The question that hung over the Orlando Magic throughout the offseason was a simple one: What does a Sean Sweeney team look like?
It was hard to get a sense of what that meant before the season began.
There would be changes, obviously -- maybe the team would pressure the ball more; certainly, the offense would be different to some degree. But the wide assumption was that the Magic would operate mostly as they had before, regaining their defensive identity and finding some new approach to scoring.
Everyone is still learning what a Sean Sweeney team is and what its formula for winning will be. The season is too young for anything to be settled. The team is still trying to reinvent itself. And the injuries have forced further reinvention.
This is a team still learning its basics and still learning how it is meant to play together.
The Magic now have two wins. They now have at least the beginnings of a pattern for how to win. They now have the beginnings of a process.
That process in Friday's 121-114 win over the Toronto Raptors was the complete opposite of the bleak-looking loss on Wednesday. The team played with energy, and the ball moved around the perimeter. They shot and played with confidence.
"We just doubled down on the things that we've done all training camp, all through September," Desmond Bane said after Friday's win. "Really pleased, and something we can build off of."
There were tweaks -- the team was more patient and less susceptible to the trapping that the Raptors employ. They dictated the pace of the game. Their defense had rough moments, but it locked down the final half of the fourth quarter to secure the win.
What do Magic wins look like? Everyone is still figuring that part out. Sweeney and his staff are still figuring out how to maximize this team -- especially considering the team's injuries. But that way to win is emerging.
Shooting kind of helps
The biggest consistency from the two wins for the Orlando Magic is quite obvious: When the Magic make shots, they are a really dangerous offensive team. Almost to the point that they can outscore teams.
After shooting worse than 30 percent from three in the 30-point loss Wednesday, the Magic made 18 of 34 from deep. They made 18 3-pointers and shot better than 40 percent from three in the two wins against the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors.
Desmond Bane, struggling to open the season from three once again, made 6 of 12, willing some shots into the hoop to deliver the victory and some much-needed cushion.
The Magic's energy and confidence within their new offense is so much brighter when they get that proof that it is working.
"We have evidence of how tough we are and the grit the group has," Franz Wagner said after Friday's game. "We haven't shown it every game so far this season. We talked about that coming into the game. We showed that today. That stuff has to become habit. If it does, we can be a really good team."
That is still the biggest transition with a new coach: Gaining trust in what they are running. Much of their offensive collapse in the losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors came because shots were not falling, and the team did not quite know how to respond.
This is a 3-point-shooting offense, as weird as that sounds, given the history of this Magic personnel. Orlando is 16th in attempts per game at 38.3 per game. The 34 attempts from Friday's game were a season low.
Making shots obviously covers a lot of mistakes. It is still unclear if that is something the team can rely on long-term.
But clearly, shooting is a big part of the team's formula. It is a big part of the team's success. Something perhaps the Magic need to focus on if it is this centered within the offense.
Energy from passing
All of that shooting has to come from somehwere.
And one of the key changes early in the season has been the increase in the team's passing and speed. The Orlando Magic are holding onto the ball a lot less and passing it a lot more.
The Magic have started the season playing at a breakneck pace. They are trying to get the court up quickly -- getting over the mid-court line quickly is part of the team's key principles.
That pace has led to some promising moments. The Magic create mismatches by catching the defense off balance. But it has also led to a lot of turnovers -- a 16.9 percent turnover rate, 24th in the early season.
But many of those turnovers come from the team trying to be aggressive and play faster. Most of them are that way.
There is an emphasis on moving the ball and getting the ball inside the paint and out.
Orlando has been a strong passing team to start the season. The Orlando Magic tallied 30 assists on 39 field goals in the win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday. The Magic are 12th in the league with 26.8 assists per game and 14th in assists per 100 possessions.
They are 19th in 49.0 potential assists per game and third with 309.8 passes per game. They were 22nd with 45.3 potential assists per game and 11th with 293.3 passes per game last year. That is quite a jump in just raw passing totals.
The Magic are second in the league with a 71.3 percent assist rate. The Orlando Magic get more field goals off assists than any team other than the Atlanta Hawks.
The Magic have lost the three games they had more than 10 unassisted field goals and won both games they had fewer than 10 unassisted field goals.
Orlando is now a much higher-pass team. They are moving the ball much more. That creates energy when the ball is moving. And everyone is feeling that energy.
Is this something sustainable? Can the Magic keep playing this way? Are these changes permanent? Will they lead to winning?
That is still the question facing hte Magic early in the season. Slowly, everyone is discovering what a Sean Sweeney team is like.
Their way to win is still emerging.
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