Orlando Magic cannot see repeat of 2017 season

The Orlando Magic entered 2017 talking about their defense and the playoffs. The team failed in both as the offense struggled. These are lessons for now.

The Orlando Magic were excited in October 2016. The team made a bold move on draft night and in free agency that left plenty skeptical but left a firm directive for the team in Frank Vogel’s first year as head coach.

Nobody hid from the expectations nonetheless. Magic players all said their goal was to make the playoffs. They put it openly as a goal.

The season was a disaster, to say the least.

The Magic that year intended to create a strong defensive mentality. They wanted Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo to be a bulwark in the lane, repelling shots at the rim while a young Aaron Gordon would lock down the opponent’s best perimeter player. The offense was not the greatest concern — what would the team do with Nikola Vucevic and could Evan Fournier be the team’s top creator with Victor Oladipo gone?

It was a roster pieced together quickly with a singular goal in mind, but not much to develop beyond that. And it proved to be a disaster.

The team’s full commitment to defensive-minded players never developed into a strong defensive unit. And the offense floundered from the start and never fully recovered.

Much of the same problems that persist with the team today exist. Sure, Nikola Vucevic is used more appropriately as a mid-post passer and playmaker and diver into the post. But the team still struggled to score. Evan Fournier was never a good lead option, even as the team’s leading scorer. And Aaron Gordon had not developed enough to play on the perimeter.

Things have changed, but the echoes of that 2017 season remain.

Orlando has one of the best defenses in the league this season. But the team’s offense is by far the worst in the league. It is still just six games in and the team has a lot of time to turn things around. The team seems optimistic it can at least be good enough to win with the defense they are playing.

The Magic can be a strong defensive team and embrace a sort of “grit-and-grind” mentality. That kind of play can be enough to get the team into the playoffs and establish an identity — winning when you get there is another story.

The strong defense can only carry the team so far before they let go of the rope. And that is a big concern right now. A repeat of the 2017 season is at least a possibility.

Still, it started out somewhat promising in 2017. The Magic had a 10-12 start, a top-10 defensive rating and signs of some promise. Orlando was eighth in the league with a 104.0 defensive rating through those first 22 games.

In one impressive performance, Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo combined to block seven shots in the first quarter in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers. The team had landmark wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder — on an Ibaka buzzer-beater in his first game back in Oklahoma City — and a 95-83 win in San Antonio against the San Antonio Spurs built solely on the defense.

That was short-lived.

The Magic’s defense never coalesced — they finished 24th in defensive rating (110.3 points allowed per 100 possessions). In those first 22 games, the Magic scored 100 points just six times. They scored only 69 in a loss to the Indiana Pacers (in Vogel’s first game back in Indianapolis).

It is clear in hindsight how much the team struggled to let their defense lift their offense. It is clear in hindsight to see how quickly the team let go of the rope defensively. It is clear in hindsight to see how little investment Ibaka had in the team as a future free agent with likely one foot out the door.

Ibaka, Fournier and Vucevic all put up solid individual numbers but the team did not mesh at all. Orlando’s big free-agent signing in Biyombo never wrested the starting center role from Vucevic, much less provide much more than decent defense which was not a lot for a player on a fresh $17-million contract.

The end result was a 29-win season, the sixth overall pick and the dismissal of general manager Rob Hennigan.

The team dealt Serge Ibaka for Terrence Ross at the trade deadline, at least laying the foundations for their eventual breakthrough two years later. And, adding insult to injury, Rob Hennigan accidentally allowed his whiteboard of future free agents to leak out while signing Patricio Garino to a 10-day contract.

It is safe to say, the 2017 season was a low point for the franchise. On the court, the team failed to meet expectations. Off the court, the team confirmed it had no clear direction.

The echoes to this season are already clear though.

Orlando is the only team in the league that has not scored 100 points in a game so far this season. They have by far the worst offense in the league in the early season by every metric.

The defense is the only saving grace, currently ranked fifth in the league. But the team knows it will have to pick up its scoring to win. The Magic are the only team in the top-10 in the league defensively with a negative net rating.

It is truly the offense holding the team back, just like in 2017.

It is extremely difficult to keep up the defensive intensity when the offense struggles this much. Defensive attention can wane when shots are not falling. It takes extreme discipline to carry on this style of play.

The Orlando Magic showed just what it looks like when they let go of the rope in the loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Orlando is still searching for its identity on that front. And it will have to find it quickly to take advantage of the defense.

This year’s team has a similar statistical profile to that 2017 season. But it is very different. The players on this year’s team are certainly much more invested in making this work. Everyone is on long-term contracts and have invested years into the team. This is not some group thrown together in free agency in the offseason.

There should be plenty of motivation to get better. And, unlike that 2017 team, this year’s Magic team has playoff experience. That might be why there is a sense of calm amid all the frustration. They know they can play together and have confidence they can right the ship.

But the similarities are impossible to ignore. The team will have to be attentive to its defense as much as its offense to remain competitive. This year’s team can still lose that identity the Magic thought they built three seasons ago. Things can change very quickly.

Orlando should know a repeat of 2017 on the court is certainly possible. But it is entirely within their control to remember the lessons of that season and make sure it does not happen again.