3 reasons why Orlando Magic offense is failing
By Luke Duffy
2. Terrence Ross/the bench rotation
Terrence Ross has started this season poorly to say the least. Gone is the ultra-confident sixth man who stepped off the bench and shot 38.3 percent from 3-point range last year, instead being replaced by somebody who looks like he is second-guessing everything he is doing on the court right now.
Ross is currently out for a short period with a right knee issue and this could yet turn out to be a blessing in disguise. When he’s been on the court so far this year he has forced everything he has done, trying too hard to get the offense going as opposed to taking what he was given as he did throughout much of last year.
Ross is only taking one fewer 3-pointer per game so far (six, as opposed to seven last year), yet his shooting percentage from deep has fallen off a cliff and has hit the unsightly low of 19 percent. The season is young and the stats are skewed, but to have gone 8-of-42 from 3-point range isn’t something that has a ready-made excuse to gloss it over.
His minutes are down from 26.5 last season to 22.2 so far this term, which speaks to a broader issue. That is contributing to the uncertainty surrounding the play of Ross right now. The rotation is still being figured out, as coach Steve Clifford tries his best to find the right blend of players at the right minutes to check into the game to help.
Ross is no longer the first man up every game, with Markelle Fultz taking that role to begin the campaign. Confusingly however it doesn’t look like D.J. Augustin will slip into that position instead, with Al-Farouq Aminu having come off the bench first in games as well. This has clearly thrown Ross out of sync and it needs to be rectified soon.
He is among the better sixth men in the league and it is hugely important that the Orlando Magic recognize this and put him back in his familiar position of last season, for the betterment of the team.
In no way is Aminu a dud who should not have been signed, but perhaps the front office is putting pressure on the coaching staff to squeeze him into the rotation so as not to look like they made a bad decision in signing him to a three-year, $29 million deal.
That is even without considering how Michael Carter-Williams or even Wesley Iwundu, both of whom could claim to be better defenders than Ross, fit into the equation as well. The hope is that Ross can come back from injury feeling 100 percent and that he gets the opportunity to slide into his more familiar role, whatever that means to other guys on the roster.
Then we will see the best of him again and he will improve the offensive output of this team off the bench.