Utah Jazz: Five takeaways from victory over Orlando Magic

Orlando loses its magic from beyond the arc

We already knew this ahead of time, but the personnel on the Orlando Magic does not make for a good outside shooting team.

They drafted Aaron Gordon with the fourth overall pick in 2014, and followed it up by taking Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba in 2017 and 2018. All three players are forwards that excel defensively but struggle connecting on three point jumpers.

Add to that a point guard who is in the process of learning how to shoot again, and it’s no wonder the Magic have a bottom-10 offense. Apparently that is what showed up on the scouting report for the Utah Jazz last night.

They allowed the Magic to attempt 35 three pointers, of which Orlando only made seven. Despite the cold spell for the Magic, they only trailed by 11 points at halftime and even led in the fourth quarter. Does this remind you of any previous Utah Jazz squads?

The Utah Jazz last spring were routed out of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets. Offensively they went ice cold because all the defense had to do was focus on stopping Donovan Mitchell, which they did. Open looks were created for Jae Crowder, Derrick Favors, and Ricky Rubio but the shots just didn’t fall.

Despite the poor marksmanship on the roster, the Jazz found good success with their old personnel including two playoff trips and one 50-win season. I can’t help but wonder how good they would have been if only those shots would have fallen. The system was there, but the personnel just wasn’t.

I’m personally excited to watch what Orlando does with their roster. They have a good group of young players mixed with veterans, and I’d love to see them end their long era of mediocrity and ping pong balls since Dwight Howard forced his way out of town.

Is it concerning that the Jazz defense allowed such a crappy shooting team to stay so close within the final minutes? I think it has more to do with the bench.