3 Glaring issues the Magic must sort out before start of regular season
By Elaine Blum
Magic basketball is finally back. After months of mulling over offseason additions, potential trades, and players' performances in the Paris Olympics, fans can finally watch their favorite team again. For now, it is still the preseason, but it is NBA basketball all the same.
Preseason does not have much value to teams other than that it provides a chance to try out new rotations and plays and get players used to playing with each other. Even teams like the Magic that are returning most of last season's players need some time to get their rhythm back.
We saw that in the Magic's preseason opener. It was a close game, but there was plenty to complain about on the Magic's side. Wendell Carter Jr. suffered an ankle injury, threes didn't fall, and the team racked up a lot of turnovers.
Nobody expected the team to look perfect in its first preseason game, but it was still a reminder that the Magic have plenty of issues to sort out before games start to matter.
3. The 3-point shooting
The Magic's lack of 3-point shooting is an old topic by now. It dominated the discourse around the team all summer long, and for good reason. Outside shooting and floor spacing are crucial parts of today's NBA.
Orlando signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to help with that while also hoping that young players already on the roster would take steps forward. When the team first took the court against the Pelicans, it did not look like the shooting improved at all. Caldwell-Pope only took two threes and missed both of them.
As a team, the Magic only converted nine of their 36 attempts from behind the arc. Jalen Suggs was the only player who hit more than one three.
And yet, the team's 3-point shooting is arguably the easiest issue to figure out. Much of the struggle might just go away next game. Maybe all the players needed was some live action to get used to being in an NBA game again.
Plus, once the team gets more used to playing together, particularly with Caldwell-Pope, it will be easier for the players to create open looks from three. That alone should lead to the team making more threes. If Caldwell-Pope gets good, open looks regularly, he will make some of them.