Two of the Orlando Magic’s most important players are facing unprecedented shooting slumps. They need both Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic to snap out of it.
Nikola Vucevic knows he has to play better. His 1-for-13 shooting performance is not going to get the job done for him or his team.
He knows he has to shoot better. His team knows he has to perform better. Their success this season will get built on the Orlando Magic’s defense and on the back of Nikola Vucevic as an offensive weapon.
Seeing him relegated to the bench in the fourth quarter as he was Monday is not a sustainable way to win for this team. But no one could blame coach Steve Clifford for going that route. The Magic were searching for offense and in the fourth quarter, they found a lineup that could provide a little bit of it.
Aaron Gordon was part of that group too. What he was not giving them with shooting, he was giving them plenty defensively and knew enough to stop shooting and get others involved — look to his five assists in that game Monday.
But in the critical moment, Aaron Gordon had his shot. He took a wide-open three to try to answer a Kyle Lowry basket and it fell no good.
Like Vucevic, Gordon struggled in Monday’s game shooting 1 for 6 from the floor too. Orlando was without its best two players in a game against a playoff-caliber opponent.
The Magic’s biggest weakness has been their offense. They do not have to look far for the cause of their issues — their best players are going through unprecedented cold snaps. They are playing at their career-worst — beyond that even.
And that fact might provide some comfort. The Magic are calm because they have the faith these players will bounce back and return to their usual production. It is still early in the year and teams are still figuring things out and getting their rhythm. There is time to recover and the Magic are still giving themselves chances to win.
The Magic’s defense has raced to the top of the league. Orlando has carved a rhythm and identity on that end built from the foundations left last year. But the offense has struggled.
In this early part of the season, the Magic are last in offensive rating (93.8 points per 100 possessions), last in effective field goal percentage (43.4 percent) and last in true shooting percentage (47.7 percent).
These numbers may not mean a whole lot this early in the season. It is only three games, after all. Things can change quickly. And the Magic know they are not getting what they expected from their top players.
Orlando’s current season box score is not at all what anyone imagined. Most of all because of Vucevic and Gordon’s struggles.
Gordon is averaging just 7.0 points per game and shooting 29.2 percent from the floor on only 8.0 field goal attempts per game. To his credit, Gordon has seen his struggles early in games and has dialed his shot aggression back to get the ball to others. He is second on the team with 3.7 assists per game.
But this is not the formula the Magic need from Gordon.
They need him scoring and they need him to continue to attack the basket aggressively. That is where he derives most of his value — as a slasher and athletic marvel attacking the basket to set up his playmaking. His 3-point shooting will then round to form.
Gordon has gotten to the basket at least. According to NBA.com’s tracking statistics, Gordon has taken 13 of his 24 field goals within five feet of the basket. But he has made only five of those shots.
It is reasonable to think that percentage will increase, he is a career 64.2 percent shooter within five feet of the basket entering this season with 39.5 percent of his total shots coming within that area (38.6 percent last year).
There is a stat correction that will come.
Gordon’s 21 total points so far this season is also the fewest points Gordon has scored in any three-game stretch since 2017. That was also the last time he scored fewer than 10 points in consecutive games before this year.
He had only 10 games last year scoring fewer than 10 points. The Magic went 5-5 in such games.
Orlando needs Gordon’s scoring. But it is his other elements that give him value too. And Gordon is still largely defending at a high level and adding that passing element to this game. He has not been as much a negative because Gordon can benefit other areas of the game.
It is tougher to say the same for Vucevic.
Vucevic is scoring 14.0 points per game, but shooting only 33.3 percent from the floor and 16.7 percent from beyond the arc. Orlando knows it can get a whole lot more from them. That 1-for-13 game weighs those numbers down as a major outlier.
Orlando Magic
But the Magic are not concerned because Vucevic has gone through some odd scoring stretches before — even last year. He had seven separate instances last year where he failed to hit on 50-percent of his shots in consecutive games — including four times where that streak extended to three games. Orlando was 9-19 in games last year where Vucevic shot worse than 50 percent.
That is what happened with back-to-back poor shooting games. They were both games the Magic had a chance to win. But Vucevic’s lack of production — in the loss to the Atlanta Hawks, especially late — cost the team the chance to win.
Vucevic had a solid and consistent opening game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. But since then he has struggled to hit the same quality of shots.
Whatever the problem is, Vucevic knows he must fix them. And the Magic know they will need him.
Still, he has had nothing quite as bad as Monday’s loss. His 1-for-13 shooting is the worst shooting performance of his career since he joined the Magic. It was just the second time he has shot worse than 10-percent in his career when he took at least 10 field goal attempts — the other was a 2016 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
That is why for both Gordon and Vucevic, their early-season struggles feel like incredible outliers. And the team has faith they will return to their career averages, at least.
It is still early in the season and there is a lot of games left for their numbers to hit their normal.
Vucevic has averaged 15.7 points per game and 50.1 percent shooting for his career. It is reasonable to think his shooting numbers will return to normal. Gordon has averaged 12.4 points per game and 44.9 percent shooting for his career. He too will bounce back.
Undoubtedly though, the Magic need these numbers to turn around sooner than later. Once it does, the Magic should see a major turnaround on the court.