When Jamahl Mosley took over as the head coach of the Orlando Magic, he promised to bring some new ideas and a new mentality to a young team.
His Dallas Mavericks teams were never among the best defensively — during his time as the team’s defensive coordinator under Rick Carlisle the team actually ranked in the bottom half of the league near the league average in defensive rating. But they had a clear identity that set them apart and made them difficult to play.
Those teams were about ball pressure. They made teams work and got into the ball at all times. They might give up some points or some runs through the course of the game, but if it was close at the end, they might well be tired and unable to execute down the stretch.
In either case, it was not pleasant to play against.
More than that, at this early stage of the rebuild, Mosley has put a huge emphasis on creating a mentality in his team. The seeds of this team are built on this mentality he has tried to grow.
The bell plays the team has pursued and highlighted are meant to teach the team to chase after wins and sacrifice themselves to win those little plays that can turn wins into losses in the long run. It is about teaching an attitude.
Those plays have been there. There are moments where the team is putting in the effort. But the overall attitude and identity this team is trying to convey have been inconsistent.
The Orlando Magic’s defense continues to be inconsistent as the team struggles to get its offensive and defensive identity down.
That is why the Magic are constantly getting blown out — the team has played only five games within 10 points and a few of those got there late — consistently.
This is a young team still trying to find its identity and its attitude. And to be sure, the Magic are about an attitude as much as they are about anything else this year.
"“We talk about shots are going to be made or missed,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after Monday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks. “We have to hang our hat on the defensive end. 129 is not what we are looking for. We have to make sure we sit down and guard, physically keep them off the glass, they had a couple of 50/50 balls they came up with that caused to some open threes. We just have to come up with those balls and be the first ones to get to them.”"
The Hawks posted a 126.5 offensive rating in the game. It was the second-worst defensive rating of the season (trailing only opening night against the San Antonio Spurs) and the sixth time giving up more than 115 points per 100 possessions.
Atlanta shot 55.3-percent from the field and made 14 3-pointers on good efficiency — north of 40-percent from beyond the arc. The Magic struggled to get any stops and gave up tons of points in the paint — 54 points on 27-for-42 shooting.
There was just no resistance in the game.
For a team that is trying to be about defense, this was not a good sign. And it has been repeated bad signs.
The Magic need to have an attitude about the way they play. They need to have an aggressive mentality.
They are playing for what they want to be rather than what they are today. This is about laying the foundations for who the team wants to be in the future.
So far, the team has not been about this aggressive mindset, especially on defense.
The team is 26th in the league forcing a 13.1-percent turnover rate. For such a young, energetic team, the Magic are not forcing turnovers or getting out in transition — 9.4 fast-break points per game is 27th in the league.
They are 20th in the league with 13.6 deflections per game, according to NBA.com’s hustle stats. These are not the indicators of active and energetic defense. These are the numbers of a team playing conservatively. It is hard to say what the Magic do best consistently.
The team is also getting beat on the glass. Orlando gives up a 28.3-percent offensive rebound rate (23rd in the league). That was not so bad Monday, but the team still got beat up physically.
And the team knew it, even if the team had a better-than-average defensive rebound rate Monday night. The team knows when it is not playing with the assertiveness it needs to win.
"“I don’t think we were physical enough,” Cole Anthony said after Monday’s loss. “We let Clint Capela and John Collins punk us. They were just outworking us on the boards. I have to help out more. Three rebounds is unacceptable. I consider myself a great rebounder so I have to help my bigs out. I’m going to take a lot of responsibility for that. We have to take responsibility as a team. As a unit, we have to rebound more. We have to hit those dudes before they have a chance to jump for the ball. We’ve just got to be more physical.”"
That physicality is important to the team’s identity. The Magic want to put pressure on teams and be physical without fouling — a fine line this young team is still figuring it out.
They have not hit that yet. Mosley has taken to saying after games repeatedly that the team needs to get down and defend a lot better. Observationally, the team is playing off their man a lot more and not creating the kind of ball pressure the team promised.
The Magic were swinging in the other direction from former coach Steve Clifford. His offensive and defensive schemes were a lot more controlled. The Magic are trying to implement a little bit of chaos.
With Orlando’s group of young players with perimeter length and a defensive bent, it felt like this was the perfect strategy for a young team. Pressure the ball, load up with more young legs, paired with rim protection from both forwards and centers and then turn that into points in transition.
It is an aggressive style. One that has not come to fruition yet. Or perhaps the team is waiting to spring it when they are fully healthy or have a better grasp of some of their basic concepts.
This season though is not about the results on the court. This season is about the attitude and identity the team is trying to foster. They are trying to be about something that they can grow and build from.
That was at the heart of the team’s training camp and remains at the heart of the things the team is focused on and reminded of in practice. It is meant to be an aggressive, pressure defense. It is meant to make teams uncomfortable and difficult to beat repeatedly, even if there are slip-ups because of that aggression.
It is about that mindset of being aggressive and defining the tempo of the game. This has been a big thing the Magic have struggled with all year. But it is important for the team’s growth.
Orlando is still getting this identity down. And consistency will be hard to find until they get this identity and aggression down.