Orlando Magic’s biggest growth may just be slowing down

The Orlando Magic have talked about a lot of things in the early days of training camp.

There has been the mention of accountability and how they want players to take ownership of their mistakes and for each other. They want to see the team reduce mistakes and, more importantly, reduce repeated mistakes. Orlando wants the players to lead this charge in many ways.

There has been the talk of trying out different lineups and how that empowers the players to make plays and simply play basketball. The team wants to build complete players no matter what position traditional thinking might suggest they play.

There are still those familiar refrains too — remember space, pace and the pass? That is all still there. The Magic have touted their improved ball movement and their desire to play fast.

But something else is embedded into all of that. Something that will be far more critical to the team’s success.

The Orlando Magic are a young team that still has a lot of maturing to come. The old cliche of the game slowing down could be the biggest area of growth for a young, talented team.

Yes, the Magic want to play fast and get the ball up the court. But they also know they need to slow down. This will help them make better decisions, a major focus in training camp. But it will also be a sign of the team’s growing maturity.

Orlando should be a better fast-breaking team for sure and they have to move quickly. But the big question this young team faces is how they mature and how they improve their reads in game.

For the Magic, things will not be perfect. But as they get more time on the court the game should, as the cliche goes, slow down for them.

Who it slows down for most and who is able to stay composed during the chaos that can be NBA basketball will be the ones who rise to the top.

Every player talks about the game slowing down for them. It is almost like a light switch for many. But this is not something that is easy to quantify obviously. Not even players can probably explain precisely how they know this is happening. And practice speed is different than game speed.

But it is something they can notice and something they know they can point to.

A great place to start is with Jalen Suggs.

Suggs undoubtedly struggled his rookie year — averaging 11.8 points per game but shooting 36.1 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent from beyond the arc. Suggs was able to drive and get to the basket but he struggled finishing and just seemed uncomfortable and off balance all year on offense.

"“Jalen’s played really well,” Terrence Ross said after practice Saturday. “He is more comfortable. His shot is looking much better. He is attacking the ball. He is playing that hard-nosed defense that he comes with every night. Just seeing him shoot the balla nd score right now is a good indication.”"

Ross said players coming from college to the NBA who are not “pure shooters” tend to struggle with the bigger court and extra space. It takes a while for them to get their legs under them.

Suggs certainly fell victim to that as he struggled through his rookie year — especially as injuries disrupted his season.

His numbers beyond the basic shooting stats showed this. He made 22.7-percent of his 3-pointers with the closest defender four feet or more away, according to NBA.com. He also made only 58.9 percent of his shots in the restricted area on 4.0 attempts per game, the third-most on the team.

Suggs is expected to take a step forward just on improving those percentages. But that is only going to happen if he feels comfortable and plays at his pace when those situations arise.

He has been a player that others have pointed to as taking a step forward in training camp. Suggs noted during Media Day he deconstructed his shot to make his foundations a bit more solid. But the biggest change is the power of experience and knowing the situations he will be in.

The Magic have asked players to dig into the details and this too has forced players to be more intentional and focused on little things that can impact winning. That almost forces players to slow things down and slow the game down around them.

"“My attention to detail, not only on my talk, not only on my defense and how I’m moving but on my body language and things like that,” Suggs said after Tuesday’s practice. “Those are small things that when you are trying to get better you have to pay attention to. Just trying to continue building on those things.”"

As a rookie, the game is always going too fast. Even a player like Franz Wagner who looked calm and composed throughout his rookie year clearly took some major steps at EuroBasket in his composure and his efficiency. The game has slowed down for him.

That is the case with a lot of young players on this roster. It will be one of the difficult balances for the team.

But that kind of progress and comfort is going to be one of the key goals and key things to watch this season. They expect players will get better as the season progresses. This is not a fully formed and finished team.

There will be pitfalls. But whether the team is able to take a step forward will come from this measure of maturity.

"“There’s a level of patience you have to have understanding that with the youth there are some advantages but also there’s still going to be learning curves,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after practice Sunday. “That’s the great part about it. You watch and allow them to grow. We talkeda bout not making the same mistake twice and three times. The level of consistency has to continue to grow for these guys as well. That’s consistently doing the right thing. It’s a different balance but we’ll continue to navigate as the season goes on.”"

The Magic will be seeking this kind of balance throughout the season. Their ability to grow will come down to whether the game slows down for them. If the team has the light switch go off, their talent should be able to take over and the team could take a pretty sizable leap.

Predictably, the Magic are likely to see fits and starts. They will go into youthful exuberance at times and that is why the Magic’s focus is on limiting mistakes and learning quickly from them. Their ability to win may depend on how quickly they are able to synthesize and move on from these states.

But the team’s growth may very well be something quite simple. It may well be about the players slowing down and feeling comfortable on the court. The moment that happens, the Magic should show the growth everyone expects from them.