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3 Orlando Magic stats to be encouraged by, concerned with through 11 games

By Philip Rossman-Reich

The Orlando Magic are off to a solid start to their season. But there is clearly a lot of work to do. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports
The Orlando Magic are off to a solid start to their season. But there is clearly a lot of work to do. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jalen Suggs, Orlando Magic
Nov 9, 2023; Mexico City, MEX; Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) celebrates after a three-point basket against the Atlanta Hawks in the second half during the 2023 NBA Mexico City Game at the Arena CDMX. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

3 Orlando Magic stats to be encouraged, discouraged by through 11 games

Discouraged: 3-Point Shooting

There is simply no avoiding the Orlando Magic’s shooting struggles to start the season. It is the root cause of every problem this team has faced through its first 10 games. It is a seeming minor miracle the team is above .500 with how much teams have been able to pack the paint and dare Orlando to shoot.

There frankly may not be a way out of this until the team starts hitting shots over multiple games to get teams to change that style. And that doe snot necessarily seem in the cards. That is not who this team was last year and through the first 11 games, it is not who they are this year.

Why are the Magic settling in at 26th in offensive rating this year? They cannot make a shot. And that tightens everything up as teams load the paint against them. Watch a late-game situation for the Magic, defenses will have five players with a foot in the paint ready to get that stop.

This season, Orlando is making only 32.9 percent of their threes (27th in the league). The Magic are going to go nowhere fast if they keep missing shots.

Here is the good news though. Orlando is no longer near the bottom of the league in attempts, so at least the team is willing to shoot. The Magic are 25th in the league at 31.2 attempts per game. That is about the same number they attempted last year in a number that has been sinking — the Magic want to avoid settling for threes for sure.

The Magic are also getting more corner threes, averaging 8.1 corner 3-pointers per game, up nearly two attempts per game from last year.

Still, it comes down to making these shots.

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Orlando is not a three-point shooting team. They probably need to be at 33-35 attempts per game to keep defenses honest. But that does not matter if the team is not making those shots. And so many of this team’s problems get solved if they can find a way to do that.

That might be wishful thinking at this point, unfortunately.

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