Orlando Magic News for February 20th: Issues with Shot Selection; Vintage Vince Carter
by erivera7 on Feb 20, 2010 6:00 PM EST
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Do Magic Take Too Many 3-Point Shots?
Tim Povtak wonders whether or not the Orlando Magic take too many threes.The Orlando Magic are on pace to set NBA records for 3-pointers made and 3-pointers attempted in a season, but those numbers backfired Friday in a frigid shooting night against the Dallas Mavericks.
A tired argument. Nowhere in the article is the Magic's defense mentioned. The same defense that is ranked 4th in Defensive Rating this year.
You don't win many games making 4-of-25 from 3-point land, the Magic's worst shooting percentage (.160) of the season. [...]
Orlando came into the game ranked sixth in the league in 3-point shooting percentage (.367), averaging 10.2 makes and 27.8 attempts per game, easily the most in the league. -
Time for the Orlando Magic to "reign in" the quick shots?
Tania Ganguli notes that head coach Stan Van Gundy may take a look at some of his players' shot selections in games.The general tenor of the Magic’s offense has been that if a player has an open look, he should take the shot. They almost always have the green-light to do it.
That’s the kind of strategy that works great when the shots are falling. But against the Dallas Mavericks, the Magic struggled even with open shots in their 95-85 loss.
That’s why Van Gundy stressed after the game that he wasn’t upset at his players. He said he wasn’t concerned about the effort or about the shot selection — he noted the Magic were getting many open looks. Timing, though, might be something to examine.
"We gotta look at maybe reigning a few guys in who are consistently not making shots," Van Gundy said. -
Baseline to Baseline, your game recaps
Matt Moore of ProBasketballTalk recaps Orlando's loss versus Dallas. -
Stan Van Gundy defends Dwight Howard against local and national criticism
UPDATE: Josh Robbins states that Van Gundy is tired of the criticism that Dwight Howard receives, unjustly sometimes, from the media."For whatever reason, though, it’s not just here locally," Van Gundy added later. "The national media, he’s just a guy that gets [dumped] on. You would think that he’s not one of the elite players in the league. I guess people haven’t noticed his offensive improvement. I don’t think anybody’s paying attention, the stuff I read about him. If there’s guys in the league playing better than he is right now, there’s like two or three of them. There are not many doing what he’s doing. He has carried our team."
- Vince Carter with a vintage dunk against the Mavericks.
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So sick of hearing "vintage" with "Vince Carter"
He did this sort of thing LAST season. It’s not like he hasn’t scored or dunked since 2001.
The real "Masters of Panic" are commenting on this blog.
It's vintage for him this season.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
vintage my ass, hes avg career lows in several categories
"VC does NOT deserve to be winning with Orlando while Courtney Lee is a "loser" with NJ" -Magic12ball
Give it a break, seriously.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
ur rediculous bro
he is playing very efficiently, he is not playing the same kind of basketball as before because he is no longer needed to be the 1st option, he is playing within our offense and contributing at full capacity plus his defense is better than ever. What more can you ask of him?
“We gotta look at maybe reigning a few guys in who are consistently not making shots,” Van Gundy said.
Top of the list Pietrus.. Peaches, drive the basketball..
FEED THE BEAST!!!
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Good read..
"If you want to be critical of our team, I could’ve thought of about 50 to 100 people and things you could’ve been critical of before it was Dwight Howard because he smiles during a game or something," Van Gundy said. "I mean, I guess George would rather have a guy who gets eight [points] and two [rebounds] and scowls. That would help us more. I mean, [Howard] is playing unbelievable basketball.
FEED THE BEAST!!!
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I agree with Mr. Rivera's assessment that these storylines are indeed tired.
People latch on to something they heard or saw two years ago and refuse to acknowledge any evidence to the contrary. “The Magic shoot too many threes! Dwight is too nice! Dwight doesn’t have an offensive repertoire! Jameer can’t/won’t pass! The Magic don’t play defense! Brandon Bass needs more PT! Van Gundy’s job is on the line!” I am tired just thinking about it.
I hate Varejao.
Pietrus is shooting too many threes... things like those...
I mean, Pietrus’ shot selection is one of the best in the NBA, these guys are crazy for criticizing him. Or isn’t it?
Dah well…
No Pietrus
Shot selection needs to improve. Dude your aren’t Dennis Scott.
FEED THE BEAST!!!
Twitter Account
Funny
It’s amusing to read our comments and disagree with their logic. I’ve read about why Bass isn’t playing and frankly I have not seen him play enough to evaluate where he should have more playing time or not. I know all of his stats are low but when you play 2-3 minutes what do you expect. I went to the game last night and witnessed an amazing feat. Pietrus actually passed the ball. Should have stop play and awarded him the game ball. Anderson is another shoot first and then look to see if there was an open man. Although Van Gundy seem to think the game was ok but as a fan, I should have stayed home and watch the Olympics or watched the Rain Birds water my yard. It appears that the Magic play excellent ball and then they have a brain fart and can’t remember what they are doing. I think I would have rather seen Bo and Armstrong out there in the fourth quarter.
That would be a good idea, right? Buy my season tickets and give them to you. That’s the best laugh I’ve had tonight. I don’t blame you for trying. It was a very long ride home last night. A wreak outside the arena and the Magic losing they way they did. Vanek, I don’t know what you could do with used tickets. Thanks for the chuckle…….
I noticed when Pietrus passed, too. Dished to Anderson, who missed the layup
The next possession is the one I mentioned in the recap, where MP got a steal, dribbled up, and took a contested 3 with 18 seconds on the shot clock. My notes said something like, “okay, that makes more sense.”
by Evan Dunlap on Feb 21, 2010 12:04 AM EST up reply actions
Haven't seen Bass enough to evaluate whether or not he should play more?
His time with the Mavericks the past two years proved what he can do. The main issue with Brandon is, again, his inability to assimilate Van Gundy’s defensive schemes. That’s why he doesn’t play. When he DOES play, Bass looks lost on defense. It is what it is. Brandon is working against a stacked deck because he doesn’t fit with what the Magic are trying to accomplish on offense. His lack of D has sealed his fate.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
Thanks for the expert observations but it does not change what I said. “I have not seen” that is a fact and even I can’t change. It’s history. Are you trying to change my opinion or correct my statement. Either way didn’t happen so it’s time to move to another subject. I hope we play a better game against the Cav’s today.
I'm trying to correct your statement.
Bass’ resume as a player is well-known. There’s no mystery surrounding his capabilities.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
the magic did play excellen
just the starters though, it is so unusual for our bench to play so poorly, and we can call Vince vintage for the reat of his time in orlando as long as he continues to play as well as last night, we clearly were the better team that just had a really really horrible attempt of basketball from our bench. Im sure this wont occur again because to hold our bench to 6 points had nothing to do with their defense or our offense, it was just a fluke thing that happens from time to time.
I don't think it's a problem with philosophy
We have the guys who can hit the three, but sometimes they’re not going to fall. They’re going to fall far more often than they don’t, though.
What I think Stan does need to look at is managing those shots in game – when we have a game like the Dallas game, where the threes aren’t falling, I think we need to shake up the guys taking them and mix up our basketball. If Lewis is cold from range, post him up for a bit to try and get him going again. If Peaches can’t hit anything, give him a couple of hard drives. If Jameer is cold, run some picks and get him those sweet midrangers.
Don’t change the philosophy, but change the playcalling when people are cold to try and warm them up a bit. The general idea of our offense is good, we just need a little more variety when it’s not quite working.
I kinda agree with some of the Dwight criticism, but he’s really shown leading up to (and since) the All Star break that he can be that dominant, 30-20-5 guy and I think people see that and wonder why he’s settling for 20-15-3 so much of the time instead. Having said that, Stan’s right – Dwight is seriously nowhere near the biggest problem we have right now.
But they scored 52 points in the paint and actually shot fewer threes than their season average.
Dwight had 19 FGA’s and 10 FTA’s. That’s even with him getting doubled a lot late.
I hate Varejao.
It's a general observation
You can’t judge anything from one game. We could come out tomorrow and hit 15-30 from three point range and nobody would care.
In general, we need to mix it up more instead of relying on bombs, especially when guys are going cold. We did try that to some extent against Dallas, it just didn’t work.
by eltharion_doa on Feb 21, 2010 2:56 AM EST up reply actions
I do agree that the Magic need a fallback plan if/when the threes aren't falling.
I always chuckle when Orlando is criticized for shooting too many three-pointers. What do people want the team to do? Shoot a ton of mid-range jumpers, which are the most inefficient shots to take in a game?
Come on.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
It doesn't make sense to shoot when there's nobody from your team under the rim for offensive rebounds
This is what drives me nuts. If the offense would be set, a three pointer would be good. But when people are running on the break and shoot threes (Pietrus, sometimes J-Will), that’s NOT a good shot unless you’re an elite shooter (think 40% from three per career).
Do keep in mind though that even when the offense is set, the Magic are less concerned with getting offensive rebounds than stopping a fast break the other way. That's by design, and I don't mind that.
In Gene We Trust.
by MoveThoseChains on Feb 21, 2010 11:45 AM EST up reply actions
That's true.
But I agree with the overall point that the Magic need to play inside-out when shooting threes.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
im not a magic fan but from what ive seen this year dwight looks very strong in the post.
sometimes he gets criticized and im not sure if these people are updating their assessments of him. i was especially surprised to hear bill simmons still rag on him since dwight took over that 4th quarter against boston in orl. usually bill seems like the kind of guy who over-respects players who kill his team and who take one performance and claim that what happened there is indicative of a general trend. probably around 2011-12 people will start saying, “dwight is really starting to mature in the post.” 2 years late as usual for national media.
"Oooohhh, cat in the wall, eh? Now you're talkin' my language."
I like what Matt Guokas had to say about the thing a few weeks ago
Something like, “I always hear that Dwight Howard doesn’t have good post moves, but I want to know compared with whom.” Which got me thinking about how many players in the NBA are better in the post than Howard. It’s not a long list. Something like Duncan, Pau Gasol, Zach Randolph, Al Jefferson, Andrew Bynum (I honestly believe he’s more offensively gifted than Howard, but his lack of athleticism masks it), perhaps Andrew Bogut….
Kobe Bryant, Tony Parker
These are great centers.
By the way, I've always wondered
If Kobe did a visit to Hakeem, why wouldn’t Dwight?
Dwight isn't Kobe. That's why.
Different people.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
Since it's only 1 game out of 82, you must look at trends and take pros and cons from the game.
When the two big cons from the game are aberrations compared to the rest of the season, then yeah, you don’t freak out too much.
I hate Varejao.
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