3 Up, 3 Down from Orlando Magic’s 2022 preseason

3 up, 3 down from Orlando Magic’s preseason

2 Down: 3-Point Shooting

Unfortunately, anything that can be said about the offense and any positivity still has to start with the team’s biggest weakness.

The Orlando Magic are encouraging their players to shoot and fire away. They want to play offense in a certain style. But they know that 3-point shooting is still essential to success.

The first step to being a better 3-point shooting team is not to be afraid of the shot, no matter what the numbers say. The next step is making 3-pointers easier. And that is part of what the Magic are doing by emphasizing quick ball movement and cutting. They are going to create space by making sure the defense is occupied with something else.

Still, the Magic’s shooting needs some work.

Orlando ranked 20th in the preseason shooting 31.5-percent (63 for 200). The team ended up taking the fifth-most 3-point attempts in the entire preseason. The Magic were definitely not shy from deep.

While it is preseason and teams do tend to settle more for 3-pointers as an outlet for their defense, the Magic missed plenty of good looks too. Their success this season may well depend on whether they are able to hit 3-pointers consistently.

That is still an abundant weakness on the team.

Cole Anthony was 6 for 22 in the preseason. Chuma Okeke went 4 for 20 to lead the team in attempts. Caleb Houstan and Terrence Ross each shot the ball well as did Moe Wagner. But no one else who took more than 10 3-point attempts in the preseason and shot better than 35 percent.

Most of the Magic’s main 3-point shooters were in the low 30s.

Maybe that will change when the season starts and some of the experimenting ends. With a more focused offensive game plan maybe the team will start taking more reliable shots.

But 3-point shooting remains a huge question. And defenses are going to push the Magic to prove they can hit from the outside more consistently.