How the Orlando Magic can fix their offensive woes to make Play-in

With the NBA’s All-Star Weekend now in the books, the Orlando Magic can turn their attention to the remainder of the regular season.

A spot in the play-in tournament is not out of the question, although the team is going to have to step it up another level if they hope to get there.

Successful as this campaign has been in terms of drafting the right player in Paolo Banchero and taking a step forward, the organization knows the hard work will really start next season.

Expectations are going to increase, and with it will the need to win on a more consistent basis. To coach Jamahl Mosley’s credit, he is implementing a defensive scheme that is working.

Offensively the Orlando Magic still have much work to do, but there are solutions they can attempt right now to improve their scoring output and win more games.

In the month of February, the Magic rank an ugly 27th in offensive rating (109.4), and for the season sit 25th (111.3).

All of the teams below them in this category, except the Miami Heat, are actively trying to tank. The Magic have not hit that point yet and are 19-15 since Dec. 7.

The kind of run that can get you close to a play-in spot, and it has been earned not by scoring, but off the back of having a near-league average defensive rating all season (113.9), and the fourth-best rating in February (108.8).

Given that this group started 5-20 and things got out of hand fast, this young team deserves a lot of credit for weathering some storms and dragging themselves back to where they have now.

With the trade deadline now behind us, the Magic know what group they are working with, and have several weapons they can use to become better offensively.

Central to this has to be Gary Harris. Long spoken about as a player who may get traded, his importance to this roster continues to grow.

Yet he averages the third lowest usage of any player on the team (12.9 percent), lower even than the forgotten R.J. Hampton (18.2 percent) or Terrence Ross before being bought out (15.8 percent).

That has to change and when it does, Harris will average more than the 8.7 points per night he currently puts up.

It feels like Mosley has come across a starting five that works for him recently, and Harris has been a part of that.

In the last three games, Harris has started alongside Markelle Fultz, Wendell Carter, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. The Magic have gone 1-2 in that time, although the less said about that loss to the Heat to begin that run of games, the better.

Unsurprisingly Harris has the highest 3-point shooting percentage on the team (a scorching 46.2 percent), but he takes fewer attempts per game from deep than either Banchero or Wagner.

That seems about right given the hierarchy in place here, but it would be a good idea to let Harris take more than four attempts from deep each night.

How much a team averages from 3-point range (35 percent, 21st in the league) does not correlate to offensive success, but it does help. The Magic simply need to use Harris more.

Fultz’s aggression is another area that can lead to more offensive success for the Magic. The point guard is having his best season as a professional and has become crucial to what they do.

This is not about asking Fultz to change how he plays. His ability to play the game at his pace and get teammates going is part of the reason he fits so well with this group.

We know how talented he is, so calling his own number more and taking over when he feels it is necessary (really, look at that dunk above again) would be beneficial to the Magic’s scoring.

Fultz is averaging 13 points per game, and although he takes the third-highest field goal attempts on the roster (10.8, again behind Wagner and Banchero), fans will not mind if he takes on more.

Another player who coach Mosley can introduce to create increased periods of scoring is Bol Bol.

In an up-and-down season for the young center, it may just be that this is the moment where he creates the perfect situation for himself in the rotation.

Defensively Bol is a disaster, but at 10.4 points per game, he is able to keep opponents on their toes because even he doesn’t always look like he knows what he is going to do next.

With the Magic now bordering on elite defensively, they can survive some Bol minutes on that end if he is stretching the court, knocking down a 3-pointer here and there and driving wildly.

Outside of all of that, it is on Banchero and Wagner to take it to another level. The fantastic thing about this, is that this does not seem impossible.

These two are only getting better and better, and while the over-reliance on them offensively is evident in the amount of shots they’re taking (they’re also top two in usage), they continue to at least try and step up to the challenge.

As a wildcard, Caleb Houstan (who in his last four games has started, had a DNP and come off the bench twice), would be able to give a little bit more scoring, if his role was more consistent.

With the Magic’s roster now set for the run to the play-in tournament, these are the ways they can nudge themselves up the offensive pecking order.

At best they can hope to close out the regular season at around league average in this area and if they do, and can combine that with their high-level defending, they will snag a play-in spot.