Orlando Magic learning to play with the pass, but with balance

The Orlando Magic are still getting a feel for what kind of offense and defense Jamahl Mosley wants to run.

Saturday marked the first in-season practice of the season thanks to a road-heavy start to the year and the short spacing of games. It was a day to tighten things up a bit and continue to implement and cement the team’s philosophy.

Everyone is still getting a feel for it and for what works for the team.

Some trends have certainly emerged in the course of the team’s 10 games. As have the moments where the team has struggled.

There are still lineup and rotation issues that are still cementing themselves. The team is starting to find a regular rotation.

The biggest playing issue is with the offense trying to create a rhythm and a consistent way to attack. Orlando’s turnover options are notable — putting the defense in a bind particularly. But the Magic’s biggest issues have been trying to get in the paint consistently and move the ball.

The Orlando Magic are starting to move the ball a whole lot more as the pass continues to be a focus for the team’s budding offense.

Mosley promised before the season that one of the offensive principles would be playing with the pass. Indeed, the Magic’s best offensive moments have come when the team is able to whip the ball around the perimeter for open shots or into the paint.

The Orlando Magic’s offense looks terrible when it is the team trying to penetrate a switching defense and running out of time on the shot clock — hello third quarter against the Boston Celtics.

Orlando is still figuring out how to move the ball consistently.

"“The number one emphasis for improvement is offensively we have to generate more space, more cuts and just more action whether we’re on the ball or off the ball,” Mo Bamba said after practice Saturday. “Too often we get stagnant and play a lot of isolation ball. We have a team where we have a bunch of talented guys but we don’t have that one guy who can create on his own.”"

The Magic this year average 287.3 passes per game, according to tracking data from Second Spectrum, good for 13th in the league. The raw number of passes per game is not correlative with winning, but it is a sign the team is moving the ball a lot more. Orlando averaged 269.5 passes per game last year, 26th in the league.

The Magic are indeed making an effort to move the ball more. The question is whether those passes are effective and what they do with them.

According to data from Second Spectrum, the Magic average 47.0 potential assists per game (14th in the league) and 57.1 points created from assists per game (23rd in the league). Orlando has a 7.4-percent assist-to-pass ratio, the fourth-worst in the league.

What all this would suggest is the Magic are passing the ball a lot, but not necessarily using passes to create scoring opportunities. And that the Magic are not hitting shots.

After all, the team is making only 41.9-percent of their shots overall (27th in the league). At the end of the day, the team has to make shots to get assists and make passing more effective.

That was at least part of the problem in Friday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Mosley said he was pleased to see the team get 23 assists in that loss. According to Second Spectrum, Orlando had 50.0 potential assists.

On top of that, the Magic made only 19 of 52 shots (36.5-percent) where the closest defender was four or more feet away and 15 for 47 on shots beyond 10 feet where the closest defender was more than four feet away, according to tracking data from NBA.com.

At the end of the day, the team needs to make shots.

"“You look at the game [Friday] and talk about growth, there was a couple of games where we overpassed it,” Mosley said after practice Saturday. “So we end up in the shot clock. We didn’t have many of those [Friday] night. What we were doing was we were taking the shot that was available and they were open shots. Just now it’s the ability to continue to step into them with confidence and trust the pass that we’ve been making and trusting your ability to make shots.”"

This is what players mean when they say this is a make-or-miss league. Maybe Orlando’s issue — beyond turnovers, again — was the team’s inability to hit shots. It seems like the team moved the ball, got open and quick shots.

Compare those numbers above to numbers from the loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.

In that game, the Magic tallied 48.0 potential assists. Orlando made 15 of 48 shots (31.3-percent) with the closest defender more than four feet away and 12 of 45 shots (26.7-percent) when beyond 10 feet on such shots.

The team took 13 shots when a player took three or more dribbles (nine with seven or more dribbles) and 12 shots with four or fewer seconds on the shot clock. The Celtics did a very good job knocking the Magic out of their offensive rhythm and forcing low-quality shots.

And Orlando was missing them anyway.

In Friday’s game, for contrast, Orlando took only nine shots where a player had the ball for longer than six seconds, 22 shots where a player took three or more dribbles and three shots with four seconds or less remaining on the shot clock.

The Orlando Magic certainly looked better in their 107-100 win over the Utah Jazz. They made only 246 passes (well below their average) but came up with 39 potential assists and a 9.8-percent assist-to-pass ratio. Again, it helps the Magic made 49.4-percent of their shots. Making shots clears up a lot of problems.

The Magic moved the ball well for shots too, taking only seven shots with less than four seconds on the shot clock and 13 shots where the ball-handler took seven or more dribbles.

That certainly shows how inconclusive passing can be as a sign of good offense. Making shots can hide a lot of flaws.

Offensively, Friday’s game was a lot closer to what the Magic are looking for when they say they want to “play with the pass.”

There have been plenty of signs Orlando is doing the right things and on the right path. There is clearly a lot more progressive thinking offensively and the team is trying to implement some new concepts.

But it is obviously a work in progress. Orlando has to make shots to take advantage of the passing they are trying to create.

Like so much with this team, it is clearly a work in progress.