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Magic Expect Major Growth This Season

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

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By John DentonSept. 29, 2014

ORLANDO -- Often there is no exact science to how young NBA teams make significant strides from one season to the next, but the Orlando Magic have attacked their evolution this way: The hope is that with each player dedicating their offseason to improve that the sum of those gains will result in growth for the team in the season ahead.

More specifically, the Magic’s thinking goes something like this: If Victor Oladipo can become a better decision-maker while remaining relentlessly in attack mode … If Tobias Harris’ improved conditioning and added muscle allow him to become a better two-way player … If Nikola Vucevic and Kyle O’Quinn can be more of the physical rim protectors that the Magic so desperately need … If Channing Frye can have the same effect in Orlando that he did in Phoenix and if Ben Gordon can rediscover his long-range shooting stroke … If Evan Fournier can build on his summer success with France and fulfill his massive potential … and if rookies Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton can shorten their learning curves and impact the team with their hustle and defensive grit …

If all of those things come together, the Magic are hoping that it will allow them to make strides as an organization, bury the memory of the past two rebuilding years and play many more meaningful games in the season ahead. To a man, Magic players, coaches and executives promised during Monday’s Media Day that brighter days are ahead for the organization.

``It’s been a good summer of work and an important summer of work for our guys and I’d say that everybody on the roster showed a real consistency to wanting to improve,’’ Magic GM Rob Hennigan said. ``That carried on throughout the summer and hopefully the habits and gains made will carry on into the season for us.

``It’s important for us this year to show growth and show progress,’’ Hennigan added. ``We’ll be able to measure growth in a lot of ways and wins is one way. But there will be other ways such as how we look at players individually and how they are improving. We’ll look at how the team is improving with certain metrics and our efficiency on both ends of the floor. The hope is that we’ll be able to look back when the season begins and throughout the season and say that we feel good about the progress in relation to our plan. The hope is that by season’s end we can look at the team and say, `Yeah, we are making good strides.’^’’

With 10 roster players younger than 25 years old, the Magic are very much a work in progress and stretches with plenty of growing pains still lie ahead. But O’Quinn and fellow third-year forward Maurice Harkless have been vocal this offseason in saying that many of the Magic players have gained enough experience over the last two years that they shouldn’t be using youth as an excuse any longer.

``Some people say we have to play some ball this year. We have to come out and really show strides and I really think we are going to do that,’’ said O’Quinn, who blossomed late last season as a starting power forward. ``Using the young excuse is not going to get us by this year. If you go by age, we are young. But the experience on the court is what we need to be judged by and we have enough (experience) to push forward.’’

Added Harkless, who is still just 21 years old even though he’s about to enter his third NBA season: ``Everybody has worked hard this summer and gotten better. And when everybody gets better, the team gets better. So I expect us to be better. I hate that when people say, `young team.’ That’s no excuse for us. I feel like we should get wins now. … We learned from (the past) and that’s what’s caused everybody to work so hard.’’

Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn and Hennigan are delighted with the collective work that their players have put in over the summer and they’ve already seen the physical transformations from the likes of Oladipo (15 pounds lighter), Harris (noticeably more muscular) and O’Quinn (down 12 pounds and more muscular). Vaughn said it wasn’t uncommon for him to come into the Magic’s practice facility late at night over the summer and see one or more players getting up shots or doing conditioning drills.

With the Magic opening training camp on Tuesday at the Amway Center, Vaughn is excited about the prospects of his roster because of the versatility, depth and talent that abounds at practically every position. Orlando possesses several young players capable of manning different positions and initiating the offense with their playmaking skills. Those facets of the squad will create competition for playing time and ultimately make the Magic a more dangerous team, Vaughn said.

Vaughn joked that the first drill he runs in Tuesday’s first practice will be a defensive session. That’s by design as he wants the squad to establish a defense-first mentality from the start.

``With the versatility that we have and guys being able to play multiple positions, defensively we’ll be able to dictate some things. And hopefully that will spur our ability to run and get out offensively,’’ Vaughn said. ``We’ll be a team that is dedicated on the defensive end of the floor.’’

Playing faster and focusing on defense suits Oladipo just fine. The No. 2 pick from the 2013 NBA Draft had a stellar rookie season despite playing off the bench and playing two positions, and he’s looking to become a more consistent and efficient player in his second NBA season. Oladipo intentionally trimmed down during the offseason so that he can better handle the grind of an 82-game season. The weight loss also made him quicker and gave him more energy – two things that should come in handy as the Magic look to run more this season.

``It’s going to be fun to play like that,’’ said Oladipo, who averaged 13.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.62 steals in 80 games as a rookie. ``We’ve got some young guys and the youngest guy in the league (in Aaron Gordon), who is pretty athletic. It’s going to be fun to play up and down. We’ve just got to do it on a consistent basis. It’s going to be a fun year.’’

Frye, 31, was Orlando’s biggest free-agent addition and he gives the Magic their first true ``stretch-four’’ shooter since the days of Rashard Lewis and Ryan Anderson. Frye, who is first cousins with Harris, is a career 38.5 percent 3-point shooter. He’s made at least 160 3-pointers in three of the past four seasons. Last season with Phoenix, Frye made six 3-pointers in January against Milwaukee, hit five threes in a game six times and connected on at least three triples 25 times. He dropped 30 points on the Denver Nuggets in January by putting on a 10-of-12 shooting exhibition (with five-of-seven 3-point shooting). Also, he scored at least 20 points in 11 games.

Frye said he was sold on the Magic’s vision by Hennigan and Vaughn and he is convinced that Orlando is on the right path toward building a winner. He was a driving force behind Phoenix winning 48 games last season and he said he wouldn’t be shocked if a similar scenario ultimately played out in Orlando with the Magic.

``There should be no expectations for this team – I think there are (eight) new players – but everyone should be excited to be a part of this youth movement,’’ Frye said. ``But I think we will surprise people. I think we’re going to win games we’re not supposed to win and lose games that we’re not supposed to lose. I think we’ll compete every night because these are some of the most competitive guys that I’ve ever played with and arguably one of the most talented teams that I’ve ever played with. But for us, it will be figuring out how to win consistently every night.’’

Harris and Vucevic, two core players heading into their fourth NBA seasons, desperately want to win at the NBA level, and their preference is to do it in Orlando. Both are eligible for contract extensions, but those deals must be signed before Oct. 31 to avoid them becoming restricted free agents following the season. Harris, who is nicknamed ``All Business’’ for his serious-minded approach to basketball, said he would not allow his contract status to blur his focus for the season ahead.

``Obviously, I want to be here,’’ Harris stressed. ``I’m going to go out there and play basketball. I’ll let my agent handle all of that (contract negotiations) and I know that they’ve been having some talks. I don’t get too involved with that. I don’t want to use that as something to make me lose my focus. I’m all about my team and winning games and helping our team win games. If (a contract extension) happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, my agent will keep it rolling.’’

Added Vucevic: ``I’m just trying to focus on the team, this training camp and the season. Obviously, like I’ve said before, I’d like to stay here and I love it here. I’ll let my agent and the team deal with that.’’