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I'm an optimist and watched the Dwayne Bacon press zoom thing from training camp recently so here's a little thread about why Orlando Magic fans could be cautiously optimistic about Bacon being more than just a 15th man:
FIT
Let's start with the obvious:
Bacon is a Weltman and Hammond wet dream. 6'6 with a 6'10 wingspan and a solid 221lbs frame. Bacon is the prototype for what we want a wing to look like.
Let's start with the obvious:
Bacon is a Weltman and Hammond wet dream. 6'6 with a 6'10 wingspan and a solid 221lbs frame. Bacon is the prototype for what we want a wing to look like.
As far as fit goes it's become quite evident that Bacon doesn't believe he had the confidence of the coaching staff in Charlotte and feeling wanted can be a powerful confidence boost. The Magic certainly made it clear they wanted Bacon here by acting quickly to sign him.
We also know how much this FO values character and it's safe to say he wouldn't be here if Clifford didn't think highly of him both on that front and as a player.
FAMILIARITY
It's widely documented already but Bacon played his rookie year for Clifford and some of his staff.
MCW was on the Charlotte roster that season also.
And Bacon was in his sophomore season at FSU while Isaac was in his freshman season.
It's widely documented already but Bacon played his rookie year for Clifford and some of his staff.
MCW was on the Charlotte roster that season also.
And Bacon was in his sophomore season at FSU while Isaac was in his freshman season.
In a season with such a short training camp I think familiarity will hopefully help him integrate quicker than most free agents would have.
It's not really relevant to basketball but he's also from Lakeland which is a nice bonus for him.
It's not really relevant to basketball but he's also from Lakeland which is a nice bonus for him.
LAST SEASON WAS AN ABERRATION
Here are his percentages at the rim his entire basketball career.
FSU
Fresh: 63.4%
Soph: 62.7%
NBA
17-18: 60.5%
18-19: 69.4%
19-20: 42.1%
Here are his percentages at the rim his entire basketball career.
FSU
Fresh: 63.4%
Soph: 62.7%
NBA
17-18: 60.5%
18-19: 69.4%
19-20: 42.1%
Small sample size is at play here with all the NBA figures. It can come down to something as simple as the number of uncontested dunks a guy gets. But I do think there's enough of a track record to suggest Bacon is a better finisher than last season's numbers.
The jumper is a similar story. He shot 28% from 3 last season which is almost certainly an outlier.
If you aggregate his 3 pointers over college, the NBA and the G League he's a 32% 3 point shooter on a pretty large sample size.
If you aggregate his 3 pointers over college, the NBA and the G League he's a 32% 3 point shooter on a pretty large sample size.
And while that's not great, a lot of those attempts in college (and I presume the G league though I don't know for certain) were unassisted, off the dribble. Which leads on to:
3 POINT SHOOTING
This past season he was still a 35.6% shooter on assisted no dribble 3 point shots. That's good for tied 4th last season among returning Magic players. (Behind Fournier, Ross and Clark and tied with Bamba).
This past season he was still a 35.6% shooter on assisted no dribble 3 point shots. That's good for tied 4th last season among returning Magic players. (Behind Fournier, Ross and Clark and tied with Bamba).
In 18-19 he was a lethal three point shooter. Including shooting 47% from the corners. In 19-20 his corner 3 point attempts were near 3 times less than 18-19 which may have at least a little bit contributed to his declining percentages.
As I've previously touched on he's taken a lot of off the dribble jumpers in the past which, whether or not that was decision making or being asked to create more than he's capable of, is going to drag his percentages down.
If he just focuses on spotting up in the half court I don't see why he can't be a 35-37% shooter. And that'd be a nice boost to our bench.
And the shooting can open him up to cutting and attacking closeouts where he can hopefully finish at circa 60% at the rim and be a pretty useful scoring option off the bench.
POTENTIAL
This is a little strange one but I do think there's some untapped potential in Bacon. He's 25, the same age as both Vic Law and BJ Johnson and only 1 year older than Melvin Frazier...
This is a little strange one but I do think there's some untapped potential in Bacon. He's 25, the same age as both Vic Law and BJ Johnson and only 1 year older than Melvin Frazier...
And last season is a bit of a lost season for him given he clearly wasn't well liked by the Charlotte coaches.
He's athletic, by all accounts he works hard and Clifford has said that when he had Bacon as a rookie he thought he'd be an every day starter in the league.
He's athletic, by all accounts he works hard and Clifford has said that when he had Bacon as a rookie he thought he'd be an every day starter in the league.
That all bodes well that Bacon can develop here and be more than just a random 15th man.
I think there's a world where Bacon out plays James Ennis in the season and earns more minutes.
I think there's also a world where a year from now I'm like 'hey remember when I spent like 3 hours looking at Dwayne Bacon stats? That was dumb'.
But I'm going to be optimistic.
I think there's also a world where a year from now I'm like 'hey remember when I spent like 3 hours looking at Dwayne Bacon stats? That was dumb'.
But I'm going to be optimistic.
