Yes, Stan Van Gundy paces the sidelines with all the body language of a neurotic car salesman on the verge of losing a sale. But I’m telling you, the guy can coach — and if being neurotic means you can’t coach, well, Larry Brown should have been retired decades ago.
Orlando executes and it’s fun to watch. Seriously, the Magic play the game together and with great purpose. Obviously, they are well prepared and stick with the game plan. They defend hard at one end, rebound the ball and on offense, play what’s going to become, I think, the new NBA prototype for basketball offense.
The Magic have a beast on the inside. A guy who still has miles to go before he’s totally polished at the low post, but Dwight Howard has so much strength and energy, he’s still just about impossible to stop. Then Orlando surrounds him with unselfish perimeter shooters, guys who will pass up a decent shot so a teammate can get an even better one.
With Howard inside demanding so much attention, the three-point shooters around the edges are getting wide-open looks. And then it becomes a numbers game. You know, that old stuff about shooting 40 percent from three-point range is like shooting 60 percent from two-point range.
The Magic run a lot of pick-and-roll and are also pretty good at getting people the ball heading to the basket. It’s not all Howard dunks. Orlando has players who can go to the basket hard and pull up for makeable short jumpers if necessary.
Hey, I’m an old-school guy. I’ve always preached the importance of getting the ball inside. I’ve always emphasized the value of getting the best big man. I think that’s all still true, but it has to be done in concert with solid three-point shooting.
We’ve witnessed the disappearance of the medium-range jumper and moaned about it a little. But the fact is, it’s justified. They give you three points for those shots behind the line, why shoot two feet in front of the line?
The new model of offense, I think, will not devalue the post player. You still have to find that guy who can command double-teams on the inside. But then the ball comes all the way out for open threes, which you simply have to make on a consistent basis. If you can’t make them, you better go find some players who can because it’s going to be hard to keep up without a sufficient number of three-point goals.
I’ve been one of those guys, for years, saying you can’t win championships with jump shots. With three-pointers. Now I’m not so sure. Getting points three at a time makes for some pretty efficient offense. And there are getting to be a lot of people — even BIG people — who can make those shots.
Now all you have to do is find the Dwight Howard part of the model. He guarantees you not just those three-pointers, but OPEN three-pointers.
By the way, who else has the best chance of developing an offense like that in the NBA? The Trail Blazers, I’d say. They’re pretty good from distance now and they have the beast inside in Greg Oden. And really, Howard isn’t that much more skilled one-on-one than Oden. He’s just more confident and stays out of foul trouble better. But it took him a few years to get there.
Can the Magic take it all the way? Sure they can. Will they? It’s still too early to tell. It may depend on whether whoever comes out of the West, probably the Lakers, has any energy left for another series.
It’s been so long since a team has come from out of nowhere — basically, not one of the chosen teams the league has marketed as a championship contender — to win it all that I can’t yet picture them doing it. And please, don’t think the Orlando defense isn’t a huge part of all this, it is terrific and the Magic wouldn’t be this far without it. But I’m fascinated by the offense.
I’ve seen the future of NBA offense and the future is Magical.
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Tags: Dwight Howard, Dwight Jaynes, Greg Oden, NBA playoffs, Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers, Stan Van Gundy
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