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3 Surprisingly simple ways the Orlando Magic can increase their scoring

The biggest question surrounding the Orlando Magic is their offense. The team struggled on that end last year. But there are some surprisingly simple things the Magic can do to improve on that end.

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Jalen Suggs will be tasked with leading an Orlando Magic team that needs to get a big boost on offense.
Jalen Suggs will be tasked with leading an Orlando Magic team that needs to get a big boost on offense. / Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images
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1. Get in transition more

The issue with turnovers should preview another issue that goes hand in hand.

If Orlando wants to score more and improve the offense, the team needs to get out in transition more and score more efficiently in transition.

Conventional wisdom says young teams like to get out and run—using their youthful legs to push the pace and try to catch defenses before they get set. They do not yet have the experience to execute in the half court.

Orlando remains one of the youngest teams in the league. But surprisingly, the Magic were not good in transition.

It is not just they played with one of the lower possession rates in the league, they also struggled to score on fast breaks.

Orlando tallied only 12.4 fast break points per game, 27th in the league. The Magic also scored only 1.10 points per possession in transition (26th in the league) according to NBA.com's tracking stats. They turned it over on 12.1 percent of their transition possessions, 24th in the league.

Beyond even that, Orlando was only in transition 17.1 possessions per game and 15.1 percent of the team's total possessions. The Magic just did not get out and run very often.

And that is even more surprising considering the Magic forced a 15.4 percent turnover rate, which was second in the league. Turnovers are supposed to turn into easy fast-break opportunities.

This is another way the Magic leave points on the board. They should have a lot more fast-breaking opportunities.

The Magic not having a traditional point guard might hurt their ability to get out quickly. But having multiple ball handlers they trust to make decisions and being versatile enough to have everyone play every position should help their transition opportunities too.

To that point, Jalen Suggs scored 1.18 points per possession in transition on 3.0 possessions per game. Anthony Black, likely the backup point guard now, averaged 1.09 points per possession in transition and thrives in transition.

It is a clear paradox.

But the Magic know they are leaving points on the board. This is a simple way for them to score more points. And that is the goal they need to meet, right?

The Magic are not far from having a decent offense (not a good offense, but one that is better). And it is little changes that will help the team get over that hump.

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