Anthony Black’s day did not end when the Orlando Magic’s Monday practice did. As Orlando Magic Daily’s Philip Rossman-Reich reported, Black stayed on the court afterward for pick-and-roll shell and defensive closeout drills with coaches and support staff. The extra work was more than a conditioning footnote.
It was a chance to move Orlando’s new system from something he could observe to something he had to process while moving.
Black missed much of last week’s training camp with a minor ankle sprain, returned to the floor Sunday and took part in more live action Monday. Coach Sean Sweeney said Black looked good and showed a strong burst. His status for Wednesday’s preseason game against the Grizzlies remains uncertain, however, and Monday’s progress did not settle that decision.
The post-practice session was the clearest sign that Black is beginning to catch up in the part of basketball that cannot be learned entirely from a chair. A player can watch where a ball screen is supposed to develop. He can listen to a defensive instruction and understand the intended coverage.
Once the possession starts, though, he must recognize the trigger, move at the proper moment and communicate before the play has already changed.
Rossman-Reich’s description of the work offered two useful examples. Pick-and-roll shell drills put Black into the kind of connected sequence where one player’s position affects the next decision. Closeout drills demand a controlled arrival and an immediate read after the defender reaches the ball. Neither exercise guarantees that the system is ready for regular-season pressure, but both require more than memorizing locations on a diagram.
Sweeney and assistant coach Ben Johnson had tried to keep that learning process alive while Black was sidelined. Sweeney credited Johnson with asking Black questions and making sure he remained involved in the installation.
Black watched the team work through Orlando’s new offensive and defensive ideas, paid attention to the language and continued participating in the mental side of practice even when his ankle prevented him from taking every repetition.
That preparation has real value. Black is not returning to a system he has never seen, and he should have a better sense of what Orlando wants from him than a player arriving cold. Johnson’s questions also appear to have made the watching active rather than passive.
Understanding why a player is supposed to occupy a certain spot can make the first physical repetitions less confusing.
