This is the best, most in-depth Magic content I've seen on a national site in YEARS.
Well worth a deep read.
EDIT: I couldn't post the whole article as it is behind the paywall (see Knightro below), so here is a heavily edited and paraphrased version of highlights
Article
Joe Ingles likes to talk. So he talked about Paolo Banchero, the Magic and Bucks
By Eric Nehm
ORLANDO, Fla. — While bringing the ball up in the first quarter of Saturday night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic forward Joe Ingles was talking.
The 10-year-NBA veteran is always talking, but in this situation, Ingles’ chatter was directed toward his teammates, directing them where to go to set up a pick-and-roll on the right side. Knowing that Ingles wanted to attack the basket with his favored left hand, Pat Connaughton jumped to that side of Ingles’ body and “iced” him to the sideline where Bobby Portis was waiting.
Ingles faked left, drew the defenders and then threaded a bounce pass between both defenders to Moritz Wagner diving to the rim for a layup. And as he backpedaled down the floor, Ingles gave a long look to the Bucks bench and started talking again. There is no bad blood between Ingles and the Bucks, but after a season in Milwaukee, Ingles wanted to playfully remind his friends on the opposing bench that he still has it.
Ingles has played in every game for the Magic (5-4) this season and he is averaging just 18.8 minutes per game off the bench, his fewest minutes per game since his second season in the NBA. Along with the reduced minutes load, the 36-year-old is averaging a career-low 2.6 points per game. That hasn’t mattered to Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, who believes Ingles’ mentorship and work with the Magic’s young roster has been “invaluable” thus far this season.
“There’s so many things that he provides this team with his maturity, his professional approach. He just knows how to play the game and more than anything, he’s a winner,” Mosley said before Saturday’s matchup in Orlando. “He knows how to put guys in the right position, to communicate the right messages to these guys and that’s just on the floor.
“Off the floor, he’s communicating game plans. He knows the league. He knows it well. It all translates to winning with him. And then off the court with the guys, as a family man, as a husband, as a dad, the things he’s doing in the community, all these things, they provide such a level of professionalism to our guys who have not been around the league. And he has. He’s seen it and he can draw and give those experiences to these guys.”
To Mosley’s point, while Ingles’ individual numbers haven’t been overly impressive, the Magic have outscored opponents 12.3 points per 100 possessions this season with Ingles on the floor. Ingles has capably run the second unit offensively, freeing Cole Anthony to be more of a scorer off the bench, and helped communicate the realities of the NBA to a roster headlined by 21-year-old Paolo Banchero and 22-year-old Franz Wagner and an average age of 23.6 years old, outside of Ingles.
So, before the Magic’s 112-97 win over the Bucks on Saturday, The Athletic sat down with Ingles to do one of his favorite things: talk. Ingles talked about his new opportunity, the Magic’s young stars, trying to teach a young team how to win games and much more.This is a different opportunity for you. You’ve spent pretty much your whole career on playoff teams trying to make the push toward a championship. The Magic’s current record would have them in the playoffs, so I’m not trying to put a cap on what your team can do this season, but before the season, they weren’t seen as title contenders to outsiders. I know it’s only been a month, but what has it been like for you?
I mean, it’s different. But I think it’s similar to when I was starting, playing 35 minutes and then (Jazz coach) Quin (Snyder) was like, “You’re going to go to the bench now.” And I’ve got no problem with doing that, but it’s still an adjustment. ....Like I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t want to do that, but just trying to figure that out on the fly. I was lucky this year, compared to last year. At least I had a preseason and I got to play preseason....just the mindset of like, “Yeah, you guys might not have won games previously or many games previously, but f— that. We’ve been in every game this year, why can’t we win these games?”
I think the Clippers is the one game where we were quote-unquote blown out a little bit, but we’ve been in every game this year and we’ve had that experience. And now we gotta finish games or start games the right way or finish games the right way. And there’s just so many positives to this group. A lot of young guys, a lot of high picks. Obviously that brings some challenges in itself, but yeah, it’s been an awesome group to be around....Now I think it’s just us learning on the fly, playing the right way, winning, closing games. We talked a lot about like not beating ourselves, like I think we had 12 turnovers at halftime the other night. We were still in the game though, so those things can show how good we can be. And I think that is the defensive end. We might have 12 turnovers, but if we can be a top five, top 10 or whatever that ends up being defensively, then we’re going to put ourselves in a position to be in every game.
You’ve already talked a little bit about your relationship with Jamahl Mosley being a part of you joining the Magic. How did your relationship with him start? And what have you seen from him that makes you think that he’s a really good NBA coach?
...playing against the Magic, not just last year, but even in the previous years, seeing how they played and just seeing him on the sideline. Then, when you get into it more and you’re around him and I’m talking about potentially coming here and stuff like that, you see the more personal side of how good of a basketball coach he is and how detailed he is. And obviously we’re a very young group, so he has to do that work with a young group and yeah, I mean, like I said before, it was a very easy decision once I spoke to him.
You are coming off the bench here in Orlando, just as you did at the end of your time with the Utah Jazz and your one season in Milwaukee. Through nine games, Orlando’s bench players have scored 43 points per game, which makes the Magic the third-highest scoring bench unit in the NBA. Before we started this conversation, I was joking with you about trying to make a shot one of these days (23.8 percent from 3) or maybe just shooting a little bit more often (only 3.4 shots per game), but what you have seen from this role thus far? From afar, it feels like you’ve been a big part of this bench unit’s success thus far.
... If I’m open, I need to shoot it probably a bit more and be somewhat aggressive in that role, but I also understand my role here is to help, not only that bench unit, but the starters. And when I’m on the bench, talking to them about things that are going on or things that I see and obviously I’ve never been afraid to voice my opinion. And then when we get in, the pride we take as a second unit — like I’m obviously a little bit biased — but I think we’ve got one of the better second units in the NBA. We’ve got guys who could or should be starting on other teams. They could start on our team, but our scenarios are different and that’s the role we’re all in at this point and we’re taking pride in that role...
When we’re in there as a group and we filter the starters out and it’s a majority of our group, we take pride in dominating other team’s second units. I think we match up really well with second units
Talking about a couple of the other individual players on the team. Cole Anthony is playing the fewest minutes per game of his career this season, but he’s putting up the highest points per 36 minutes average (20.7) of his career. What has he meant to that second unit thus far this season?
I mean, that’s what what we need him to do with that second unit. He’s the guy we go to. Something I kind of take pride in is trying to get him in positions and handling the ball a little bit, so he doesn’t have to bring the ball up and then be aggressive, get a switch, and kind of everyone else is left out. So just manipulating those situations where we can get him in a good position because, I don’t know what his numbers look like, percentages like that, but I mean, on a lot of the shots he takes, it looks like it’s going in. He’s aggressive. ...I’m sure he wants to start here or whatever, but kind of taking pride in that, like being that guy in our second unit.
You mentioned Franz Wagner a couple times. I’d be curious about your first impressions of his game as well.
... he’s so efficient all the time. Like you look up and he’s got 14 points at the start of the second quarter and he does it the right way. Like he’s not forcing it...And I think when your quote-unquote two best players are that unselfish, it kind of sets it up for the rest of the group to be like, “If they’re doing it…” and then kind of runs down that line. And he’s taken a lot of defensive matchups this year too. ...So I think both those guys, on both ends of the floor, are really good and the scarier part of that is that they’ve still got a lot of potential to grow.
We’ve talked a lot about how “young” this team is, but for the most part, I don’t think we tend to think of young teams being good defensively. Thus far this season, your squad has the fourth-lowest defensive rating and it’s generally been difficult for teams to score against you. What has allowed you to be so strong defensively thus far?
I think with our group, one of our strengths is the length we’ve got as well....The young guys we’ve got, like everyone across the board, are tall and long and that’s switching or whatever coverages we’re playing. I think for our team, and teams I’ve been on, teams that win are top five, 10 in defense and top five, 10 in offense, like that’s what you’ve got to be.... I think for us it’s taking pride on that end of the floor and then using that youth that everyone talks about, to run out and be aggressive on the other end too.
At the very top of the roster, you have two young stars in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. With Paolo, you’re looking at the No. 1 pick, last year’s Rookie of the Year. He has this great pedigree, but I’m curious what you’ve thought about his game now that you’ve gotten to play with him and see what he can do on the floor.
I think it’s like last year. You play against Giannis. You see bits from afar and then you go there and you see the daily work. And, for me, one of the most fun parts about it is Paolo’s willingness to pass and get other guys involved. Like, I assumed he was kind of like a scorer and that’s what he did and there’s been games this season where he’s almost too unselfish, in my opinion... I don’t like word using the word young because I think that could be a positive for our group as well, but just getting those reps in daily like he puts in the work. He works his ass off. He is really unselfish. He’s a great teammate. I think having that combination of stuff sets you up pretty well for the future...Obviously he’s got a lot of basketball ahead of him and so does Franz. All that potential and now it’s about us harnessing that and putting it in the right spots. Using our young guys, or whatever people want to call them, in the right way. I think to me it’s like, “Oh, you’re young. You’re young, young, young.” But I think it’s a positive, too. Like if we’re young, that means someone is old. So, it’s like, let’s use that to our advantage and a part of that is obviously getting experience. And I mean, there’s been two or three games this year we probably should watch like we should be 6-2 or 7-1. One of the games, LeBron’s working across from us and he knows what he wants to do at the end of the game.]
