Half-Court Offense an Issue For Orlando Magic?

Last season, the Orlando Magic's half-court offense was some of the worst in the league statistically.

ORLANDO - During the 2022-23 season, the Orlando Magic offense struggled in the half-court, ranking in the bottom-five of half-court offenses in the NBA statistically.

"Faced with a shortage of players who can pass, dribble from a standstill and shoot, the Orlando Magic turned upper-percentile cap flexibility and two lottery picks into Anthony Black (who can't shoot), Jett Howard (who can't create) and Joe Ingles (who gets discounted movie tickets)," Bleacher Report writes. "That'll surely do wonders for a half-court offense that only outranked three bad-on-purpose squads and the wandering-through-no-man's-land Toronto Raptors."

The Orlando Magic ranked 25th in the NBA in three-pointers made for the 2022-23 NBA season.  / USA Today Sports

Half-court offense is typically comprised of set pieces and plays, X's and O's, as opposed to fast-breaks and early offense. It is most beneficial to have a good half-court offense when the game slows down late in the fourth quarter, and running time off the clock is almost as important as scoring points. 

Floor spacing and shot creation are integral to half-court offense, and they are things that can be lacking at times in Orlando. Only one Magic player, Franz Wagner, made over 100 three-pointers last season. Of the top seven players in minutes played for the team last year, the next closest players to Wagner were Paolo Banchero with 85 3-pointers and Wendell Carter Jr. with 80 triples. 

Carter Jr. shot 35.6 percent from deep which is nothing to scoff at for a big man, and Banchero shot 29.8 percent from three. While those numbers aren't indicative of the players' ability to score points, it's not ideal when the guard rotation lacks shooting as well. Markelle Fultz and Jalen Suggs have not shot the ball well from beyond the arc in their careers, shooting 27.8 percent and 27.1 percent from deep respectively.