Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

Preseason revealed how the Orlando Magic still need to grow

By Coby Leibowitz

The Orlando Magic have a lot they still need to work on even after a strong preseason run. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Orlando Magic have a lot they still need to work on even after a strong preseason run. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next

The Orlando Magic are coming off of an excellent preseason that is giving fans hope and excitement for this upcoming season.

The preseason does not mean everything because starters get less than usual play, and bench players and players who will possibly not even make the roster get to play to showcase their talents.

But there are things you can take away from preseason when the rotation players are on the floor.

The Orlando Magic are eager to get their regular season started and are focused only on general improvement. Their preseason showed they are ready to take some critical steps forward.

The Magic went 4-1 in the preseason which is fantastic and shows a lot of promise for the season, but again this is only a five-game sample size of this upcoming year.

Orlando knows it has a lot of work to go to get where it wants to be. The team is not putting any limits or hard goals. The group just wants to get better and take steps toward winning.

They likely feel they did that throughout the preseason. Still, there is plenty to work on and improve upon.

Focus on offense

A lot of focus starts with the offense.

Last year, the Magic’s offense was an abomination. They ranked 29th in points per game, 28th in field goals made, field goal percentage and three-point percentage, 25th in turnovers and 20th in assists.

Their rankings were better in the preseason but it is the minimal increase in numbers that is scary and makes it seem like they are in for another season with a bottom-tier offense.

Last year, the Magic scored 104.2 points per game, made 38.3 field goals per game and shot 43.4 percent from the field. In the preseason, they scored 106.4 points per game, made 37.8 field goals per game and shot 44.2 percent from the field.

Those numbers minimally increased or got worse. Preseason tends to lead toward worse offensive stats. But even the eye test would suggest there were real struggles defensively with the team settling for threes and struggling to get consistent penetration into the paint.

Offense will continue to be a struggle for the team.