The 2018 season left lots of lessons for the Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic sat and watched the Playoffs yet again as they begin another long road back. The season provided lessons for the league’s direction.
The Golden State Warriors left little doubt of the statement they were making throughout Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
They raced out to a quick and seemingly decisive lead. Then let their defense silence any chance the Cleveland Cavaliers of coming back and extending their series even one more game. They seemingly willed LeBron James to submission with a business-like approach that left no feeling of the achievement they were about to accomplish.
Stephen Curry calmly drained 3-pointers in his usual third-quarter scoring binge. Kevin Durant put up a quiet triple-double to cement is Finals MVP performance. It was all just so clinical.
And, yes, a bit predictable. The Warriors were always going to win the title.
The path to get there was a bit bumpier than expected. The Houston Rockets put a formidable roadblock in the conference finals. If not for Chris Paul‘s injury things might have been different in the end. The Boston Celtics might have a claim to that too. Health was an important factor for every team.
The Orlando Magic probably could say the same thing after losing more than 220 games to injury throughout the season, quenching a hot 8-4 start. Not that Orlando was promised a Playoff appearance anyway even with how good the team was to start the season.
But the 2018 season is now over. Everyone is turning their eyes on next season. Draft preparations are in full swing ahead of next Thursday’s big day, the first real postseason transactions ahead of the next season.
There might already be a feeling of inevitability about next season. James’ decision may be the only thing that changes the big picture. But it is still easy to see how the league shifts underneath everyone. There are lessons to be learned and changes happening that a young rebuilding team like the Magic can likely apply as they start to build their roster back up.
Injuries and health were obviously a huge concern throughout the season.
The Magic lost games and lost momentum when their injuries began to pile up in November. Those injuries alone likely would not have turned a 25-win season into a 45-win season and a Playoff berth. But they certainly would not have allowed things to become the disaster they became.
Health is largely random. The Warriors coasted through the regular season trying to manage injuries to various players — especially Curry — and dropped to the second seed.
The Celtics probably will not hear anyone complain about injuries after reaching Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward on the bench with season-ending injuries (Hayward suffering his just a few minutes into opening night).
The Rockets especially will be filled with injury regret. Paul’s injury that kept him out of Games 6 and 7 of their series with the Warriors likely kept the Rockets from reaching the Finals after that landmark and shocking Game 5 win. Not to mention defensive ace Luc Mbah A Moute was hurt throughout the series. Then again, so was Andre Iguodala.
If anything, the season showed how vital it is for teams to overcome their injuries and build decent depth. When the Magic suffered injuries they struggled to find players who could step up. Their margin for error was always small because of their talent level. But many of Orlando’s players were better coming off the bench rather than stepping into bigger roles.
That is neither here nor there. Ultimately a team cannot control its injuries or its overall health. The best teams find a way to survive it and no team is completely immune. Ultimately talent wins in the league.
How teams deploy that talent is quickly changing. The defense du jour against the very best teams in the league took a dramatic change throughout the Playoffs.
With advanced offenses putting so much pressure on defenses with their shooting and passing, teams took to just straight switching on every screen. Sometimes without even a fight. They decided to get rid of the advantage a screen is supposed to give, they cancel things out and not create that indecision.
Teams like the Celtics with a mobile center like Al Horford found it worked out great. They kept their rotations and communications tight and suffocated teams with their defensive switchability. Golden State went with their “Hamptons 5” lineup to switch everything.
The Rockets and Cavaliers in the last two series took to trying to target Curry and get him to switch onto their plus offensive players. It is an intriguing and, maybe, desperate defensive strategy.
But it revealed something else important — defensive versatility has a lot of currency in the league right now.
Offenses put so much stress on teams with their mix of shooting and driving. Many teams are running more complex offenses that make defenses constantly make decisions about who to leave open and what to give up. The best teams find a way to exploit these with ruthless aggression.
Orlando Magic
The Magic have seemingly been trying to create a team of defensive versatility for the last six years. They drafted Victor Oladipo thinking he could play both guard positions. Aaron Gordon was always just a “forward.” Tobias Harris seemed to be a tweener — a word that is no longer so dirty. They signed Bismack Biyombo and Serge Ibaka imagining them smothering drivers with rim protection and devastating guards with length on the perimeter.
It did not work out at all, of course. And so defensive versatility cannot be a skill on its own. Things have to be tied to a string and every player has to be on the same page defensively. That is not something Orlando has had for the last six years.
The team is renewing hope in some of this with selecting Jonathan Isaac last year. He showed plenty of promise defensively, already establishing himself as one of the team’s best perimeter defenders. Orlando is still hoping his offense comes around.
And this Draft will provide another choice between supremely talented offensive players like Michael Porter Jr. or Trae Young and strong defenders like Mohamed Bamba or Wendell Carter Jr.
This season did not help anyone make that decision either. Offenses were played at an all-time high level. Watching players like James Harden, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Donovan Mitchell and Victor Oladipo (among plenty others) dominate the ball and change games with their shooting and scoring. Defenses are still playing catch up.
The Magic are in the difficult position of trying to build a team now that can both compete with what the modern NBA is doing while still trying to be something that is ahead of the curve.
As everyone likes to point out, there is no set formula to build a successful team. Building a team with two dominant shooters was crazy in the league a few years ago. Then Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson made that style transcendent. Teams are now either trying to mimic that collection of talent or find a way to beat it.
Plenty will fail.
The season showed the same truths as always — talent wins. Avoiding injuries is paramount, surviving them is necessary.
But stylistically, the league is still figuring out how to adjust to the new offensive realities. And a rebuilding team like the Magic is still synthesizing these lessons.
Their team can go in any kinds of ways. Orlando will set a part of its identity with the sixth overall pick as it builds up its roster and creates its future.
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The 2018 season though certainly taught them some lessons in that process.