By John DentonSept. 25, 2015
ORLANDO – Encouraged by the tough, defense-first mentality already brought by new head coach Scott Skiles and hardened by repeated years of team struggles, standout guard Victor Oladipo said on Friday that the time is now for the Orlando Magic to win.
No more excuses, Oladipo stressed with a steely glare, about the Magic being young and inexperienced. No more uncertainty about the coaching staff what with Skiles now firmly in place and already demanding that the Magic become a tougher, more physical team. The Magic have all of the pieces, all of the talent and all of the direction to become a team to be reckoned with this season in the Eastern Conference, Oladipo vowed.
``The times around here for excuses are done,’’ Oladipo said with the Magic poised to open training camp on Saturday morning. ``This is the time to get it done. It’s time to win.’’
Those proclamations have to be music to the ears of Magic fans who have patiently waited as the team has worked to re-tool the roster over the last three seasons. Finally, the likes of Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris and Oladipo have garnered experience and their games have matured to the point that they appear to be on the verge of becoming standout players. Add in second-year players Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon, electrifying rookie Mario Hezonja and a host of solid veterans and the Magic seemingly have the makings of a team ready to make a big leap forward. But, as Harris stressed, the Magic must put actions behind the strong words coming out of Friday’s Media Day.
``It’s time that we have to make this turn as a team and step it up a notch. We’ve talked about that (as a team), but things like that don’t just happen and go your way due to time,’’ Harris warned. ``It takes a lot of work and a lot of attention to detail and getting better at some of the things that we need from last year. So (turning the corner) is something that we’ve talked about, but at the end of the day it’s on us to go out there and execute what the coaches give us.’’
Skiles, who was a fan favorite as a gritty point guard with the Magic from 1989-94, is back with the franchise and he is charged with engineering the team’s growth into a contender. Skiles, 51, has been in similar situations before and he had some dramatic success almost right away in previous coaching stops with the Suns, Bulls and Bucks. While the Magic don’t possess a superstar go-to player, they do have great versatility, depth and athleticism all over the roster. Skiles has already been complementary of the team’s willingness to learn and its collective hunger to win at a high level.
``Shaq isn’t walking through that door, but there’s enough players and enough talent here for us to have a winning team,’’ Skiles said, referring to his former superstar teammate during the Magic’s early years. ``We have to do a lot of things better to accomplish that, but there’s enough talent here to win.’’
Any hopes that the Magic have of making major improvements this season will likely center around the squad’s acceptance of playing tough, physical defense every night. Last season, Orlando ranked 28th in the NBA in opponents’ field goal percentage, 25th in defensive rating and 23rd in opponents’ scoring. Skiles said historical data shows that teams simply can’t win with numbers like that and he is fully counting on the Magic to be a top five defense at some point in this season. For that to happen, Skiles stressed, Oladipo and Payton have to be an elite backcourt defensively, Harris and Gordon have to be better on the wings and Vucevic must play with more activity and aggression in the middle.
``We have to go from a bottom-three team in defensive field goal percentage up to the top five,’’ Skiles said. ``That is the only statistic that has the consistency (of success tied to it).
``In the past 20 years, of the top five teams in defensive field goal percentage – that’s 100 teams – 94 of them made the playoffs for 94 percent,’’ Skiles continued. ``So when you look at our guys and their athleticism – predominantly with our perimeter people – if we don’t get the kinds of defensive stops, we’re leaving a big part of our game on the table. We need (defense) to push the ball, to drive hard to the hole and to create the pace that we need to play at. So our identity has to be that teams hate to play against us because we’re going to be really scrappy, we’re going to guard them up and down the floor and then we’re going to push the ball right back at teams. We do all of that and we’re going to have a good year.’’
That certainly falls in line with the vision of GM Rob Hennigan, who has spent the past three years building a Magic roster that is teeming with youthful athleticism and talent. Hennigan got Vucevic, Harris, Fournier and Napier in trades and he’s culled Oladipo, Gordon, Payton (technically in a trade) and Hezonja from the past three drafts. The GM feels that the maturing roster – with Skiles’ direction and accountability – is ready to make strides.
``I think we’ve come to a point now where our team is ready to turn the corner,’’ Hennigan said. ``I’ve said recently that our goal is to make the playoffs. We’re not going to hide from that. That’s a healthy goal. Our expectation is to compete for a playoff spot throughout the season. The next step in development is critical for our guys and it’s critical for our young team to take ownership for the performance. All of those things combined give us comfort in setting that (playoff) goal for ourselves.’’
Hennigan wisely locked up the 7-foot Vucevic – the team’s leading scorer and rebounder last season – last October. He re-signed Harris in July so that the Magic could keep their young core together. And after seeing Oladipo, Gordon and Payton greatly improve their offensive games, the GM feels the Magic are poised to make a big step forward.
``Our guys have some experience now, but not a ton and we’re still young and realistic about that. But we feel like we’re positioned to make that next jump,’’ Hennigan said. ``We feel like competing for a playoff spot is something we can accomplish.’’
Another player whom the Magic are looking for big things is power forward Channing Frye, who struggled through a rocky first season in Orlando last year. Frye sprained his knee on the third day of training camp last September, never fully got back in shape and had trouble finding his rhythm on the team as a big man who specializes in 3-point shooting. Frye was very candid when discussing last season’s struggles and he vowed to be better after spending the offseason working on his conditioning, strength and mobility.
``This summer is probably the hardest that I’ve worked and the longest (stretch) where I have been healthy,’’ said Frye, who shot a solid 39.3 percent from 3-point range, but he struggled badly on defense and rebounding the ball. ``You are going to see a better version of me. Last year was, for the lack of a better term, a little embarrassing on all fronts. I think I have a lot to prove and I’m out here to put the work in and do it.’’
Being in the playoff chase would be a welcomed sight for Harris, who has endured 2 ½ difficult seasons in Orlando as the Magic have won just 20, 23 and 25 games. He has experience playing for Skiles when he was a rookie in Milwaukee and he’s already warned some of his teammates of the fiery intensity that the new coach will bring starting on Saturday with the squad’s first set of two-a-day practices.
Harris stressed, however, that Skiles’ tough love and unyielding accountability – especially when it comes to playing defense – is exactly what the Magic need. If the team truly is ready to win, Harris said that Skiles is just the coach to get the Magic over the hump and back into postseason contention.
``I just think that his demeanor and his knowledge of the game is going to be a big key for us,’’ said Harris, who had the best all-around season of his NBA career last season while averaging 17.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.01 steals a game. ``He’s on you every day and he’s tough. And he holds you accountable. That’s what he’s going to do in training camp, and that’s what he’s always done as a coach. And I think that’s exactly what we need.’’