Orlando Magic Playbook: Wendell Carter aims to expand his game beyond the paint

Wendell Carter is a nondescript guy.

About the only thing he has done to stand out really was his outfit on draft night back in 2018. If you may remember, he paid homage to the recently released Black Panther movie with a black suit and a tiger-print cloth draped over his shoulder.

Carter’s game, even with the analysis leading up to the draft, was hardly that loud. The going thought when it came to Carter was that he was the “Jack of all trades, master of none.” He projected as a solid starter and a good defender, but not someone who would blow anyone away with his skill or athleticism.

Still, a solid starter is never a bad thing to draft. And, except for injury issues that have plagued him and a constant revolving door of coaches in his short career with the Chicago Bulls and trade to the Orlando Magic, that has largely what he has been.

Carter is a solid defender who does things that do not show up in the stat sheet. Especially on defense.

That is what the Magic are hoping for. But as a young team, they are also clearly hoping for more. Carter is just 22 years old after all. There is still a lot of areas for his game to grow.

Wendell Carter has found his footing with the Orlando Magic. But the young center has clear room to grow and his game is starting to expand.

Development for the Magic is not just included for rookie and younger players. It is for players like Carter who are still looking to establish themselves in the league.

Really it is for every player. And Carter, despite how solid he is, knows there are a lot of areas he can grow. Especially with his contract negotiations pending — and an Oct. 18 deadline to sign an extension or enter the offseason in some limbo with the prospect of restricted free agency on the horizon.

Carter certainly can still improve in a lot of areas to make good on his potential.

Growing on offense

Wendell Carter can certainly still become more solid defensively, but the biggest area of growth is on offense.

That was on full display during the Orlando Magic’s preseason loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday. Among the things he said he tried to work on was his 3-point shooting and expanding his range. He already showed good court sense on how to get himself open for the shot.

In this play, Jalen Suggs gets the rebound and pushes up court, something that will surely be a hallmark for the Magic offensively considering their youth and their strong rebounding guards.

Wendell Carter does a really good job running the floor and begins to suck a trailing Robert Williams into the paint with him. But he makes a smart read here.

Suggs is going downhill into the paint and so Carter stops short at the free-throw line with Williams’ eyes clearly trained on the ball handler. He then pops out to the 3-point line to drain the three.

This is not something Carter would have done at all in previous years. He has taken only 112 career 3-pointers with 51 of them coming last year — 29 with the Magic. That was obviously not a shot Carter was confident in.

Adding on top of that some of the reported struggles he had with his confidence under former Chicago Bulls coach Jim Boylen that had him passing up open shots and Carter needed a new scenery and a new coaching staff to reinstill a shooting and scoring mindset.

It goes without saying what adding a 3-point shot would do to Carter’s game.

"“That is something I definitely wanted to add to my game this summer,” Carter said after the Magic’s practice in New Orleans on Tuesday. “I put a lot of work into it. Just to get them up in the game, make or miss, it feels good to get them up. It feels good leaving my hands. As long as I am confident taking those shots when I’m open, I’m going to make more and just help my team space the floor. At the end of the day, defenders are going to have to respect it.”"

That is a huge step from where Carter was a few years ago.

Orlando already saw how much adding a consistent 3-pointer turned Nikola Vucevic into a solid offensive center into an All-Star-caliber player. If Carter is working toward that kind of leap, that would greatly change his ability and his value to the team.

The Magic are chock full of versatile centers who can step out to the 3-point line. Mohamed Bamba entered the league with people buzzing about him as a 3-point shooting Rudy Gobert-type shot blocker. Moritz Wagner, while a bit undersized for the five, has shooting as perhaps his best skill. That was on full display during the team’s game Monday.

Carter said during media day this versatility and the ability to step out beyond the arc are key things the Magic asked him to do.

Defensive versatility

On top of his need to get outside the paint more and be willing to shoot even out to the 3-point line, the Orlando Magic are going to be doing a lot more switching defensively. Orlando wants their bigs to be able to hang on the perimeter so they can play a truly positionless style.

Wendell Carter hinted that Orlando appeared to be preparing him to play some at power forward this year. And that is something coach Jamahl Mosley seems to be hinting at a possibility as the team continues to experiment through the preseason.

"“That’s the great part about the preseason and training camp,” Mosley said after the team’s shootaround in New Orleans on Wednesday. “We can look at those different combinations so we can see the versatility we have been talking about from the beginning of the year. The versatility and the high basketball IQ, guys understanding that in order to be in different situations, what you need to be in different situations. These guys have shown the ability to adjust and play in a positionless type of basketball.”"

Carter has shown that ability too.

While he is still growing as a shooter, he is extremely comfortable as a defender. And already seems to be fitting into the Mosley brand of defense.

On this play, you can see how Carter uses his smarts to wall off the paint on the pick and roll drive from Jaylen Brown but stays in contact with Robert Williams to prevent the pass. This is a textbook drop coverage in pick and roll.

Brown unable to find a way into the paint with Carter there (he was surely pretty close to his line where he would commit to guarding Brown and leave backside help to cover Williams) and ends up throwing the ball out of bounds on the kick out with the Magic positioned well on Brown’s outlets.

While it is not the high screen switching or trapping the Magic deployed at other times, Carter is capable of setting a solid line and being disruptive defensively.

Again, here is another good example of Carter in drop coverage.

The Magic end up calling a switch here, but are all in good position to close off the paint and crowd Jayson Tatum into making a decision quicker or for Terrence Ross to get back in front of his man. Ross is unable to get there in time and so Carter does a good job holding his line and forcing Tatum into a difficult layup that he is able to challenge and rebound.

It is yet to be seen just how aggressive the Magic want to be in pick and rolls. They are certainly having their guards play with more ball pressure and the team is digging and trapping the post or when players get into the paint more aggressively.

All of that only works with a center anchoring the team that can wall off the paint. Carter is especially good at that in this point of his career.

There will surely be more wrinkles thrown in defensively as the team continues to play and learn. But clearly, someone like Carter is going to be valuable to the team. Especially if they can continue expanding their game.

"“I feel like that’s a good thing,” Carter said after Tuesday’s practice. “Big men, especially defensively, are able to guard multiple positions. Offensively, we all can space the floor and shoot the ball really well. That just opens up the game for everybody else. The opportunity we have to play together, we’re just excited.”"

Carter already was a solid player when the Magic acquired him. He just needed a fresh look and someplace to restore his confidence.

There is obviously more that he can do. And now that it seems Carter has found his footing again, he seems poised to make that progress and take some important steps forward.

He has done this seemingly by expanding his range. How that further develops and what he does with this could be key to his and the team’s success this season. And it is a reason why Carter is still held in such high regard as the Magic prepare for their season to begin.