Surprise development from Goga Bitadze could change everything

Early in the first quarter of Georgia's EuroBasket game against Cyprus, the ball swung to Goga Bitadze at the 3-point line. With a defender closing in on him, he calmly fired for three and drained it, continuing his trend of being willing to shoot from the perimeter for his national team.

But that is just one three. A sort of fool me once, shame on me thing. It is only a weapon if he continually hits it. It only becomes noticeable if it is a habit.

So late in the second quarter, as Georgia put the killing run that gave them a double-digit lead at halftime in their critical 93-61 victory on Tuesday, Bitadze floated out to the 3-point line after setting a screen. The ball flipped over to him and he shot it again.

Swish.

For the past week, as Georgia has fought to advance out of a difficult Group C in EuroBasket -- their game against Bosnia & Herzegovina on Thursday is a win-and-advance game for both teams -- Bitadze has displayed more and more of this potential.

For the tournament, he is now 7 for 15 from deep after going 4 for 7 on his way to 21 points and 13 rebounds in Tuesday's game. This no longer feels like some cute thing Bitadze teased and is working on, but something that could be a huge addition to the team.

Considering how desperate the Orlando Magic are to add shooting, internal development from an unexpected place has the chance to open everything up.

The point of offense is to make defenses make compromises and gamble on what they can give up. The more every player can do, the tougher these decisions become. Bitadze getting any jump-shooting threat is a transformational idea.

Desperate for shooting

There is no secret the Orlando Magic were desperate for shooting this summer.

They had one of the worst 3-point shooting seasons in the last decade. It is one of the biggest things holding back an offense that has struggled to get going for the last decade and a half.

Orlando aimed to fix this through the acquisitions of Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones -- and to some extent Jase Richardson in the draft. But most of the improvement from shooting would have to come from internal improvement.

Far too many players last year had their worst shooting seasons in their career or simply did not improve enough.

Franz Wagner was a high-volume shooter -- second on the team in attempts per game -- shot worse than 30 percent. Jalen Suggs might be an excellent spot-up shooter, but he was forced into a lot of bad threes as his role expanded in the face of the injuries. Wendell Carter shot 23.4 percent from three, the worst of any player who regularly took threes.

Orlando needed the addition of Bane and Jones to add quality shooters. But the offense will benefit from internal improvement.

That includes from Goga Bitadze, who was a non-shooter last year, taking only 28 attempts last year -- only Mac McClung took fewer last year. Bitadze adding a 3-point shot is intriguing and a necessary evolution for the player and the team.

Orlando needs everyone to improve their shooting. Bitadze adding a 3-pointer goes a long way to changing the landscape for the team.

Changing geometry

Shooting is about changing the geometry on the court. The more players who are threats to shoot, the less likely a help defender is willing to leave his man to try to cut off a drive. Also, the better option for a player to kick out to and still score.

The Orlando Magic had poor geometry last year. Teams were unafraid of their shooting and could clog the lane to prevent drives and wall up Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner's driving attempts.

The shooting threat of volume shooters like Desmond Bane and (theoretically) Jalen Suggs will change the geometry.

But nothing changes geometry quite like a center who can spread the floor as a shooter.

Part of the allure of Wendell Carter was his potential as a shooter, something that took a frustrating downturn after he shot 23.4 percent from three last year after shooting 37.4 and 35.6 percent from three the last two seasons.

The potential for Carter to be a shooter is why he had a lot of value offensively, especially considering he is not a heavy scorer around the basket.

Bitadze simply did not have jump shooting as part of his repertoire last year. Only 51 of his 339 field goal attempts last year came outside of eight feet. Bitadze essentially lived in the paint and the paint alone.

Even developing a comfortable mid-range jumper would open up plenty for Bitadze and the Magic offense. It shifts the geometry on the court because opponents have to cover Bitadze around the basket.

There is a perception that Goga Bitadze struggles when playing alongside Paolo Banchero. When the duo was on the floor last year, the Magic had a 105.4 offensive rating (and 113.2 defensive rating) in 321 minutes.

There is at least a belief that Banchero and Bitadze like to occupy the same spaces on the floor. Part of Bitadze's ticket to get more playing time would be to be able to space the floor.

It certainly would add some diversity to his offensive potential to be able to step out and hit jumpers in addition to spacing the floor vertically above the rim.

Bitadze is fighting for playing time on a roster full of centers. At times, it feels like Bitadze is the odd man out. Adding a jumper to expand his offensive game felt like a necessity for Bitadze to keep his spot.

It is something that presents a lot of promise for a Magic team that needs to find more shooting.

Time will tell if this shooting spurt from EuroBasket will translate to the NBA. But Bitadze has opened the door to the conversation. And a potential transformative skill for the Magic's offense.