Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors.
By John Denton
Dec. 13, 2015
NEW YORK – When Orlando Magic coach Scott Skiles mentioned again that he is contemplating changes to the lineup – something he similarly did nine games ago – it isn’t so much about sending a spark into the team as it is finding a way to get more shooting on the floor.
Of late, many of the Magic’s struggles can be traced to spots 23 feet, 9 inches away from the rim.
Skiles has been saying for weeks that he feels the Magic (12-11) are a better 3-point shooting team than they have shown so far, but the team’s recent dip from beyond the arc has him contemplating more rotation juggling.
For the season, Orlando is shooting 34.4 percent from 3-point range, which ranks 17th in the NBA. That percentage has nose-dived in the past six games (three wins and three losses) as the Magic have connected on just 30.9 percent of their 3-pointers. That lack of accuracy has caused their scoring (down from 99.9 ppg. to 94.2 ppg.), offensive rating (down from 99.4 points per 100 possessions to 95.5) and effective field goal percentage (down from 51.5 percent to 47.6 percent in a statistical measure where the 3-point shot counts for 1.5 percent of a common basket) to plummet.
Skiles and Orlando’s players know that they have to shoot the ball better from afar – starting with Monday’s game in Brooklyn against the Nets (7-16) – if they are to snap out of their two-game losing skid.
``The last thing that you ever want in today’s NBA is for the other team to have in their game plan is, `Look, these guys on their team don’t make threes, so don’t rush out on them, pack it in the paint and double-team (center Nikola Vucevic),’’ Skiles said. ``So it’s critical that we’ve got to make more of them.
``I think we are (a better 3-point shooting team), but we’re past a quarter of the way in now,’’ Skiles continued. ``At some point we’ve got to step up and show that.’’
Sparked by Golden State’s success with its ``space and pace’’ style of play, NBA teams are shooting 3-pointers at a record clip this season. Last season, the four teams to make it to the conference finals – Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston and Golden State – were the four most prolific 3-point shooting teams in the NBA. San Antonio has used the 3-point shot – particularly the closer corner 3-pointer – to win five championships, but coach Gregg Popovich railed on the shot recently, saying, ``I still hate it. I’ll never embrace it. I don’t think it’s basketball. I kind of think it’s a like a circus sort of thing.’’
Several NBA coach, including Skiles, have gone the other way and have fully incorporated the 3-point shot into their offense because of the positive effects it can. Not only is it one of basketball’s most productive shots because of the accuracy players shoot from afar now, but the mere threat of the shot creates drive lanes and one-on-one post-up opportunities.
The 3-point shot was a big reason why the Magic signed power forward Channing Frye, a player Boston coach Brad Stevens said ``we fear him like he averages 30 points a game.’’
``It definitely is a weapon and it’s changing the game of basketball,’’ said Frye, a career 38.6 percent shooter from beyond the 3-point arc. ``For some guys, the 3-point line is nothing now because they are shooting out around the hash mark. It’s created more spacing and there’s not a lot of what I like to call air craft carriers – maybe two or three big left – and the league is getting a lot smaller with guys like (Golden State’s) Draymond Green at (center) and he can shoot the three. For us, we need to figure out how we can use the three to our advantage and take it away from other teams.’’
Threes have been hard to come by most of the season for the Magic what with Victor Oladipo (25.9 percent), Tobias Harris (30.3 percent) shooting well below their career marks. Also, Frye (3 of 13 over the last six games), Elfrid Payton (1 of 7 over the last six), Shabazz Napier (3 of 13 over the last six), Oladipo (5 of 20 over the last six) and Harris (4 of 20 over the last six) have gone into shooting slumps simultaneously of late. Rookie Mario Hezonja (3 of 4), Aaron Gordon (4 of 9) and Andrew Nicholson (5 of 12) have taken advantage of his opportunities off the bench of late, prompting Skiles to consider another lineup change.
Orlando’s 3-point shooting nearly bottomed out on Tuesday in Denver when it missed its first 15 tries from beyond the arc and nearly went an entire game without a 3-point shot for the first time in 676 games. However, Evan Fournier – a career 38 percent 3-point shooter who is shooting 38.8 percent this season – drilled a victory-sealing three in the final 3 minutes to beat the Nuggets.
The Magic bounced back a night later to make 12 of 25 3-point attempts in Phoenix, but their offense sagged badly in Friday’s lopsided loss to Cleveland. On Friday, Orlando made just 38.9 percent of its field goals, hit only six of 22 3-points shots and had more turnovers (19) than assists (16) in a discouraging 35-point home defeat.
Fournier, Orlando’s leading scorer most of the season, said the Magic came back to practice on Sunday with a good mindset about working together to create more open shots for teammates. He hopes that it will have a spillover in Monday’s game against the Nets.
``(Friday’s loss) was embarrassing. Especially at home against the Cavs and you want to play well in front of the fans. You want to show good things and we did the total opposite,’’ Fournier said. ``We played a terrible game. You don’t get much sleep after a game like that. The day off was good to think about something else and get some rest.
``That was a very good practice (on Sunday) and I’m not going to be surprised if we play a very good game (on Monday),’’ Fournier continued. ``It feels good to come back into the gym, get some work in, play hard and sweat. That was a good day.’’
Skiles believes that Frye could be a major difference-maker for the Magic if they can find ways to get him more shots. The 6-foot-11 forward is averaging just 3.2 shots a game – largely because teams know to stay up on him. But Skiles feels the Magic have missed Frye far too often while driving to the basket and encountering traffic. If the Magic can turn those instances into drive-and-kick plays for Frye it could go a long way in solving Orlando’s issues from beyond the 3-point stripe.
``(Frye) has always been a guy who could trail up on a fast break or you can throw the diagonal cross-court pass and he can walk into a three, but we’ve missed him a lot because our heads are down and we’re driving,’’ Skiles said. ``In a couple of the games where he’s come out in the third and knocked down a couple of threes for us, we’re a totally different team. He’s a big weapon for us.’’