Stan Van Gundy: Orlando Will Keep Shooting a Ton of Threes

Based on SVG’s calculations, and the roster he has in Orlando, the Magic head coach says it only makes sense for his team to keep launching from beyond the three-point line. The Sentinel reports: “The most common criticism of the Orlando Magic — especially when they’re losing — is that they shoot too many three-pointers and don’t drive the ball enough. It’s an accurate observation; the Magic shot more three-pointers than any other NBA team this season. But is it a fair insult? Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy doesn’t think so. ‘We think it helps our center and we think it helps our point guard in penetrating if we can spread the floor out,’ Van Gundy said at the Coaching U Live event at UCF on Thursday. ‘The numbers think that’s a better shot than the mid-range. And the other reason is, that’s who we have.’ Van Gundy went on to say, in general terms, that the Magic haven’t possessed perimeter players adept at penetrating and scoring at the rim. More than 80 percent of the shots taken by Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu are classified as jump-shots. ‘Especially from an offensive standpoint, this is a personnel driven league,’ Van Gundy continued. ‘You do with what you have. We get it from our media all the time and our fans. We’ll have those nights, 2-for-23 from three. They say you gotta drive the ball more. Who? Who? That’s my question. Who? Who’s going to drive the ball? That’s not who we have. If I had a different team, there are a lot of guys in the league that I wouldn’t shoot threes with. We have who we have and we’re going to build our system around it.'”