The Magic continued to ramp up their work in training camp with a fourth consecutive day of practice Friday morning at the AdventHealth Training Center.
Orlando coach Sean Sweeney said the team focused primarily defense and offense in the post — close to the basket — as well as defense and offense in isolation situations.
“It was a big competition day,” Sweeney said. “A lot of player-on-player, and just really trying to emphasize some of those details in live action. Oftentimes you’re teaching and learning, or you’re competing, and so we wanted to try to marry the two (Friday).”
It was also the first day this week the team was scheduled to hold only one practice session after three consecutive days of practicing twice — once in the morning and a second time in the evening, with only one contact session per day.
The first-time NBA head coach shared insight into what he’s learned so far about his team.
“I learned that we’ve got talented players,” Sweeney said. “I certainly had a feel that we had that, but I learned that we’ve got that in-person. I really like the communication level that we’ve had and I learned that about our players.
“Just in general, I thought there would be more (of) trying to get them to do things and really pushing them, but they’ve been pushing themselves, which is a great sign,” he added. “The way they communicate with each other is strong.”
The Magic are off Saturday before they return to the practice court Sunday. Orlando is inching closer toward its first preseason game, Wednesday at Memphis.
Injury updates
Sweeney provided an update on fourth-year guard Anthony Black, who suffered a minor ankle sprain during the team’s voluntary workouts leading into training camp.
“He’s definitely made progress,” Sweeney said. “(He) feels good. Pretty much everything non-contact he’s done at a high, full-speed level as of (Friday), so we feel pretty good about where’s at.”
The same goes for second-year forward Noah Penda, who recently tweaked his hamstring.
“They’re both pretty close to being back and ready to go,” Sweeney said about the pair of players.
Praise for da Silva
On the second day of training camp earlier this week, Sweeney highlighted Tristan da Silva as one player who’s done a good job of being in the right spot when discussing offensive spacing on the floor.
The German forward saw a slight uptick in scoring during his sophomore campaign compared to his rookie season (9.9 points per game vs. 7.2) when he shot an improve 37.4% from 3-point range, which was up from 33.5% from distance his first year.
Entering his third season in the league, da Silva talked about what’s key to proper spacing to help his teammates and searching for his own opportunities to strike.
“For me personally, it’s really shooting the shots that I can get,” he said Friday. “You know, no really passing up any open shots. Actually hunting them. That’s a big thing because it allows to space the floor for others players to attack.”
“The main focus is spacing and knowing where to be (and) where not to be so we’re not in each other’s ways,” da Silva added. “We have a lot of people that can create advantages on their own. And then obviously through two-men game, three-men game, we can create advantages. Capitalizing off of that, you have to be in the right space.”
Special guest
The Magic were joined by Chris Algieri, a former light welterweight champion in boxing, during practice Friday.
Outside of his love for basketball, Sweeney is a big fan of boxing, something he watched often while growing up because he was drawn to the intense competitiveness of the sport.
“Chris is a world champion, and a great guy,” Sweeney said. “He talked to the team a lot about who he is and what it takes to train for a championship-level fight. … There’s a lot about who he is and his story that anyone can take from, from what he had to say.”
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com