Orlando Magic have new “bell play”: Quality 3-pointers

The Orlando Magic’s infamous bell still rings inside the Advent Health Training Center for dives on the floor, charges, hustle plays and other events the coaching staff deem central to the team’s identity.

The Magic’s goal, especially in this preseason but really for the whole season, is still about laying the foundations for the team and what they want to accomplish as a group for the bigger picture. And so there is still diligent work to do to build those foundations into habits and see it play out on the floor.

But that process is evolving too. The things the team is emphasizing are different.

This year has seen the team introduce and focus a ton more on ball and player movement offensively especially to try to spring guys open.

The list of bell plays is going to have to grow to meet this.

And there is at least a newly recognized bell play to focus on this year for this team.

As the focus on ball movement has increased within this offense, so too has the reward. The team rings the bell now for any time the ball moves from one side to the other and ends up with a three.

The Orlando Magic are not afraid of shooting threes even as the team has historically struggled from deep. They plan to ring the bell for the threes they want — based on ball movement and paint attacks.

Even though the Magic were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league last year, the Magic want their players to keep shooting. That too has been an emphasis in training camp.

"“We want all our guys being able to step in with confidence,” coach Jamahl Mosley said after practice Thursday. “Those types of shots are going to be feet-set knock-down threes. If the ball gets swung around the horn, that’s part of a bell play. We swing it from one side of the arc to the other and that guy gets a corner three knocked down, that’s the kind of threes we are looking for. That means the ball is moving, guys are having their feet set and we have broken the defense down.”"

This is the way the team aims to emphasize ball movement but also continue to layer in the space to shoot threes.

There is no denying how vital 3-point shooting is in the league today. Even a team that struggled last year in making threes has to take them.

Last year, the Magic were 28th in the league in 3-point field goal percentage at 33.1 percent. They were 11th in attempts with 36.9 per game.

The quality of many of the Magic’s 3-point looks should not be under question, at least just looking at the stats. It was just the ability to make them.

Orlando was seventh in the league with 14.8 3-point attempts per game with the closest defender six or more feet away (the team made 37.6 percent of those attempts, 19th in the league).

The Magic were fourth in the league last year in attempts with the closest defender 4-6 feet away with 10.8 attempts per game. They made just 32.2 percent of those shots, 27th in the league.

At the end of the day, Orlando has to be able to hit the shots. And that is something the team has been working toward and working on getting better looks.

That has been one of the big focuses this year, trying to find better looks and having the confidence to take them.

"“It’s hard to shoot threes when you don’t put a lot of pressure on the rim,” Terrence Ross said after practice Thursday. “This year, we are attacking the rim more which is helping us in return and opening some of these shots. We’re making some threes. When you step in and make shots, it creates space. You make enough of them, the defense becomes aware this team can shoot threes. It opens the floor. The way we’re pick and popping and pick and rolling and the way we are creating pressure on the rim is allowing us to step into these shots with better rhythm.”"

One of the big things Mosley’s offense has tried to do is modernize the team’s approach to three-point shooting. Even without the percentages, the team is encouraged to take open threes.

That has been the case throughout the preseason. The team has not been afraid to shoot but has been shooting better.

So far through the preseason, the Magic are taking 40.3 attempts per game, the seventh most in the league (a 54-attempt game in the opening preseason game is a heavy outlier right now, but taking that out the team is still at 35.7 attempts per game). They are still struggling to make them at 31.7 percent (18th in the league).

But it is preseason and teams tend to settle or experiment more with 3-point shooting. The emphasis is there and the intention is there for now.

Orlando still needs to hit 3-pointers more effectively and efficiently. The Magic have made 12 of 35 3-pointers in both of the previous two preseason games. Still not a strong percentage (or a high number of total 3-pointers in this NBA), but still a sign of how the team hopes to use the 3-pointer.

Still, the team knows the best three-pointers come from getting to the paint. And while there is an emphasis in shooting, the shooting has to be a product of the other actions the team is working with.

"“It’s a constant balance,” Mosley said after practice Thursday. “You don’t want to fall in love with shooting all threes. The point of it is getting our feet in the paint first. We want to attack the rim. that’s the number one priority. Usually what that does is it collapses the defense. So now as they collapse I can swing it for my feet being set, knock-down three. That’s the problem first is my feet in the paint and now it’s a spray-out knock-down three.”"

Indeed, as Mosley noted, in Tuesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, there was a stretch where the team fell in love with quick 3-pointers. That was the point where the Grizzlies made their first run to cut into the lead and set up the exciting finish fans and the teams got to examine.

Now it is just about the process of getting them. That is the part that has been the focus of training camp and how the Magic’s offense has changed.

Ross said Mosley has made it easier for players to get to their shots easier and has made the offense more efficient and smoother. There is a great emphasis on player movement and ball movement to try to free up the offense, get players going downhill into the paint and kicking out to the perimeter.

The team’s emphasis on making good reads and attacking defenses will add to the team’s ability to find good shots and create decent offense. That is what it ultimately comes down to. Orlando wants its players to get into the paint, and then find the outlet to get the defense to move and adjust again.

That is how the team will get its good looks.

It is all part of the same puzzle to try to get the Magic going offensively.

The 3-pointer will remain a critical weapon for the Magic as it is for every NBA team. Improving their 3-point percentage could be a major key in unlocking the Magic’s overall offensive potential.

And so the Magic are trying to ring the bell again. This time for the 3-pointers they make and their ability to move the ball to get them.