Orlando's Magic Moment
The Orlando Magic will make the playoffs this year.
Yes, these are shocking words to see in writing. The Magic last made the NBA Playoffs five seasons ago during the Dwight Howard/Stan "The Man" Van Gundy-Era. But I am (maybe not so) boldly predicting Orlando will make it out of the mud in the Eastern Conference, and here is why.
Head coach is always important, but I believe no matter what it all starts with the talent. Aaron Gordon was the 4th overall pick out of Arizona in the 2014 NBA Draft. He was obviously filled with potential but his role was unclear as he was such a pure athlete rather than a technical player. In the game above Gordon was shooting well from the outside while utilizing great matchup recognition (knowing who was guarding him an exploiting mismatches). At the 15 second mark he slows down when he sees that Chandler Parsons is on him in the low-post. His footwork is choppy, and the fact that he fades back is not ideal, but his athleticism allows him to rise up over Parsons and score easily off the baby-hook-shot. Gordon's continued development on offense will certainly help him catch up to his already great defensive skill-set.
Frank Vogel is a good coach, in my opinion not a great one, but nonetheless
he gets the most out of young players. The Orlando Magic are as of this date Top-10 in the NBA in scoring defense and middle of the pack (16th) in defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions, good indicator of long-term success!).
The Magic are currently 4th in the league in opponent 3-point attempt rate and almost dead-last in opponent 2-point attempt rate. This is important because it reflects Frank Vogel coaching his young squad to force long twos at all cost to avoid letting three-point shooters to get into a rhythm. This widely-used but effective strategy is serving Orlando's athletic group well, and Gordon is well-suited for his role of harassing opponents on switches on defense and roaming the passing lanes.
Aaron Gordon's final step to becoming a star is shooting, like most young uber-athletic players in the NBA. Gordon actually shot a decent 35% from deep in his single year at Arizona, but on a limited number of attempts. He is a career 51.2% shooter in the NBA on two-pointers and 30.5% on threes. And this year is similar to his career averages as he is shooting 48.3% on twos and 33.3% on threes. However his overall field goal percentage is at a career-low 43.5% because of the sheer number of three-point shots he is taking, which is a career high 3.1 per game.
If Aaron Gordon continues to diversify his offensive game, but by shooting less threes and getting out in transition more he will continue to grow with this young Magic core. I had shades of early Blake Griffin watching Aaron Gordon go for 30 points against the Memphis Grizzlies last night. He was awesome in the sense of how unrefined he is but all the while possessing play-making skills and a burgeoning jump shot that could obviously make him a star in the mold of Kawhi Leonard.
Because of the immense growth and development of Aaron Gordon, and the coaching of Frank Vogel, the Orlando Magic are headed back to the NBA postseason.
