The 2016-17 Magic
Magic see their emerging camaraderie as a means to more on-court success
lacked chemistry between players. This season, the team is trying to find that amorphous element that could be the eventual key to winning.
Players barked at teammates after someone bungled a defensive assignment. Players complained when teammates over-dribbled, hoisted ill-advised shots and failed to pass. And players looked disengaged on the bench.
Those disconcerting scenes occurred too often within the Orlando Magic last season.
In addition to the 2016-17 Magic’s clearly visible on-court flaws, such as poor 3-point shooting and porous perimeter defense, the team also lacked something amorphous: chemistry. The roster amounted to less than the sum of its individual parts. Players just didn’t jell or appear to enjoy playing alongside each other.
“Do you have good chemistry because you win or do you win because you have good chemistry?” swingman Evan Fournier said. “That’s the real question. We all like each other. When we go out together to eat, we all have a good time. But the reality is when you lose, it wears on everybody.”
The 2017-18 Magic face a critical challenge in the months ahead: How can they foster, and maintain, team chemistry?
The Magic have attempted to promote cohesion. Late in the offseason, most North American players on the roster gathered in Southern California for a voluntary mini-camp. On Sept. 24, a group got together for paintball. And on Monday night, Nikola Vucevic hosted teammates for dinner at a restaurant where he’s an investor.
The vibe within the team seems to have improved.
During training camp and the preseason, players looked like they were pulling for each other, with guys on the bench catapulting off their seats when a teammate, often newcomer Jonathon Simmons, made an exciting play. When a player fell to the court, teammates rushed over to help him back to his feet. And players, for the most part, simply pulled for each other more than they had in the past.
“For this year,” forward Mario Hezonja said, “I want to say the difference should be the chemistry. If we are on time with that, we’ll be fine. If not, it’s going to happen like last year. Everybody was trying to turn to their own corners . ... You don’t want to repeat a year like last year where it was like a complete failure. It’s not fun.” No, it wasn’t fun. Everything felt like a struggle as the 2016-17 Magic tried to jell. The team had a new coach, Frank Vogel, and an almost entirely new coaching staff that did things differently than its predecessors. The roster also featured nine new players, including center Bismack Biyombo, power forward Serge Ibaka, forward Jeff Green and point guard D.J. Augustin.
The returning nucleus never fully welcomed Ibaka, and Ibaka never fully embraced them. Biyombo’s arrival created tension because it threatened to unseat Vucevic from the starting lineup. And Aaron Gordon, playing out of position, sometimes upset teammates by launching perimeter shots.
The decision to play two traditional big men simultaneously just wasn’t a good fit for the young athletic returnees, who favored a more up-tempo style.
“Last year, I think everybody was trying to figure [things] out,” Biyombo said. “It was [more than], I believe, half of the team that was new. The coaches were new. And we had nothing established. Everybody was trying to figure out how this was going to be. Honestly, it didn’t work out the way anybody wanted it to. I feel like this year when we came in, the coach knew exactly how he wanted to do things, and the players knew exactly how they were going to handle things. And that really helped and that goes a long way.
“I feel better and better, honestly, about the competitiveness,” Biyombo added. “The chemistry is much better as well. The spirits of the guys and the coaches are in the right place. For some reason, it’s probably because it’s the second year in the same system and also a lot of players [are] coming back and understanding what we went through last year. Nobody wants to go back to the same thing again.”
Players said they’ve gained confidence because they’ll play the same uptempo style they adopted after Ibaka was traded on Feb. 14.
Last season, the Magic held a 15-18 record in late December but went 4-13 over their next 17 games.
“Chemistry is a weird thing,” Fournier said. “When you have it, you don’t know how you got it. And when you lose it, you don’t know how you lost it. It’s not something you can create. It just happens.”
Fournier and his teammates need their emerging chemistry to keep building.
Few, if any, experts expect the Magic to contend for a playoff berth.
In a situation like that, with so many doubters already lining up, who can Magic players trust if they can’t trust each other?