{"id":415981,"date":"2026-10-01T19:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415981\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T19:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:20:08","slug":"orlando-magic-training-camp-teaching-at-center-of-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415981\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic training camp: Teaching at center of practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Magic<\/a> took to the court inside the AdventHealth Training Center<\/a> for their third day of training camp Thursday and spent more time in the morning continuing to learn the ins and outs of the offensive and defensive systems of new Orlando<\/a> coach Sean Sweeney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On offense, the first-year NBA<\/a> head coach has put an emphasis on spacing the floor and making sure each player is in the right spot in order to give each other enough room to work and move the ball.<\/p>\n

And on defense, there\u2019s been a focus on applying the proper amount of pressure without fouling, staying connected in their coverage and finishing out possessions with a stop \u2014 whether that comes by forcing a turnover or grabbing the rebound off a miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys have been really committed to working hard, paying attention to detail,\u201d Magic center Nikola Vucevic<\/a> said after Thursday\u2019s session. \u201cAnd the coaching staff does a good job of teaching, getting us to learn a new system well. It was good for us to kind of slow things down a bit and work on our offense, our defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve taken steps forward each day,\u201d Vucevic added. \u201cBut most importantly, guys are really working hard and really trying. It\u2019s just day-by-day, step-by-step trying to build in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow Magic center Wendell Carter Jr.<\/a> expanded on the team\u2019s defensive focus, noting his personal work toward trying to commit fewer fouls this upcoming season. In a career-high 78 games last season, Carter averaged 3.4 fouls per contest, a mark that was up from 2.9 fouls the year prior and 2.2 fouls during the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

During Orlando\u2019s seven-game first-round playoff series against the Pistons last season, Carter committed four fouls on average.<\/p>\n

\u201cAppropriate heat \u2014 that\u2019s one of the biggest things for me personally,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of fouling and things like that in the past year. \u2026 (We\u2019re) learning when and where to be aggressive, when to be physical and cover for one another making the (opposing) team feel like they\u2019re playing against six guys instead of five guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the team is connected, it\u2019s almost like you\u2019ve got a whole other player out there with you,\u201d Carter added. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of been the main focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Anthony Black (sprained ankle) and Noah Penda (hamstring) continued to watch practice from the sidelines during the media-viewing portion of Thursday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n

The Magic open the preseason Wednesday at Memphis, with tipoff at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Richardson shows growth<\/p>\n

Second-year guard Jase Richardson<\/a> has impressed teammate Jalen Suggs<\/a> to open his second training camp in the league.<\/p>\n

As a rookie, the Michigan State product averaged 4.4 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists during 10.9 minutes per night in 54 appearances.<\/p>\n

Suggs specifically mentioned Richardson\u2019s pace on the floor and control with the ball in his hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a great job,\u201d Suggs said Wednesday about the young guard. \u201cHis pace is a lot better. He\u2019s a lot more controlled, he\u2019s getting into the paint and he\u2019s trying to find his outlets. He\u2019s a bit more physical, which I like, so I think he\u2019s doing a great job. There\u2019s a lot that comes into this job in him being a point guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m proud of the way in which he\u2019s maneuvering day-in and day-out,\u201d Suggs added. \u201cI\u2019m always trying to give him all my love, encouragement and knowledge I can. He\u2019s had a pretty good camp again for the second year in a row, so I\u2019m proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweeney\u2019s sarcasm<\/p>\n

Magic forward Franz Wagner<\/a> first noted Sweeney\u2019s sense of humor in practice after the first day of camp earlier this week, and Vucevic shared more about the new coach\u2019s personality Thursday.<\/p>\n

While Sweeney has been described as an intense coach with a straightforward approach, he\u2019s also kept his players on their toes throughout camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s pretty sarcastic, which I\u2019m a fan of,\u201d Vucevic said. \u201cA lot of dry humor, which is good. I like that. But he\u2019s been very direct in his conversations. We know what\u2019s asked of us to do, and I think when it\u2019s that way, it\u2019s very easy. It\u2019s very clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis communication is really good and I think that\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Magic took to the court inside the AdventHealth Training Center for their third day of training camp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":["post-415981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-magic","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}