pepe1991 wrote:Shooting is final, or measurable problem with Magic offense. But not main issue.
Magic main issues are:
1) lack of star player. This is most repeated thing on this forum but also it continues to be main wound.
Star players ( talking about clear cut stars, not 1 time allstar by accident ) , draw attention from shooters, force double teams and keep defense honest. They also prevent zone type of defense or any type of hording in paint.
Their effect is simple,they open game for shooters. Shooters get practice level looks and knock them down at much better clip.
I call it Lebron effect. Whenever he goes shooters have great years. Him, Harden,Durant isolate on one side , if other side stays put, they go 1 on 1 or use pick&roll to play 2 v2 . If defense shifts one or more players form other side it means somebody is wide open on top of key or in corner. Simple basketball,yet so effective.
2) Drafting projects on offense. As Xatticus pointed, shooting does not make great offensive player. Stauskas and McDurmott can shoot ,but they are not good offensive players. But Magic never really drafted anybody with great feeling for offense. Nobody they got is good dribbler, nobody is good at passing ,nobody is good slasher. Nothing comes naturally on offense for this guys.
There were and still are prospects that team had to teach how to handle a ball at age of 20. I won't name anybody because i have zero will to argue.
3). Putting players in positions to fail.
This is kind a missfit problem but Magic did this with lot of guys. I can't even name all the WTF moves team did. Starting from Dipo at PG, Gordon at SF ( x2), Simmons at semi PG ( main ballhandler off bench ), Harris as 4, Hezonja as 4, Nicholson as strach 4, Meeks as SF, Evan as SF , Ilyasova at SF. If i missed somebody out of position, my bad.
Just bunch of experiments that never resulted anything positive but created confusion and probably irritation of players.
Oladipo at PG was first time i got super annoyed by Magic as fan. Even freaking GM went in public to confrim that he will play PG, he practiced whole summer for PG, played whole SL and preseason as PG, season starts and Nelson is starter as PG. So why lie? Why go through all that media circus? Let him play or don't say anything, nobody forced you to go in public and confirm it.
I liked the idea of Oladipo at PG at the time because I thought it could only be a positive for his development in the long-term, though I never thought he would stick there.
I read an article many years back that detailed how rookie point guards with high turnover rates demonstrated more long-term growth than those with lower turnover rates. There could be confounding factors here and it could be irrelevant, but I tend to believe it is true. I expect that the same is true to some extent for other positions as well, but that the results are magnified by the possession intensive role of the point guard.
My point in all of this is in that I don't see mistakes as being indicative of a problem, but rather that they are a consequence of the development process. I don't really care if a young player struggles so much, but rather that they have the right approach to the game and learn from their mistakes.
I think basketball is just beginning to recover from a stagnation that set in during the superstar heavy era that came on the heels of Jordan's dominance. I'm a basketball purist at heart, so it was a sort of slow torture having to watch an entire era driven by faux superstars in constant isolation sets. I appreciate the value of isolation plays when it can force the opposition into a double team, but for a long stretch it was just lazy offensive schemes that catered to the desires of players whose purpose was to become stars; as opposed to actually being great basketball players. I'm not going to list names because that will just rile people up, but I'm sure you know what players I am referring to.
The Warriors teams of this dominant run are highlighted by exceptional shooting, but their ball movement is amazing as well. I'm really excited about watching Luka Doncic. To me, he is very reminiscent of Magic and Bird of the 80s. They weren't dominant because they were superior athletes, but because they had an incredible understanding of the game, read defenses, and made quick decisions. I'm hopeful that these are signs that we are transitioning back to a previous era where ball movement and constant motion is what characterized the elite offenses.
I was rather critical of the Clifford hire, but I've been pleasantly surprised by what I've seen from our offense in the preseason. I don't want to get ahead of myself in praising it, but the movement seems improved. It's still disjointed and lacks any semblance of cohesion, but it is better. What I absolutely don't want to see is the ball sticking in Fournier or Gordon's hands while they survey the court or try to break down their defender. I don't want to see Vucevic calling for and receiving the ball when he posts someone up 15+ feet from the basket.
I know there has been a lot of pessimism around here as the season is about to kick off, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I don't mean that I'm expecting us to compete for the playoffs. I would probably take the under on 35 wins right now. But I am just so damned happy that Vogel is gone and that Clifford seems more concerned with rewarding effort than feeding that hierarchical bullsh*t that we have endured the last few years.
"Xatticus has always been, in my humble opinion best poster here. Should write articles or something."
-pepe1991
