Orlando Magic cannot figure out who they want to be offensively

The Orlando Magic wanted to pick up their pace and use ball movement to win. The team is struggling on both fronts and the offense is floundering.

The talk throughout the offseason when it came to improving the Orlando Magic’s offense was about pace, in whatever way coach Steve Clifford wanted to define it.

The team finished last year 22nd in offensive rating, but an injection of speed from point guard Michael Carter-Williams helped push the team to eighth in the league from Jan. 31 to the end of the season. The Magic saw at that moment they had a good offensive team in them — at least for the regular season.

Orlando’s pace jumped to 99.4 possessions per 48 minutes (20th in the league) from 98.7 for the season (24th in the league) for the whole season. It was a boost to the offense as a whole.

But the team struggled to get anything going offensively throughout its five-game playoff series, so Clifford endeavored to change the team’s offensive approach and mix up the rotations again.

The idea was to play with more pace. He wanted the team to get out in transition more, taking advantage of what the team expected would be a strong defensive unit.

Pace can also mean playing quickly through individual sets. It is the speed and intensity of movement within the offense, not merely the number of possessions a team tallies in the game.

As things stand through 18 games, the Magic have not accomplished any of these goals offensively, at least not consistently.

Sure, the Magic can put together a few strong offensive games when their shooting comes around but consistently in the big games — the games that will ultimately matter in April — the team is falling short.

This is not merely about making or missing shots. This is about a fundamental way the team is trying to play. The offense is not fixing on an identity. It lacks flow and it is killing the team.

That was seen plenty during the Orlando Magic’s 90-83 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday. It was not merely the team’s low score or the 34.6-percent field goal percentage. It was the pace the team played in all phases.

It was the season-high 24 turnovers and the poor ball movement — just 17 assists on 27 field goal makes. It was how slow the team moved, limiting its sets and keeping the ball on one side of the floor.

Orlando is not going to light up the world offensively with the players it has available. But the team continually struggles to find its way to play and gets stuck in the mud.

If the team is meant to play at a faster overall pace, then it simply cannot have the transition turnovers and misses that it has had.

In an especially frustrating sequence, Aaron Gordon got a steal and started on a 3-on-2 fast break. He got to the free-throw line and dropped the ball back to Khem Birch trailing the play. Khem Birch was too far out to do anything effective, neither had filled their lanes correctly. Birch caught the ball and took an awkward dribble toward the hoop before leaping and getting caught with nowhere to go.

He turned the ball over and the Raptors, experts in transition, turned the play into an alley-oop jam.

That play was an egregious example of the Magic’s relatively poor transition play throughout the season.

Orlando just has not been a good team in transition this year despite athletic wings in Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac and a speedy point guard in Markelle Fultz. The team has not clicked in transition.

The Magic average 12.6 fast-break points per game, 20th in the league. Orlando managed only 10 fast-break points against Toronto on Friday despite the team’s 14 turnovers and 36.9-percent shooting.

Missed shots and turnovers should be easy opportunities to get out on the break. Clifford lamented after Wednesday’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers that his team was getting those fast-break opportunities but not converting them into easy points.

In that game, the Magic made 9 of 11 shots and had 24 fast-break points in that game. It was a big step up from the team’s averages. In Friday’s game, Orlando was only 3 of 10 on fast-break opportunities to get those 10 points.

To say the least, the Magic were inefficient in these supposedly easy fast-break opportunities. This is a recurring problem for the team in losses this year. Against the Detroit Pistons on Monday, the Orlando Magic had seven fast-break points on 3-for-5 shooting. Against the Indiana Pacers, the team had 19 fast-break points on 8-for-10 shooting.

Orlando’s offense needs transition opportunities to score effectively. Orlando could certainly look to get the ball to the point guard quicker and have the point guard start up court more to try to spur some fast-break chances.

It is necessary though because the team just does not have enough in the half-court to score.

Clifford is absolutely right the team needs to get out on the break to succeed and score consistently.

Unfortunately, the Magic find themselves struggling to create those opportunities. So the team has quietly become a mill-to-the-grindstone team. Without creating efficient and easy transition opportunities all the time, Orlando is almost the opposite of what the team wants to be. And really what it has to be.

Orlando Magic

The Magic are currently 28th in the league with 98.5 possessions per 48 minutes. The team is not getting a ton of possessions. Perhaps that keeps scores low so the team’s defense can dominate and give the offense some breathing room (Orlando is now 11th in defensive rating giving up 104.0 points per 100 possessions).

The defensive slippage has made this slow pace even more difficult for this team because they are so bad offensively — currently the worst offense in the league at 102.4 points per 100 possessions.

The team is bad offensively at least in part because of the other aspect of pace.

The team is slow to initiate its offense and they do not move quickly through their sets. There are a lot of possessions where the ball sticks to one side and there is no movement.

Clifford complained of the team’s over-dribbling in Monday’s loss to the Pistons. A lot of that came because the team was doing so little off the ball or struggling to get into their sets quickly. The first action was blown up, leaving the ball handler to pound the ball and try to create for himself.

As Clifford has said repeatedly, the Magic do not have a player who can create his own shot consistently. They need even simple ball movement just to force the defense to move. Too often, players go on their own.

The team is struggling to find its offensive identity. This is abundantly clear. And this lack of identity and trust in the way the team needs to play is holding the offense back.

No one will use it as an excuse, but the injuries certainly play a factor.

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Nikola Vucevic is the fulcrum of the offense and someone who can handle the attention defenses give him. Teams are blitzing Evan Fournier on the pick and rolls and that can muck up the offense.

The Raptors did a good job forcing Evan Fournier to work through double teams on the ball all night. That took the ball out of his hands and slowed the offense, forcing him to one side.

Right now, the Magic are missing their best offensive player. Orlando has a team-best 109.1 offensive rating with Nikola Vucevic on the floor. He keeps the ball moving and is someone who can create pressure and easy scoring with straight post-ups.

This group struggles when Fournier is off the floor. He at least can create a little bit, albeit inconsistently.

And the team is also missing its best pace-setter in Michael Carter-Williams. The team plays at 100.6 possessions per 48 minutes with Carter-Williams on the floor. Markelle Fultz has done a good job pushing things too — 100.3 possessions per 48 minutes.

But this team is not playing at a fast-break, break-neck pace. Transition opportunities are still limited and the team is not struggling in the half-court without its key players.

Whether it is poor execution (it almost certainly is) or if it is Clifford struggling to put players in the best positions to succeed (it almost certainly is a part of it), the Magic’s offense has been stuck in the mud and is seeking its way.

The one thing that is abundantly clear is the Magic are still seeking their offensive footing and offensive identity. They are so inconsistent and struggling so much to score. yet, they continue to do the things that make it harder for them to score.

Then again, Orlando still seems to be figuring out what will make them successful. They are still seeking their identity on that end.