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Magic Preparing to Play With Smaller Lineups

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton
Feb. 22, 2017

ORLANDO – The post-All-Star break portion of the Orlando Magic’s schedule represents something of a fresh start – both in them trying to revive their faint playoff hopes and in how they plan to play going forward.

Last week’s trading of Serge Ibaka to Toronto for versatile guard/forward Terrence Ross signaled a major change in philosophy – and what they are hoping will be a change in direction – for the Magic. First off, they weren’t pleased with how a season seemingly filled with so much promise and high hopes went south, necessitating the shakeup of the roster. Potentially, even more moves could come by Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trade deadline to alter the look and talent base of a Magic squad blended with veterans and young players.

Secondly, the Magic swapped a shot-swatting big man in Ibaka for a sweet-shooting perimeter player in Ross because of their desire to join the NBA’s sweeping trend of 3-point heavy, small-ball style of play. Years ago, trading a big man for a wing would have been unheard of in pro basketball ranks, but the move isn’t so outlandish now considering how teams have moved away from post-up play and are perching four and five players around the 3-point line for a perimeter shot that has been proven to be more analytically effective.

The new-look Magic (21-37) and Ross will make their debut on Thursday when they host the Portland Trail Blazers (23-33) at the Amway Center. Magic coach Frank Vogel is hoping the game is the start of a late-season turnaround for his club.

``Obviously we didn’t have a good start to our season. It is what it is at this point, but we have 24 games to try and make something out of it,’’ Vogel said. ``It is a little bit of a reset, a., because of the All-Star break and, b., because we’ve shifted our identity.’’

Orlando opened the season hoping that it could successfully rotate big men Nikola Vucevic, Bismack Biyombo and Ibaka at the center and power forward positions and still hold up defensively against a league that is getting smaller, faster and more reliant with on the 3-point shot. Other than a brief glimmer in early December, the plan to play big failed and resulted in the Magic’s dramatically shifting gears with how it wants to play at mid-season.

Having 6-foot-7 wings Evan Fournier, Mario Hezonja and Ross and two 6-foot-9 forwards in Aaron Gordon and Jeff Green should give the Magic the versatility to match up against teams that lean heavily on 3-point shots and drive-and-kick sets.

Offensively, the Magic are hopeful that having more shooting on the floor will open driving lanes for point guard Elfrid Payton, Gordon and Fournier, and it will allow them to keep pace with foes that are taking and making more 3-pointers than ever.

``I definitely love shooting the three and it’s something I feel that I can help with doing. Hopefully we can give other teams some different looks and I can make a difference here,’’ said Ross, a career 37.6 percent 3-point shooter. ``(Getting a bigger role in Orlando) is all part of the new process that I’m looking forward to. I’m willing to work, I’m willing to learn and I want to do whatever I can to help the team.’’

Vogel, considered a guru for his ability to teach rim and paint protection, said he’s had to rethink everything he ever knew about defense with the influx of small-ball lineups. He had loads of success during his previous head coaching stop in Indiana by using big men Roy Hibbert and David West to pound smaller foes inside and keep them out of the lane.

Vogel tried doing the same with Ibaka, Biyombo and Vucevic, but the league has changed so much in its style of play that the Magic were at a major disadvantage almost nightly playing with bigger lineups. Vogel said the change in personnel and philosophy should help the Magic almost immediately on both ends of the floor.

``I think the whole league is changing this way,’’ Vogel said of the move to small ball. ``Quite frankly, I find it very difficult to play with two bigs in today’s NBA. They’ve got to be dominant guys to play that style, so I’m actually more comfortable playing small with the way the league plays today.’’

Vucevic, who has thrived as a center who can post up and shoot jumpers from the perimeter, said the change in philosophy will result in him being more of a back-to-the-basket player. He will also be asked to shoulder more of the load on the glass and the Magic must commit to team rebounding to make up for whatever size they might be lacking on certain nights.

``It’s going to be different for me, for sure,’’ Vucevic said. ``With Serge and me, I felt like we did a pretty good job of working together on both ends of the floor. But now, with four smalls, I’ll be more inside. And on the defensive end, I’ll have a bigger responsibility to controlling the whole paint. It will be a different look, but we did it some last year and some this year, so it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. We’ll be fine after everybody adjusts to the new style that we’re going to play now.’’

Orlando will use that new style to try and spark a resurgence over the final seven weeks of the season. It will go into Thursday’s game against Portland just 6 ½ games back of the final playoff spot in the East, but getting to the postseason will be an extreme longshot because of the number of teams between the Magic and the No. 8 Detroit Pistons.

Vogel wants the focus the rest of the way to be on the building of ``winning habits.’’ Out of the playoffs the past four years, the Magic felt like this would be the season that they were back in the postseason hunt once again. Even if the Magic can’t reach that goal, Vogel said they can lay the foundation for future success in how they approach these final 24 games of the season.

``I don’t want our guys trying to make up 6 ½ games and hoping that everyone else loses,’’ Vogel said. ``The biggest thing for our franchise and our whole organization is that this group has to learn how to win – whatever that looks like.

``Right now, we’re 0-0 and we’re not focusing on the standings and how many games we have to make up. We’re going to focus on bringing maximum effort to practice and maximum focus to games and preparation,’’ he continued. ``Those are all the little habits that our young guys need to develop. And, even with some of our veterans, some of those guys haven’t experienced winning at a high level either. All those things factor into this organization learning how to win. That’s the No. 1 priority for us right now.’’

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