Jamahl Mosley reveals biggest improvement Magic must make defensively 

Last season was a huge success for the Orlando Magic. It was year two of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner playing together. Banchero made his first All-Star team, Jalen Suggs had a breakthrough season, and the team made it to the playoffs ahead of schedule. There was plenty to be excited about. 

At the same time, however, the season clearly exposed the team’s weaknesses. The Magic made their living on the defensive end, guarding at an extremely high level. This is not a coincidence. Orlando’s roster is filled with tall, versatile defenders, and finding a weak link won’t be easy. 

The defense even held up in the playoffs. Even though this was the first playoff run for most Magic players, they held the Cavaliers under 100 points in all but two games. What eventually ended the Magic’s season was a lack of offensive production. 

The team lacked spacing, creators, and go-to scorers. Thus, most of the offseason discussions focused on the Magic finding someone to fix that—preferably a point guard with a good 3-point shoot. The Magic decided to take another route and signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope instead. His addition to the team should definitely help with the spacing while also further strengthening the Magic’s defense and offering a veteran who has won at the highest level.

This decision also leaves a lot of offensive questions unanswered, though. Who will step up as a playmaker? Who will emerge as the Magic third and fourth scorers? That’s what fans want to find answers to in training camp, but Coach Jamahl Mosley believes that the Magic also still need to improve defensively. 

Mosley spoke on what he would like to see improve defensively 

If anyone understands the Magic’s defensive talent, it is Jamahl Mosley. He is the one who helped build this foundation and motivated players to give it their all defensively. He is also teaching his players to never be satisfied, though. 

While the focus of training camp is certainly on offense, Mosley also knows that his team still has room to grow defensively. 

“We gotta do a much better job this year of defending without fouling,” he said during training camp. “I think we gotta not allow teams to get to the bonus quickly. We gotta mix the ability to be aggressive on the ball and then knowing when a guy goes into a shot that we’re not fouling jump shooters and making silly fouls.”

So, the mission for the Magic this season is clear defensively: continue to be physical and aggressive, but don’t commit too many fouls. Sounds easy in theory. 

The Magic averaged 19.7 personal fouls per game during the last regular season. That was 23rd in the league. The only playoff teams averaging more fouls per game were the Philadelphia 76ers and the Indiana Pacers. In the playoffs, the Magic averaged 21.6 personal fouls per game, which was only better than the LA Clippers and Phoenix Suns. 

Over seven playoff games against the Magic, Donovan Mitchell attempted a total of 51 free throws, including 17 in Game 7. 15 of his 39 points in that game came from the free throws line. 

Not sending star players to the line quite as much could make a real difference for the Magic. They got to the line a lot last season, averaging 24.4 free throws per game during the regular season. Not sending their opponents to the line as well could give them a much-needed edge offensively.