Orlando Magic work on spacing to reach much-needed offensive breakthrough

A lot of eyes on the Orlando Magic are centered on the point guard position and Jalen Suggs.

The team opted not to make a move to add a traditional playmaker and creator, betting on their versatile style to build up the team and help them make the leap into contention in the Eastern Conference. They are also betting on their youth and ability to improve.

They know they have room to grow after finishing with the worst offensive rating among teams that made the playoffs last year. Orlando ended the year 22nd in offensive rating, scoring 112.9 points per 100 possessions.

It is quite simplistic to say the best way for the Magic to reach contender status is to score more and be a better offensive team. Finding solutions to that problem is both simple and complex.

While much of training camp is centered on strengthening the foundations of this team. The Magic are well aware their offense needs a boost too.

They are optimistic they now have the experience to turn things around and end a 12-year streak of finishing in the bottom 10 in offensive rating in the league.

"It's one turnover less," coach Jamahl Mosley said after practice Thursday. "But those turnovers were occurring because of our spacing. Now we have to clean up the spacing. Once guys understand where they are on the floor, they know the passes they can make, they know the right reads to find. That's what we constantly work on. We do decision-making drills as much as possible so these guys can really feel what is happening in real-time."

Orlando Magic have a lot to work on offensively

There is certainly a lot to clean up from the measurable things like turnovers to nailing down the details to give their steady drivers more space to get downhill.

Jamahl Mosley said the offensive focus early in camp has been using their multiple ball-handlers to initiate offense quicker.

The team is trying to increase the pace at which it plays and how quickly they get into their offense. It might also help to increase how quickly the team gets down the court and getting more possessions. The Orlando Magic were also a low-possession team, ranking 27th in the league with 97.4 possessions per 48 minutes and 27th with 12.4 fast-break points per game.

Speed and getting out in transition more effectively are certainly big areas where the Magic can boost their offense. Additionally, showing more maturity and reducing mistakes, where the Magic averaged a 15.0 percent turnover rate, ranking 26th in the league.

Orlando hopes maturity will resolve some of these issues. More experience should clean up mistakes.

But the Magic know what their strengths are on offense. They were eighth in the league with 51.8 points in the paint per game and led the league with a 28.7 percent free throw rate. The Magic live in the paint and try to put pressure on the rim.

Everything is in service of that philosophy.

"We've got a lot of talented guys who can get downhill," Anthony Black said after practice Thursday. "We've been emphasizing our spacing. I think it helps all of our players. We've got a lot of players who can break their man down and get to the paint. I think for myself, Jalen, Paolo, Franz, everyone really. It's helping us get to the paint more and easier without going through too many obstacles."

This is why spacing is so critical for the Magic. No one can operate effectively getting downhill without having the room to create driving lanes. Making outside shots and having players make the right reads to create quality looks will enhance the offense.

Spacing is an issue for all facets of the Magic's offense not just regarding shooting. But everyone knows where the Magic were weakest last year.

Shooting is an area where players already believe Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is helping. The threat of his shooting will be a real asset to improving the Magic's offense—even on the Denver Nuggets' fifth-ranked offense, the team was at its best offensively at 122.4 points per 100 possessions with Caldwell-Pope on the floor.

But the Magic know they need others to improve from deep and be threats to give their drivers space to get downhill.

That falls on Jalen Suggs to improve his shooting and maintain his breakthrough season last year. That means a bounceback year from Franz Wagner after his poor shooting from last year. It means a steady improvement from Paolo Banchero. And it likely means one of the Magic's young shooters has to step into a key role.

There are a lot of questions to answer.

Playmaking and point guard remain the biggest unknown

The biggest one is on the playmaking position where Jalen Suggs appears set to take over at least the de facto point guard role. The Magic are planning to have a ball-handler-by-committee system that leans on the decision-making of all of their players, especially the two playmaking forwards in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner in addition to Jalen Suggs.

The Magic under Jamahl Mosley have always run a more read-based system that trusts individuals to make decisions rather than relying on a true point guard or even set plays. The offense depends on players playing off each other and making the correct decision to attack based on what the defense is doing.

Still, all eyes are on players like Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black who are expected to have the ball a lot more and are expected to help ease the playmaking burden off the main stars.

They are both working to prove they are up for the task.

"Jalen played quarterback in high school and that's a big part of it," Mosley said after practice Thursday. "He's able to set the table. We did that as one of our initial drills was get the football out. Tell me what you see as a quarterback. He did a phenomenal job of getting guys in the right spacing and putting them in the right spots to see how we can execute on the offensive end."

Black likely will have a lot more on his plate this year too.

The second-year guard said he learned a lot operating without the ball last year. But he had been a point guard and playmaker his entire basketball life before last season. He said during Media Day he was eager to showcase more of his playmaking this year.

Black seems like he will get that chance. And how good he is could determine how good this Magic team can become along with the similar bets that put decision-making responsibility into more hands.

Orlando Magic optimistic about their offense

Of course, everyone is optimistic about what they can do in training camp. And the Magic make it that much harder by having one of the best defenses in the league for their offense to go up against. It must be hard to gauge their progress in training camp. Everyone is eager for the first preseason game Monday.

For now, all the team can do is work to correct all those mistakes and improve in those areas. That is how they can begin to shift the narrative.

That process, of course, begins in training camp where the team lays its foundations and the things it wants to emphasize. The Magic's practices include plenty of shooting drills and even some shooting competitions to keep the juices flowing.

The team can have the best offensive strategies, but ultimately they have to make the shots they are setting up and get defenses to change how they defend them. Orlando has to be tired of seeing defenses pack the paint and dare the team to shoot.

Sometimes the answers are surprisingly simple.

The Magic hope better spacing will help alleviate those concerns. And they have to have confidence for now that their offense is set to take a major step. They are doing the work to get there.