3 reasons why Orlando Magic offense is failing

1. Nikola Vucevic

You want to whisper it quietly in case it’s true. But did the Orlando Magic give a center who had actually hit his ceiling a four-year, $100 million contract over the summer when it was unclear who exactly they were bidding against? Early indications this season show that, unfortunately for them, there could end up being some truth to this.

We’re not here to bash Nikola Vucevic. However, but it goes without saying that he too has looked far from himself offensively early on in the season. Part of the reason for this may be because he’s not getting overlooked as often anymore. He was a first-time All-Star last season, but was found out badly in the playoffs against the Toronto Raptors.

With both coach Steve Clifford and Vucevic himself saying many times that the entire offensive structure of the team flows through Vucevic, perhaps opponents simply listened and realized that by shutting him down, the entire team would grind to a halt on that end.

He’s averaging 17.0 points per game on a poor 21.9 percent from deep, compared to the 20.8 points and 36.4 percent from 3-point land of a season ago.

The Magic right now rank dead last in 3-point percentage as a team (26.5 percent), which is just unacceptable in today’s NBA. Again there is a gap between themselves and the next worst team, the Atlanta Hawks at 29.3 percent.

This is on Vucevic, Terrence Ross and everybody on the team (with the exception of maybe Jonathan Isaac, who is shooting 36.4 percent and looks much improved in that area), who simply have not made enough of their efforts from deep.

Almost as important is the fact they rank 24th in team assists per game (21.3), despite finishing 12th a year ago (25.5 per game). Vucevic’s passing was integral to this; he is among the best passing big men in the league and even if he wasn’t credited with an assist on a lot of made field goals, he certainly contributed a lot of hockey assists.

So to see his actual assist per game also shrink from 3.8 per game to 3.2 has not helped matters. All other players on the court orbit around him and it is up to Vucevic to develop an understanding with a different type of point guard in Markelle Fultz, somebody more athletic than D.J. Augustin.

Fultz is not as savvy as Augustin yet, but plays downhill and is already crafty around the rim.

Vucevic too needs to shoot the ball better, so that it creates more space for others to drive and to get shots of their own off. If this seems unfair to lay all of this on Vooch, it is only because both he and the head coach have said that the offense flows through him and he is being paid like a franchise player to produce results.

The slow start of Vucevic more than anything else is hampering the Orlando Magic offensively right now. He showed signs of life in the Friday win over Memphis with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting and tied for a team-high with six assists after dishing seven against the Mavericks.

They don’t have a lot of other players who can make things happen on that end, save for Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross (when he’s not in a slump, instead relying on Vucevic to be the spark that sets everything off. Until that returns, they will continue to flounder.