NEW YORK -- Andrew Nicholson sat at his locker before a recent game against the Knicks, eyes studying the white board in front of him. On it were various goals for the game, scribbled in black magic marker.
Scott Skiles pulled another great defense out of his hat for the Magic
Like clockwork, Skiles has taken over a team, instituted a basic-but-iron defense and seen immediate results.
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
There was nothing fancy or innovative written down. Just basic principles, the same ones high school coaches around the country preach, and yet, apparently the exact coaching this Magic team needed in order to morph from one of the league’s perennial cellar-dwellers into a playoff contender
Last year, Orlando surrendered 105.2 points per 100 possessions, the fifth-worst mark in the league. This year, with largely the same personnel, the Magic are only allowing 100.3 points per 100 possessions, good for 10th-best. That defense has Orlando off to an 18-13 start that’s put them in position to make the playoffs for the first time in four years.
"We have a defensive system that we're teaching and we work on, every day," Scott Skiles, who was hired as Magic head coach in the offseason, said before that December game against the Knicks. "It's got to be something that you do every single day. You have to stay with it. I've mentioned it several times, but it can be tedious to have to do the drill work every day and stay with it. So far, for the most part, the guys have."
This transformation is no accident. Throughout his coaching career, Skiles has made a habit of teaching young athletes the basic intricacies of playing defense in the NBA. The talented Magic just happen to be his latest pupils.
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Tobias Harris knew this year would be different. He played under Skiles for a year and a half in Milwaukee before being traded to the Magic in Feb. 2013. He familiar with the Skiles playbook.
“It sounds simple, but he expects you to work,” Harris said in a recent phone conversation. “Coach is real defensive-minded. He makes it clear right away that to get minutes, you’ve got to buy in to what we’re doing.”
Skiles met with every Magic player after being hired in May. Defensive fundamentals and effort were the main focus of those sessions and during training camp practices as well. Hours were spent working on basic principles like close-outs, ball containment and communication.
”And lots of shell,” Nicholson added, referring to a drill where offensive players pass the ball around the arc and defenders learn the differences between guarding on and off the ball. “Lots and lots of shell.”
This emphasis on defese, said Nicholson, is different that how the Magic have operated in years past.
“100 percent,” he said. “And this year, everything is more organized and explained more clearly. The ultimate goal is now something we know.”
It may sound basic, but this is not the first time these techniques have worked. Skiles previously coached in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee. Each one of those teams saw their defensive efficiency ranking jump by an average of 12 spots in Skiles' first year on the bench, according to data from SI.com.
“If you’re not playing in a way that helps the team, he’s going to pull you and put someone else in that can get the job done,” Harris said. “We know our defensive goals every night.”
Those goals: Wall off the paint, aggressively defend the ball and always play hard. The various opponent-targeted strategies former Magic coach Jacque Vaughn implemented are gone.
“Every game, it’s the same thing,” Harris said.
When opponent puts the slow-footed Nikola Vucevic in a pick-and-roll, Orlando has him drop back below the foul line.
When the more agile Harris or Channing Frye is guarding the screener, they'll jump out to pressure the ball while the rest of the team guards the rim.
When all five players are in sync, the shell drill can been seen in action. Everyone is on a string and constantly sliding. Nothing, even the most basic of perimeter passes, is easy to execute, allowing the Magic to frequently take away an opponent’s first option.
“It’s all about the guys being locked in together,” Harris said. “It’s all about the energy from everyone. If one guy’s not as focused on the same thing, then it all falls apart.”
Not surprisingly, that aggressiveness has led to more forced turnovers, too. Orlando is causing opponents to cough the ball up on 16.1 percent of their possessions, the eighth-best mark in the NBA.
Of course, talent matters, too. Skiles knows what buttons to push, but it helps that he has a plethora of athletes at his disposal.
Defense is what propelled Elfrid Payton into the lottery of last year's draft. He's as quick as any point guard in the league, is also 6'4 and is already one of the NBA's top pick-pockets. Harris has a power forward's body with a wing player's speed. Vucevic doesn't protect the rim much, but is an excellent defensive rebounder. Promising second-year combo forward Aaron Gordon is one of the league's more athletic players. Then there's Victor Oladipo, who Skiles has said is playing "at an all-league defensive-type level."
The Magic are strong and springy. They have enough depth and talent to put out lineups with excellent defenders at every position. That, along with an increased effort, explains how they've made such a jump this season. Last year, opponents hit 46 percent of their contested shot attempts against the Magic, per NBA.com. This year, that number has fallen to under 44 percent and is below 34 percent on three-pointers, specifically. That may seem like a minor dip, but sometimes a minor dip is all that's needed.
“We want to have teams shoot contested threes,” Harris said. “We want them to take jumpers while we’re running it out. We’re definitely playing more aggressive.”
The Magic's defense isn't perfect. The devotion to the shell occasionally leaves them susceptible to ball movement and dribble penetration. It's no accident that the Magic are allowing opponents to take more than 26 three-pointers per game, about nine more than they did last season. And they still allow too many easy looks at the rim.
But despite those weaknesses, the Magic are defending well enough to compete every night. In the short term, that might be enough to get them back into the playoffs, even in a deeper Eastern Conference. In the long term, though, this defensive transformation looks like the catalyst to their eventual rise into one of the conference’s best teams.
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