Orlando Magic built defensive foundation, but saw concerning slips

The Orlando Magic have established themselves as a fundamentally sound and strong defensive team. But this season saw some concerning slips for their future.

The Orlando Magic have at least some idea of who they are and who they want to be.

The team drafted long, athletic wings and a shot-blocking center and hired coach Steve Clifford to rebuild the team’s defense. If there is one thing the Magic have done well in the last two years to make the Playoffs, it was to establish themselves as a tough defensive team.

If Clifford’s goal was to build a foundation for this team to grow from and something they can hang their hat on, he has at least gotten the team moving in that direction. The Magic still aim to be a top-10 defensive team and to be in the top half of the league offensively.

But this 2020 season saw significant steps back in these areas. The Magic are trying to forge an identity and have done well enough to raise their floor. But the team wants to advance.

While the Magic’s experience likely helped them weather the storm of injuries they faced this season, a worse bottom half of the Eastern Conference likely helped too.

There is rightly a lot of focus on the Magic’s offense heading into this offseason. It is undoubtedly the Magic’s biggest weak point. But the defense had its weak points too.

Especially without Jonathan Isaac for the 2021 season, the Magic’s potential success and a chance at a third-straight playoff appearance will likely fall on how good the defense can play.

Reviewing the Magic’s defense sees that their fundamentals look OK. The Magic want their defense built on limiting transition opportunities, rebounding well and forcing mid-range jumpers. They have done well at doing these things.

But that has not created a defense that really overpowers opponents. It is simple and executable. The Magic’s next task will be finding ways to add wrinkles to these basic principles to increase the pressure and impose their will defensively.

Maybe this is not the roster to do it as even those basic principles saw significant slips this year as the Magic begin to evaluate their defense.

Defensive Rating

If the Orlando Magic’s goal was to be a top-10 defense this year, they achieved that goal. . . barely.

The Magic finished in a tie for 10th in defensive rating and the sudden rise in the team’s defensive rating is actually quite alarming.

It might be easy to point to Jonathan Isaac’s absence as a reason for this sudden decline in defense. Indeed, the Magic’s defensive rating through Jan. 1 was 106.3 points allowed per 100 possessions, but that was still just 11th in the league. The Magic’s defense got worse but ranked higher than when Isaac left with his initial injury.

So, yes, losing Isaac hurt. But something else was certainly at work here too. And that is difficult to map out.

The one thing the Magic had going for them throughout the entire 2019 season was the defense was largely consistent. It was not destroying teams or dictating things, but it was enough to give the team a stable base and a chance to win.

So when the Magic’s offense suddenly whipped into shape after the All-Star Break, the defense was more than enough to make the Magic a force.

That was not the case this year.

Orlando Magic

This year, Orlando’s offense became an even greater force than the year before but the defense completely disappeared. Before the season went on hiatus for the pandemic, Clifford was already ringing some alarm bells to the defensive slippage. He knew the offense would not last.

There were some positive signs that things were rounding something of a corner — the Magic played a great second half against the Miami Heat to come close to stealing that road game, then three strong defensive quarters in a blowout of the Minnesota Timberwolves and an incredibly inspired second half to come back against the Memphis Grizzlies.

But none of those are complete games. The Magic were missing their defensive ace in Isaac and never really found a complete rhythm on that end.

For sure, Nikola Vucevic was not as locked in defensively as he was in 2019. It took him too long to find his defensive footing. Aaron Gordon too was nowhere near as locked in defensively as he was throughout 2019, with injuries at least playing some role in his slippage.

Terrence Ross was not helping much defensively. Markelle Fultz was a “rookie” making rookie mistakes. Mohamed Bamba was making some impact, but he was clearly still learning better positioning and how to challenge shots.

Al-Farouq Aminu proved to be a defensive maven for the team last year. He just could not hit a shot and then an injury knocked him out in December — the Magic posted a rotation-player-best 100.1 defensive rating with Aminu on the floor and the team had an overall 104.1 defensive rating before his injury on Nov. 29.

So could some of these defensive problems get fixed from mere experience and health? Likely some. But the Magic will need to be more focused defensively and probably improve their overall defensive talent to survive.

Turnover Rate

A central tenet of Steve Clifford’s defenses is to limit turnovers and limit transition opportunities.

One area where the Magic were frankly elite and among the very best teams in the league is in turnover rate. The Magic simply did not turn the ball over.

The promise from Jeff Weltman that Steve Clifford teams do not beat themselves proved to be completely true.

This could be a small area of weakness as the Magic do not have many players who will force action. Their offense is about positioning and creating space through pick and rolls. there is not a lot of isolation play going on.

But the trade-off is the team limits fast breaks. And that is where Orlando was also elite — the team gave up 11.9 fast-break points per game, the fourth-fewest in the league.

So the Magic have created that as something of an identity. It is a core part of who this team is. They are regimented and disciplined in their sets and they do not make mistakes.

If the Magic can keep this aspect of their offense as they add shooting and improve their playmaking, then they could be a really tough team to beat. The hints of a decent offense are there if they keep their turnovers low.

And that will undoubtedly help their defense. The more this team gets itself set, the harder it will be to beat. Clifford is always going to make sure of that.

Offensive Rebound Rate

Defensive Rebound Rate

Similar to turnover rate, offensive rebounds are often associated with fast-break opportunities. The Van Gundy school of coaches often tell their teams to abandon offensive rebounds (except for easy opportunities) and get back in transition.

However, even Steve Clifford has started to admit that with offenses running so efficiently, that committing at least a few players to the offensive glass to try to steal easy points is becoming more important. The trade-off or risk of going after the glass versus giving up transition points is starting to change.

This year was certainly proof of that.

The Magic were tied for 18th with 12.7 second-chance points per game. And for an offensive-starved team, trying to get easier points and second bites at the apple might be worth the risk.

The team was at the league median for offensive rebound rate this season. The Magic were attacking the offensive glass more. But this will be something they continue to examine and debate throughout the years.

Where Clifford is uncompromising is on the defensive glass. This is something that is non-negotiable in his defense and a key to the defense’s success. The Magic hold their opponents to one shot, collect the ball and either try to get out in transition or set up the offense. But not giving away second-chance points is vital to the Magic’s defensive success.

This season, the Magic gave up only 11.2 second-chance points, the fewest in the league.

That is a positive sign. But the Magic certainly need to be better on the glass too even if they are very good on the glass overall.

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Orlando finished seventh this year in defensive-rebound rate and are actually third in defensive-rebound rate in the Playoffs this year. The Magic are largely a good defensive rebounding team.

At least statistically.

The team was third in defensive rebound rate last year and tops after the All-Star Break (the team jumped to second in the league after this year’s All-Star Break). But Clifford complained a lot about the team’s poor physicality on the glass throughout the season.

When presented with the statistics that his team was rebounding at a higher rater than last year, he dismissed it pretty summarily. There is definitely something extra that goes into rebounding.

The team had several moments where it gave up rebounds at crucial times — the loss to the Boston Celtics inside the campus stands out most immediately.

This should continue to be an area of strength for the Magic. It will help them build a strong defensive base. But Orlando could stand to be better rebounders. Especially digging out critical rebounds late in games and rebounding outside of their area.

Like their rebounding, the Magic’s defense statistically still looks fairly strong. It still seems to get the job done and has solid fundamentals.

But Orlando still has work to do. Something was very clearly off about the team defensively. It might end up going down to personnel and the kind of players the Magic trust. They very well might have maxed themselves out defensively.

But the foundation is clearly there to be a decent enough team to compete for a playoff spot as is.