Orlando Magic hope efforts to jumpstart chemistry pay off

The Orlando Magic got together in Los Angeles this summer to try to get a head start building their chemistry. They hope those efforts pay off soon.

If the Orlando Magic surprise everyone around the league and have a breakout season — or even more — they likely will point to a few days in Los Angeles as a big reason why. Or at least the beginnings of that progress.

On the other side of the country from Orlando, several players and coaches from the Magic met in a gym in Los Angeles to get some early work in together and generally get to know each other.

The event was as much about doing some on-court work and working out together as it was “breaking bread” and being in each other’s company. After all, these were going to be the guys “in the trenches” during the long road of an 82-game season.

This was about building bonds as teammates and getting to know each other.

Any little advantage they could get was going to be valuable. Especially considering how far behind the 8-ball they were starting after last year’s disastrous 29-win season. This was their advantage. Or at least their chance to jumpstart things for the 2018 season.

Not everyone could make it. Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic were both in Europe for Eurobasket. Jonathon Simmons was working out in Houston. It was not required by any means. But it was a good jump start.

The players that were there — such as D.J. Augustin, Elfrid Payton, Aaron Gordon, Terrence Ross, Marreese Speights and Jonathan Isaac — got to get a jump start on building chemistry with each other. Coaches and staff like Frank Vogel, Jay Hernandez and Becky Bonner were able to begin implementing some of the principals the team will rely on this season.

They were there more to oversee things. It was less about them and their instruction. The Magic were just trying to start things fresh.

It is a small thing, but it can have big dividends.

"“Everybody looks for advantages,” Vogel said. “You try to find an edge over your opponent. If we can get our guys together so they are not meeting people for the first time at Media Day, they get a chance to break bread with them, to work out with them and play pick-up ball with them, that just puts you ahead of the curve. It gets you more ready than the teams that aren’t doing it.“I think there is tremendous value to be had in that. Not just guys getting to play with each other but getting to know each other as people off the court. The more time these guys spend with each other, the more they care about each other. That stuff carries onto the court.”"

Aaron Gordon said Frank Vogel and the coaching staff helped organize the few days the team had together in Los Angeles. It was not heavy instruction, but more about getting the team together. No one was running plays or installing sets quite yet. It was just about getting everyone in the same place.

For a Magic team that has had to integrate a lot of new faces and get used to a new coach each of the previous three seasons, continuity was something new. They had something to build from and a relationship to build off of.

Orlando Magic

Everyone throughout camp has noted there is a bit of a “continuity bump” and there is certainly an energetic spirit about the team. The Magic seem eager to get things going and certainly look more on the same page. There is obviously a process to growing that chemistry.

"“We are all we have,” Terrence Ross said. “It’s just going to be us in there going through the trenches. You are going to feel better once you know the guy next to you has your back and we all get along and we are all in the same position trying to get better. . . . Whatever we can do to build that bond. When you are with somebody that you like, that you enjoy having around, you are going to do that extra little bit for that next person. If we can do that, it will translate into something better.”"

D.J. Augustin said some of the teams he had been on previously had done something similar to this mid-summer get-together before. He said he had definitely noticed a difference with the teams that did it. It provides a little boost.

Several team members also got to know each other through workouts in Orlando just before the season started. These summer chemistry building programs almost certainly help a team trying to come together.

This is not the first time the Magic have used the summer to build this early chemistry.

During the Magic’s championship runs in the late 2000s, Jameer Nelson would organize his “Building Magic” weekend, inviting everyone on the team to Philadelphia for group workouts, pick-up play and team-building activities. It seemed this group visit to Los Angeles had much the same theme. It certainly helped those teams bond and get off to a good start.

This year’s Magic team is not likely to reach those heights. Not likely anywhere close.

But the seeds laid in the summer and early in the summer should continue the building that started last year. Whatever advantage the Magic can get is obviously valuable.

"“That’s important,” Elfrid Payton said. “We have a coaching staff back, but we still have a lot of new faces. Just getting that initial camaraderie together and going out to dinner. That goes a long way.”"

Building chemistry is certainly an inexact science. It is not something that follows any set formula.

Familiarity matters. It breeds comfort and helps players get better working together. Several Magic players already have that.

These excursions work fine and seem to build the things everyone wants in the summer. Whether that translates to the regular season is still the big mystery.

But that familiarity is something the team is trying to get everywhere else. Whatever advantage they can find they will use. And they need every one they can get.

"“We have to start working toward that,” Vogel said. “You can’t just build it in one day or one practice. It has to happen over time. With a healthy attitude and togetherness approach, where everyone is going to play for each other while they are pushing each other. Chemistry is something you achieve.”"

The Magic seemed to be fairly together and progressing throughout the preseason. Those early efforts to come together as a team seemed to pay off.

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But it is still not clear whether things will come together during the regular season. That is the next test for the team’s budding chemistry. Whatever head start the Magic got certainly may run short then.