Aaron Gordon may have star potential, but he won’t be able to realize it while he’s on an Orlando Magic team focused on stuffing the paint with big men.
The Orlando Magic had a bold vision this summer. While other teams got small and tried to acquire versatile players who can defend multiple positions and shoot three-pointers, the Magic tried to get bigger than ever to quickly rebuild around Aaron Gordon.
Orlando traded for Serge Ibaka and they signed Bismack Biyombo to a max contract. That’s in addition to the big man already on the Magic, Nikola Vucevic.
Orlando also drafted Stephen Zimmerman in the second round and added Arinze Onuaku, in case they felt the need to run five big men out at once.
Maybe that plan could’ve worked, if the Magic had the right complementary players.
Evan Fournier is a good fit with this mold–he can go get buckets even without space around him, so if Orlando can keep games close by blocking their opponent from scoring the Magic would be at least involved in most games with a chance to win.
Unfortunately, Fournier is about the only guard or wing the Magic have that makes sense on this team. Elfrid Payton and Gordon, who make up most of the young core left here after Victor Oladipo was traded away, can’t shoot.
Both of them are struggling this year because their path to the basket gets just as obstructed by Ibaka, Vucevic and Biyombo almost as effectively as the opposing guards’ do.
Payton’s field goal percentage has fallen, but Gordon’s has tumbled off of a cliff. He’s currently making just 37.6 percent of his field goals and 27.5 percent of his threes, both worse marks than he managed last year.
Gordon is averaging 9.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.6 blocks per game in 26.8 minutes.
The natural athleticism and talent Gordon has might not be enough to make him a superstar in an incredibly athletic and talented NBA, but Gordon should look better than this.
He probably could, too, if the Magic played him right. Gordon is playing 96 percent of his minutes at small forward and remarkably has played as much power forward as he has shooting guard. Gordon is not a small forward and he certainly isn’t a shooting guard.
Power forward is his natural position and it’s probably be easier to play him at center than at small forward. There just isn’t enough space for the team to operate in when Gordon, Ibaka and a center are all on the floor, even with Ibaka and Vucevic shooting some threes.
Mario Hezonja could potentially help with that, but he’s been left out of the core rotation by a second consecutive Magic coach in Frank Vogel after Scott Skiles didn’t play him much last year.
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Defenses know they can sag hard on the Magic when that happens, especially when Payton is on the court too. The Magic can’t shoot and everybody knows it–they’re dead last in true shooting percentage and three-point percentage.
Orlando is discovering very quickly why teams put so much emphasis on spacing this summer. Only the Dallas Mavericks, a mediocre team when healthy that is currently missing four rotation pieces, score less points per game than Orlando.
The Magic do have a pretty good defense, currently ranked tenth in the NBA in defensive rating. That’s not enough though, considering they’re dead last in offensive rating. Defense is important, but the name of the game is outscoring the opposition.
You can’t outscore anybody if you can’t score in the first place. The Magic have some fun pieces, but they don’t have the spacing to properly use any of them. Aaron Gordon needs some shooters around him to blossom–he won’t be getting that in Orlando anytime soon.
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