in their right position quite frankly,” coach Frank Vogel said after Saturday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks. “I think Aaron being a 4 is better for him. He did well at the 3 defensively, but he is better at the 4 and Evan is better at the 3. We have a big-time shooting guard in Terrence Ross who has been playing off the bench and plays a starting role for us. Early in the season, we were trying to play too big. We were too slow at multiple positions. It was costly overall. I like where guys are at in terms of their roles.”
This may have been an obvious point to make. Aaron Gordon is shooting 28.6 percent from beyond the arc. For a team that has shooting troubles to begin with, that constricted a lot of space for the team. Gordon playing only six percent of his minutes to this point at power forward seemed like a crime — or, at least a lack of imagination.
Trading Serge Ibaka forced the Magic to go small and the results seemingly speak for themselves.
Since the All-Star Break (admittedly a small sample size), the Magic’s offensive rating is up from 100.5 before the break (29th in the league) to 102.6 (19th in the league). The Magic’s defensive rating is down from 107.2 before the break (22nd in the league) to 96.4 (fourth in the league).
Again, these are small sample sizes and still subject to mass fluctuations. There is no telling whether this energy will last.
Observationally, the returns are good.
It does look like Gordon is in the right position. His activity around the basket is up and, as Vogel said Saturday, he is able to attack one level of defense instead of two. His athleticism off the dribble works better against bigger forwards.
Perhaps that much was already pretty obvious.
The Magic too may have stumbled upon a new truth in the NBA. Stumbled upon something the rest of the league discovered long ago.
Size does not matter as much anymore. Not as much as spacing or as much as speed does. The Magic were a slow, lumbering team with their size before. Now they have a lot more versatility and speed to attack in transition.
“Speed is beating size league-wide right now,” Vogel said. “What you saw tonight with Aaron was an example of that. He was able to beat his man off the bounce not just in regular close out situations but as the screener. He’s getting the ball now with space and no one between him and the basket. Whereas when he was playing on the perimeter they were backing up and there was a body in front of him at all times.”
At the beginning of the season, the Magic wanted to run. That was one of their main tenets and one of the things they worked on throughout training camp.
The Magic were in the middle of the pack in fast break points before the break with 13.3 per game. Orlando has scored 44 fast-break points in the last two games. There is a more concerted effort to get out in transition. Defense helped spur this energy.
Orlando Magic
Their speed and athleticism were noticeable. Whether it was Gordon outracing power forwards to the basket or Terrence Ross helping deflect passes. The team’s style has become much livelier. Not to mention more effective.
Maybe this is what the Magic envisioned all along. Maybe they believed Bismack Biyombo and Serge Ibaka together would have caused all the deflections and blocks that have energized the Magic’s offense.
Then again, Vogel even admitted having shooting from the perimeter like from Terrence Ross is different than Serge Ibaka. Ross has the ability to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket where Ibaka did not. It adds a new dynamism to the team.
It has turned the Orlando Magic into a modern NBA team. Maybe the one they should have been all along.
Next: Alex Martins: Orlando Magic's season has been disappointing
If the Orlando Magic learned anything this season it is what has become the NBA reality: speed beats size. The Magic made the wrong gamble and are paying for it now as they seem to be learning this lesson for the rest of this season.