The solution to the Orlando Magic’s offensive woes is simple
By Seth Arora
Shot Quality
The Orlando Magic take the lion’s share of their threes from above the break. They shoot fewer threes from the locations many consider to be among the most efficient shots available: 2.0 per game from the right corner (29th in the league) and 2.8 from the left corner (tied for 23rd).
During the Magic’s stretch run last season that pushed them into the Playoffs, the team shot more from the corners and, well, actually made them. Giving a team largely consisting of the same players the same shots from three may boost their abysmal performance so far this season.
Looking at the shot quality, the Magic are disproportionately wide open on 3-point attempts when compared to most of the NBA.
Nevertheless, even on those 16.1 wide-open threes per game, they are connecting on only 29 percent. Only the Minnesota Timberwolves are worse at wide-open threes.
It seems teams are simply daring the Magic to beat them with open perimeter shots, and they steadfastly refuse.
As for the players hoisting the threes, the Magic mostly rely on the shooting guard combination of Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross. They attempt more than one-third of the team’s 30.8 threes per game.
Evan Fournier is doing his part, shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc. But Terrence Ross continues to struggle. And that word probably is not strong enough. He is making only 1.3 of 5.6 attempts per game (22.2 percent).
Of the eight other players attempting at least two 3-pointers per game, only Jonathan Isaac shoots better than 35 percent at 37.8 percent. Defense are still willing to bet Jonathan Isaac will miss. His 3-pointer is the shot most teams want to give up.
This all adds up to offensive performances analogous to recurrent nightmares. The ball sticks, open shots are missed, players try to do too much. And that’s the key to all of this: the players.