As Summer League practice was wrapping up on Monday in Orlando, Orlando Magic head coach Sean Sweeney was sitting on the bench seats along the wall observing everything.
Sweeney is not leading the Summer League team in Las Vegas, but he is still very much the center of attention. These will be his ideas. This is his staff working under his direction. This is his team.
Summer League is not the full team. It is the team stripped to its basic principles and identity, with how quickly a team is slapped together and the expanded roles for players who might struggle to make the roster in the fall.
But it is still something. These games will still say something about the way Sweeney wants his team to operate.
The Magic will get a hint of what their team will be about with a new coach.
"Speaking with coach, identifying who we want to be as a team, understanding the standards and expectations that we want to set with the players," Magic Summer League coach D.J. Bakker said after practice Monday. "What is the work environment we want to set for the staff and the players. The energy, the competitiveness and the daily consistency to strive to be a little better each and every day. If we can establish that foundation, that's our goal. Identifying what leads to a highly efficient offense and a highly efficient defense and just establishing those baseline principles and building on those each and every day."
Sweeney came to Orlando with a reputation for being a direct communicator. He was credited a ton with building the San Antonio Spurs' elite defense last year. He has served as an offensive coach in stops with the Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks.
He has been in line to be a head coach for some time. But when you are an assistant, you are always helping bring someone else's vision to light. Sweeney is finally the one striking out on his own.
He may not be the one directing and leading the team in Las Vegas, but the Summer Magic will provide some clue of the way he wants his Magic to play.
An aggressive style
The one thing that has seemingly defined Sean Sweeney's coaching style has been a frenetic, pressure-filled defensive style.
Both his teams with the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks were known for an aggressive defensive style that blitzed ball handlers and leaned on precise rotations behind the play to cover for the over-extension on that end.
The early returns from Summer League are that the Magic are looking to play an energetic defensive style once again.
"I think we've got a good feeling with every coach and a good connection," second-year forward Noah Penda said after practice Monday. "We're definitely trying to play fast and play pretty aggressive defense. I want to say play really physical and crash the offensive glass. That's going to be really important this year. It's definitely a change."
There is a lot that has to get done in Summer League.
As Magic Summer League coach D.J. Bakker put it, putting together a Summer League team takes an immense amount of focus. There are 15 things to do on each side of the ball, and you only have time to get to three or four of them every practice.
That forces the team to be about its basics. And so what the Magic see at Summer League are going to be foundational pieces moving forward.
An aggressive defense and a fast-paced offense are expected to be big parts of who this Magic team becomes under Sweeney.
"No. 1, just establishing our team identity," Bakker said of the team's goals for Summer League. "What do we want it to look like? Be competitive, be connected and be consistent each and every day. Understanding what are we trying to build from a team standpoint? And then build out our offense and defense team. And then build the fundamentals and habits from there."
On offense, the focus has been on pushing the pace. Second-year guard Jase Richardson said the team wants to get down the court quickly and try to get a shot up quickly.
That is something Sweeney has spoken about in coaching seminars before. He wants the team to get to the best shot quickly. That seems like a notion that will translate when the team comes together in Vegas and again in the fall.
That idea is similar on defense. Richardson said his directive was to be a pest on defense. Orlando wants teams to play fast and in their control. This is a team that will be defined by its physicality and its energy.
Direct and intentional
The way Sean Sweeney spoke at his introductory press conference often sounded like he was reading from a cue card. Everything felt very intentional and purposeful. It was all scripted.
Those are part of the early reviews of the way Sweeney has approached his new team.
Sweeny has a reputation for being direct with how speaks to and instructs players. That reputation is carrying over.
"I didn't know him before. I heard a lot of great things about him," Nikola Vucevic said on a Zoom call with media on Monday. "I'm looking forward to working with him. We had a couple of conversations. . . . He's pretty direct, which I like. In some ways, he reminds me of Coach [Steve] Clifford, who I have a great relationship with and played some of my best basketball. He's very motivated to start us off well in his first opportunity as a head coach. He has had a lot of success as an assistant everywhere he has been."
Everything for the Magic feels purposeful and intentional. There is not a lot of fluff to what anyone is saying or trying to bring to the team.
The team has simple directives and is trying to get at the heart of the matter. That seems to be the way Sweeney approaches his team and how he built his staff.
"He's pretty much the same approach [as coach Jamahl Mosley], just a lot of accountability from the leaders," Noah Penda said after practice Monday. "He asks us to be real leaders from day one. Be the one who runs the most, talks the most and do the things the right way all the time."
Bakker said success in Summer League will depend on whether the team is competitive, is the most physical, is sharing the ball and is communicating. Those are the baseline expectations for the Summer League team.
Those are merely a hint of what the team hopes it will be in the fall.
Slowly but surely then, Sweeney is putting his imprint on this Magic team and culture. Summer League will give a glimpse of that vision.
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