Listen to the critics of the NBA these days and they will say the biggest problem with the league is how everything is the same.
They will say everybody shoots too many threes and that everything is geared to hoist shots from the outside. Defense has become increasingly irrelevant.
That so many of those loud voices are former players who played in a different era before basketball's evolution speaks to the nostalgia they have. Or maybe how little people watch the NBA with a discerning eye to see its diversity.
The analytics revolution may have homogenized which shots are valuable. Stats say layups, free throws, and threes are the most valuable and high-efficiency shots. But there is diversity if you look for it. There are teams trying to do something different.
Just look at the Orlando Magic.
How is a team that is 29th in 3-point field goal percentage sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference? How does a team like the Magic decide to reintroduce its starting center by putting him at power forward when the rest of the league seems to play smaller? How does a team continually opt for more defense in a league with more efficient offenses than ever?
The Orlando Magic are an undeniable force in the league now, winning 12 of their last 13 games. They are doing it in their way with a physical, hounding defense that drags teams into the mud with them. Shooting does not seem to matter when they can play with this much defense.
While everyone complains about the league relying too much on threes, the Magic are setting their own standard that teams struggle to figure out.
"We have to follow our identity," coach Jamahl Mosley said before Wednesday's game against the Chicago Bulls. "We have to stick to our standard. Since we've been here our standard, one, is defense which creates easy offense. Who we have on this team are guys who are fast, that can get downhill, that are physically strong and can attack the basket and get to the free throw line. And within that strength, you find what the defenses do. They collapse so we spread out for feet-set threes. The quality of shots is more important than quantity. Just because we're shooting a lot of them doesn't mean they're going in as we've seen."
The Magic have started to see shots fall in earnest through the last week. But the team knows not to rely on it. Everything for this team centers on its defense. The investment on improving on that end, even after a top-five finish, has proven worth it.
The Magic go against the trends around the league it seems. And they are finding success.
It starts with defense
After Sunday's game, the Orlando Magic rank third in the league in defensive rating giving up 104.5 points per 100 possessions. They are one of three teams giving up 105 points per 100 possessions are fewer.
If that continues, it will be the first time since 2018 that multiple teams had defensive ratings better than 105.0. The best defensive rating last year was 108.4.
The Magic are not alone in trying to lean on their defense. But the Magic have made this their complete identity. Everything grows out from there.
"We understand that defense is an effort thing," Wendell Carter said after practice Saturday. "Some nights we're not going to shoot well and some nights we aren't going to play well on the offensive end. But I feel like defensively we can control that. It's an effort thing and a mindset thing. As long as we continue to do that, we give ourselves a chance to win every night."
Going big
Wendell Carter's return on its own has created some tension. But the Orlando Magic also used that as an opportunity.
With all the versatility on Orlando's roster, the team has always flipped convention on its head. When everyone wanted the team to chase a point guard this offseason, the Magic put faith not only in Jalen Suggs to handle that role but also in their two 6-foot-10 forwards, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.
The Magic say a lot of things are done by committee. They expect everyone to be able to do everything and fill in as needed.
Asking two centers to do that in a league that is increasingly about outside shooting and versatility even from taller players was a challenge and a risk, even with more teams willing to play more traditional power forward/center alignments.
Through two games, the lineup change has proven successful. Orlando's starting lineup with Wendell Carter starting alongside Goga Bitadze has outscored opponents by 28 points in 29 minutes. The Magic are shooting 65.3 percent from the floor in those minutes.
There have been no spacing issues with both players able to put pressure on the rim and set good screens to free up others. It has just worked because of their commitment to defense.
"It's not really an adjustment. we are both defensive-minded players," Carter said after practice Saturday. "We take a lot of pride on the defensive end. Playing with Goga if anything makes it a lot easier on that end. He had five blocks [Friday] night. He plays hard and does the right thing on the offensive end. He's a very easy guy to play with."
They do seemingly complement each other well.
Downhill scorers
They also can lean on it because so much of the Orlando Magic's identity is about getting downhill to the paint.
Orlando is only 18th in the league with 47.5 points in the paint per game. During the last 12 games, Orlando is 11th with 49.3 points in the paint per game.
They are sixth in the league with 47.1 drives per game according to data from Second Spectrum. That suggests how much the Magic aim to generate offense from getting downhill. The team wants to see its scoring in the paint increase as much as the scoring from the perimeter.
The Magic also work to get to the foul line, averaging a 27.6 percent free throw rate, fourth in the league. Even without Paolo Banchero, the Magic continue to put pressure on the paint in numerous ways.
"For us, we can score the ball in the paint," Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said after Wednesday's win over the Bulls. "That's what we do. We get in the paint and score the ball. From Jalen [Suggs], Franz [Wagner], Paolo [Banchero], pretty much everyone can get downhill and score the ball. It's the standard. If we can score 60-70 points in the paint, the threes are going to come. That's the game for us. The gameplan is to attack, attack, attack and then kick out if we don't have anything at the rim."
The reason coach Jamahl Mosley felt comfortable turning to a lineup like his current lineup is because it fits the team's identity. The Magic are unapologetically themselves at all times.
They do not try to go with the trends around the league. They try to play the way they are built and what is the path for success for them. It is in their IQ and the way every player fits together.
That is why Mosley is comfortable throwing out funky lineups. Or lineups that buck the trend.
Part of the Magic's success this year is that they know what they are good at.
"It's going to be by committee as always," Mosley said after Wednesday's win. "Different lineups different situations. Chicago played small ball. But we have to stick to our strengths and what we do well. Our size and our physicality is one of those strengths. Our ability to do that is good. They are both playing high-level basketball. Goga is playing big-time basketball. They both have high IQs and complement each other very well."
That is not typically what people think of when they look at the modern NBA. Orlando is a modern team in its versatility. But it is more old school with the empahsis more on attacking and getting to the basket rather than the 3-point shooting.
And, of course, the defense.
The best teams find what makes them unique and press those advantages. While the rest of the league obsesses with shooting, the Magic are focusing on themselves and doing more of that. They have gone against the grain and are dominating the league quicker than anyone anticipated.