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The Orlando Magic have sprinted out of the gate to open up the NBA season. Not only are they 6-4, including wins versus San Antonio, at Cleveland, and at Memphis, but they boast the 18th-best Offensive Rating (105.3) and the fifth best defensive rating (100.9) in the league. Now, I don't think the Magic can sustain their footing atop the Eastern Conference, but I do think there's some truth to their hot start.
Last season the Magic found themselves in the depths of the putrid Eastern Conference at 29-53 which allowed their organization to coin the term “dumpster fire” when being described by analysts and basketball heads alike. They seemed to have the oddest assortment of players on a team in the league, with no real vision in regards to where they were heading. Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic, their two best players after the Serge Ibaka trade, are the last two guys you could envision leading a team anywhere. Not to mention Elfrid Payton, who as a point guard shot 27.4% from three last season. Then there’s Aaron Gordon who seemed to be yet another raw prospect the Magic took with hopes he could one day be an All-Star. They still have all those guys, so what changed?
The Magic made a much needed move in signing Jonathon Simmons this offseason. They needed a glue guy who could bring a spark off the bench and torment other teams' reserves and so far Simmons has executed. The improvement from Jodie Meeks to Simmons has been extreme. Jodie Meeks is a good knockdown shooter, but Simmons has the ability to shoot and drive which causes defenses to be more on their toes when he has the ball. They then went and got a veteran in Marreese Speights who has also helped spread the floor and beefed up their bench.
Its gone under the radar but Aaron Gordon averaged 16.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game on 50.3% shooting post All-Star Break last season. He made major improvements in his game, as he put up 11.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game on 42.8% from the field pre All-Star. He’s carried that momentum into this season averaging nearly 21 points and 9 rebounds per game on 56.1% shooting. The biggest difference we’ve seen from Gordon this season is his ability to knock down open threes, as he's shooting just under 58% on the season. Thats not going to hold up, considering he shot below 28% from beyond the arc last season, but it does show you that he's improved which helps this team tremendously.
Fournier and Vucevic have been blazing hot so far. Fournier is looking at career highs across the board, and Vucevic is making 1.8 threes per game while shooting 40% from deep. Thats up from 0.3 threes per game last season on 30.7% shooting. You can now see that two guys who couldn't shoot threes last season, Vucevic and Gordon, are knocking them down on high efficiency. The shooting is the key.
The Magic’s offense looks beautiful when they're out on the floor. Fournier and Terrence Ross can both knock down a shot off a pick, or catch it, pump fake it, and take it to the rack. Teams struggle to help on the drive because you can’t leave Vucevic, Gordon, or D.J. Augustin open. They have incredible spacing and the players are passing the ball and buying into Frank Vogel’s system. In fact, the Magic are averaging 25.3 assists per game this season which is good enough for third in the league. When you put five guys out on the floor who can shoot the three ball and you mix in the ability to attack from the perimeter with a few of them, you get a beautiful offense that’s very difficult to cover.
The Magic aren’t going to keep up their other worldly shooting percentages all season, but this early hot streak shows that guys like Gordon and Vucevic have legitimately developed their outside shots. They've been passing the ball like never before, and Vogel has really got these guys playing strong team basketball. It’s going to be interesting to see what they do with Payton when he gets back. As unique of a player as he is, he doesn't fit into the Magic’s new system that calls for spreading the floor and hitting outside shots. Payton may have went to the same shooting seminar that Gordon and Vucevic attended, so we’re just going to have to wait and see.
