By Fawzan Amer
CHICAGO -- The Orlando Magic laid their chips on the table during the offseason in pursuit of one of the most coveted 3-and-D budding role players who could splash some 3-point shooting into their dry offense and round out a defense that’s already equipped with multiple bloodhounds (Anthony Black, Jalen Suggs, and Jonathan Isaac). Whether leading by example or with his voice, the belief was adding a two-time champion who could impart his winning experience and positively influence a roster ready to progress atop the Eastern Conference standings.
“KCP to me is a basketball guy’s basketball guy,” Weltman said. “He doesn’t have sexy stats. He’s not a high scorer. But the fact that he guards the other team’s best player 97 percent of the time. Those are the stats that excite guys like us.”
Orlando Magic, President of Basketball Operations, hit it on the head. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been a bear defensively, whether it's getting into passing lanes for a scoop-and-score or face-guarding Tyrese Haliburton at the end of games to ensure a Magic victory. Armed with the unquantifiable benefits his defensive assonance possesses, his stats through five games representing the blue and white have been just as Jeff Weltman mentioned... not sexy.
Withholding the Magic from a true breakout has always been their shooting woes under Jamahl Mosley. Spacing is a viable concern for a team that finished 22nd in offensive rating and near the bottom of the league in both 3-point volume and accuracy. However, through five games spacing hasn't been the issue. Neither has there been a lack of offensive structure nor a decline in the number of plays drawn for KCP in Orlando, as opposed to his previous stops playing alongside LeBron James and Nikola Jokic.
In their most recent loss to the Chicago Bulls, Jamahl Mosley called three plays, which resulted in shot attempts for KCP -- on average, the same amount he saw on a game-to-game basis playing in Denver for Mike Malone.
The veteran guard acquisition's first miss of the game came off a set Orlando implemented last season. Traditionally, the Magic run it routinely as one of their first opening five plays on a game-to-game basis. It's designed to showcase the opposing defense coverage on All-Star forward Paolo Banchero.
The action starts with the best shooter on the floor setting a cross-screen for Paolo Banchero to receive the ball on the other side of the block. Last season, both Gary Harris and Caleb Houstan operated as the "X2" cross-screeners.
After the cross-screen is set, Paolo Banchero relocates to the opposing block, where he's met by defenses who either "tilt" (blitz from the baseline) or "fire" (blitz from the nail). The 21-year-old rising superstar, who has been praised by Jamahl Mosley numerous times regarding his "high basketball IQ," uses the blitzes he requires to create advantages for his teammates, setting them up for high-quality makes in a variety of ways.
Despite it being a new season, this specific play has carried over into this season -- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope inheriting the role of the cross-screener.
Despite some added new personnel, it didn't take long for the Orlando Magic to begin using it either. The team went to it opening night in Miami against the Heat twice. In the first quarter initially, and again midway through the third quarter as, a blowout ensued. Both times, the play resulting in made field goals.
As successful of a play as this has been throughout the course of 1.5 seasons, a critical missing ingredient remained: the cross-screener (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope), one of the secondary options within the play, had yet to log a field goal attempt from within the structure of this concept. All that changed last night in Chicago, however.
With a steady five-point lead in the opening minutes against the Bulls, the Magic had consumed a majority of their made field goals to this point as a result of transition makes. Finding themselves in a half-court setting for only the second time since the first possession of the game Jamahl Mosley signaled from the sideline to run the patented "cross-screen" play. After receiving the screen from KCP, Banchero is met with the "fire" button (Zach Lavine blitzing from the nail). The play results in a swing-swing, the ball finding its way back into the hands of the best shooter on the floor. A career 36.7 percent sniper from the corner, players from the bench rise upon his release but quickly remain seated upon the realization that they've witnessed yet another three-point miss.
Though the Magic have finished near the bottom of the league in offensive rating for years under Jamahl Mosley with a more conservative scheme, it has been much improved this season from a play-calling perspective. The new scheme was meant to generate more three-pointers; just a few games into the season, Orlando ranks fifth in three-point attempts (214) -- second highest attempt increase on a per-game average from last season. They remain one of the worst shooting teams, still sitting at #19 in percentage (34.6), and it's been the one veteran shooter no one thought would be left behind struggling to meet the mark from downtown.
If you live by the 3, you’ll die by the 3. Caldwell-Pope has taken 32 shots in five games, 24 of those have been from beyond the arc.
Within the pace-and-space system are various run-of-the-mill offensive sets that Jamahl Mosley has utilized. He's certainly no wizard at drawing up plays, but like most great coaches, he has showcased continued progression as a play-caller through each season, still not wanting to unveil his bag of tricks this early in the season. His desperation to get his 22 million dollar guard in rhythm forced him to call a play that sat a bit deeper in his bag of tricks. It is a sideline out-of-bounds play called: "Diamond."
The play originates from the Golden State Warriors playbook, run most commonly for Klay Thompson. "Diamond" begins with Pope having his choice of screens, Paolo Banchero or Wendell Carter Jr as the options -- he chooses Carter's side, which gets him a second opportunity from the same corner only for the same result to entail.
The positive surrounding his misses remains that the coaching staff led by Jamahl Mosley are actively incorporating play concepts to kick start the barn burners. Despite his poor offensive outing against the Bulls, the opening play was designed for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and him alone.
Orlando runs a play they call: "Chicago Strong" -- (pin-down into DHO) and flows immediately into (staggered away screens). The staggered screens set by Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr deter the contest Bulls guard Coby White can make, creating enough of a window to allow KCP to connect from distance.
What's remarkable about Orlando is that despite his misses, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's gravity and patented resume as a sniper have instilled added space for Jalen Suggs to operate under. No indication from previous interviews indicate to the two-time champion is worried about his shooting either:
“Defense wins games. It also gon’ win you a championship. So the more that we can focus on that end, everything else will fall into place,” Caldwell-Pope said. “Your offensive game gon’ come. Shots will start falling. The flow of the game seems much better when you focus on the defensive end and then everything else is just flowing.”
Luckily for Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner's rim run conversions and Paolo Banchero's demanding double teams aren't going anywhere. Armed with the unquantifiable benefits of a staff determined to turn on his three-point button, it's only a matter of time before KCP starts generating for himself, especially now, given the recent update on Banchero's status -- sidelining him indefinitely. KCP needs to start showcasing his specialty as a dribble handoff partner and respected spot-up threat off post-up and isolation plays.
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