3 reasons why Orlando Magic offense is failing
By Luke Duffy
3. This is all still new
Most of the roster may have been returned from last season, but there are still enough new players in key positions that simply haven’t played a lot of meaningful minutes together. This is contributing to the static offensive play.
Central to this is Markelle Fultz, although he has been among the Orlando Magic’s best players to start the season. In the space of nine games he has gone to somebody who it was thought might play 15-20 minutes off the bench to being a key bench contributor early to eventually starting games.
That’s a lot to navigate for a 21-year-old as he takes over leading the starting unit from the veteran D.J. Augustin. Even moving Augustin to the bench unit itself will take time to gel properly, as he is more used to running a two-man game with center Nikola Vucevic which led to both having career years last season.
Offered without comment: Aaron Gordon and DJ Augustin’s combined salaries this season ($27,113,000) are nearly a perfect match for D’Angelo Russell’s ($27,285,000). Aminu gives the Magic flexibility to be creative with AG as an asset.
— Cigamodnalro (@cigamodnalro) November 6, 2019
New recruit Al-Farouq Aminu, although not known for or brought to Orlando because of his offensive ability, has struggled all around in his new role as a lockdown defender off the bench.
This hurts the Magic in that they had a flow to their bench unit last season and both the introduction of Aminu and either Fultz or Augustin leading the second unit will take some getting used to.
The good news here is that this looks like something which will begin to change before long. Fultz is already playing with a ton of confidence, his passing is a plus and defensively he digs in. Some of his turnovers have been sloppy, but don’t forget he has only played in 42 actual NBA games. He is the key to unlocking a better offensive style of play and it will come.
There will just have to be some growing pains first.
This may require leaning into Evan Fournier more during this poor spell, a sentence that would have drawn groans throughout most of last season. He has started the season well, coming off of some strong FIBA World Cup play and is averaging 14.8 points on 33.3 percent shooting from deep (that could do with improving).
He’s the best creator of his own shot on the roster and at 27 is in theory now entering his prime, and they could do with seeing his usage (23.2 percent) overtaking that of Vucevic (25.5 percent) for the time being at least. Anything to try and jump start this offense.