Franz Wagner on Magic's Shooting Woes: 'Sometimes You Just Don't Make It'
The Orlando Magic is back in the loss column after falling to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, 118-114.
The game saw Orlando shoot an abysmal 24 percent from deep. Milwaukee didn’t do much better, shooting at a 30 percent clip, but the nine extra points they scored behind the arc were more than enough to extend Orlando’s losing streak to four games.
Franz Wagner led Orlando with 29 points and shot 12 of 17 inside the arc, but went a horrible one-of-six from distance. Wagner has struggled to shoot the ball recently, making only 12 percent of his threes over the last seven games.
Franz Wagner (22) chases down Brooklyn Nets' Mikal Bridges (1) in a matchup last season.
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
The Magic as a whole does not shoot well or eagerly, and it is starting to catch up to them. They play a gritty, defensive style of basketball that saw them soar early in the season, but they have since come down to Earth. They tend to get to the rim or pull up from midrange and take the seventh-most shots inside the arc, and they make 55 percent of those shots. However, they take the second fewest threes among all NBA teams, ahead of only the lowly Detroit Pistons, and only make 33 percent of those threes, also 29th in the league.
After the loss to the Bucks, Wagner defended his team’s playstyle. “I think for the most part we play the right way and try to get the best shot possible and sometimes you just don’t make it, or don’t make enough.”
If getting the best shot possible means taking the fifth-fewest shots in the NBA, Orlando needs to revamp their offense. They have bruisers in Wagner and Paolo Banchero in the frontcourt, but their starting backcourt of Anthony Black and Jalen Suggs need to be more shot-happy. Neither of them takes more than 4.5 threes per game. Black shoots only 31 percent from distance whereas Suggs is a cool 37 percent.
If Black can’t make shots, perhaps Cole Anthony (36 percent) should be elevated to the starting lineup. Orlando built this year’s identity on getting to their spots and playing good defense, and it worked, but they need to be comfortable joining the modern NBA and settling for 3-pointers.
