What To Watch For With Magic under Stan Van Gundy
More points: The offense should open up considerably under Stan Van Gundy, who said he wants his best scorers on the floor. Under Hill, defense was the top priority, and his best defenders usually played.Quicker shots: Hill wanted the team to milk the shot clock before trying to score. Van Gundy said he wants his team in a constant attack mode. He doesn't want his point guard walking the ball up the floor.Defense may suffer: The Magic became one of the best defensive teams in the Eastern Conference under Hill because he played the best defensive players. That won't be the case under Van Gundy.Long-distance shooting: The Magic just didn't put a priority on 3-point shooting under Hill, which is a big reason why J.J. Redick hardly played. Van Gundy wants to utilize the 3-point shot more, and Redick will get a better chance to shoot it.Dwight Howard moving more: Hill wanted Dwight Howard deep in the post, relying on his power to score. Van Gundy, in a more up-tempo style, might get Howard more scoring chances in the open court.
posted by Big Figure @ 10:15 AM
3 Comments:
At 10:19 AM,
Big Figure said…
Music to my ears!!!!
At 3:50 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Mine too, Big Figure!
The way the Magic look on offense next season will seem like a revelation compared to the boring, stale offense under Brian Hill.
I'm willing to concede the defense will suffer, but if the Magic offense can have a system that best utilizes their talents, I won't mind seeing the defense drop off, since the offense should be light years better than under BHill. This new offensive system should translate to many more wins than under BHill's system.
If a team is one of the top defensive teams in the league, that really isn't accomplishing anything if that same team is also one of the worst offensive teams in the league, and finishes under .500 like the Magic did under BHill's guidance.
At 6:59 PM,
OVERWADED said…
In addition, a team that runs a good offense keeps everybody happy. It's rare when a player enjoys playing defense. Some of them don't mind, but even the tough defenders of the league like scoring.
This year, we showed we could defend. But at times we didn't defend well, or do anything else well. The problem is, when you have a team out there busting their ass on the defensive end, yet struggling to make a basket, in turn losing games, players lose interest.
If Stan can get this team running a fluent offense, our defense should stay pretty strong because of players like Howard, Darko, Ariza, Dooling, and Bogans who are all solid defenders regardless who is coaching them.
Post a Comment
<< Home