The Orlando Magic are struggling to make shots throughout Summer League. It finally bit them in a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
During the broadcast of Friday’s Summer League opener, the broadcasters noted their discussion with Orlando Magic assistant coach Pat Delany was all about the team’s defense. The broadcasters joked that he did not even mention offense or scoring.
With the players the Magic are focusing on and featuring on this Summer League roster, that makes perfect sense.
Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba have been the talk of the Summer League with their devastating length in the paint and defense. Orlando has been a frenzied defensive team, pressuring everyone they can find and making it hard to operate even the simplest offensive sets.
If that is the identity the Magic want to build come October, then Summer Leauge is already a success. And indeed, Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba have shown more than enough defensively to inspire that confidence. As have other key players like Melvin Frazier and Wesley Iwundu.
The rest of the puzzle is much more piecemeal. Especially the offense. This is not a team stock full of shooters. Perhaps a preview of the main roster.
The Orlando Magic’s defense was again active and energetic against the Phoenix Suns. But unlike the team’s first two games, the defense did not feed the offense. Orlando was sloppy overall, turning it over 20 times in the 40-minute game, and allowing Phoenix enough breathing room to get its shots off.
The Magic have and continue to be impressive defensively. But they are still struggling to score. And Monday at Thomas & Mack Center, the Suns finally made them pay for it with a 71-53 victory.
Orlando finishes preliminary round play at 2-1. The team waits for its next game Wednesday after the final day of games in Las Vegas.
The Magic shot just 30.9 percent from the floor and 3 for 20 from beyond the arc. That poor 3-point shooting has been a continuing trend throughout the whole of Summer League. Orlando cannot make threes.
No player has exemplified Orlando’s defensive prowess and offensive struggles quite like Wesley Iwundu.
Iwundu has looked fantastic defensively. His quick feet and (yes) length have helped corral and control ball handlers. He is very smart with his help-side defense and digs in well to create steals and make hurried passes.
Iwundu was doing everything he did in the regular season but at much more heightened level. His experience has clearly helped him with his understanding of defense and positioning.
His offense just has not come around. And he specifically was especially sloppy Monday.
Iwundu’s jumper was always something that needed developing. And while Iwundu is more confident with his shot — like Isaac, Iwundu is taking more shots off the dribble and has the green light — it is still a work in progress.
The second-year guard shot just 2 for 8 from the floor Monday. He is shooting 6 for 21 (28.6 percent) for the Summer League as a whole.
Iwundu is doing a good job getting to the foul line and driving to the basket. But even that has caused its own problems.
His drives to the lane have at times been a bit wild. He will go into the lane without much of a plan — and with an inconsistent shot it means he is driving right into the beast with no looking back.
Turnovers became the big problem Monday. He had four total in the game. Some were comical as they are in Summer League — he was on the break and lost control of the ball flinging it behind him as he fell out of bounds. He got credited with an inbounds turnover among those four, but Iwundu has had a tendency to play with the ball without a seeming plan.
Other players — including Isaac — have had similar problems to varying degrees.
Some of that is general Summer League play. Teams get sloppy in these settings and, with limited practice time, it is hard to develop a fully formed offense. Teams just hope to execute and shoot well enough to draw some value.
Outside of Braian Angola-Rodas and Troy Caupain, the Magic do not have many accomplished shooters. Really outside Troy Caupain and Isaiah Briscoe, the team does not have a ton of great drivers.
And missing Isaiah Briscoe for most of the game after he suffered a shin contusion early in Monday’s game kept the team from getting Mohamed Bamba more involved. Bamba took only four shots as he tried rolling to the basket more — Orlando is not running plays for him quite yet outside of pick and rolls.
Orlando Magic
That is not to say things are all bad offensively. The team may be struggling to shoot, but there are still good things happening.
Isaac is looking more assertive and aggressive with his shot. He is willingly shooting even taking bad mid-range jumpers.
But more often, he is still making the right play. He passed up open or semi-open 3s on several occasions Monday to feed an open man on a ball reversal. The shots did not go in, but it remained the right play.
Some of this should be concerning of course. The Magic are not a particularly great shooting team and do not have a lot of shooters, to begin with, on the main roster. Orlando will have its struggles creating points and open shots.
And the amount of effort and attention to detail to play defense at the breakneck pace Orlando has played defense is immense. The margin for error will again be small.
Then again, the focus of Summer League is clearly about establishing a defensive identity and culture. The team wants to see effort and energy on that end above everything else. It is this team’s strength with Isaac and Bamba anchoring the team. Add another 10 blocks for the Magic in Monday’s game.
The offense will not likely catch up to the defense this week.
Next: The clock is already ticking on Mohamed Bamba's development
And that is OK. For now.