The Orlando Magic intend to submit bids to host the NBA All-Star Game in 2020 or 2021, Magic CEO Alex Martins said.
At a press conference before the NBA’s regular-season game in London on Jan. 12, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said league officials released the bid specs for the 2020 and 2021 All-Star Games during the first week of this month.
New Orleans will host this year’s All-Star Game, while Los Angeles is scheduled to host the exhibition in 2018. Silver has said it is a “high priority” for the league to hold the 2019 All-Star Game in Charlotte as long as the state of North Carolina revises a law that league officials believe discriminates against LGBT people.
During his news conference in London, Silver said the Indiana Pacers have expressed an interest in hosting the All-Star Game in 2020 or 2021.
Martins said team officials will work with officials from the city of Orlando and Orange County government as the Magic prepare their bids.
Orlando has hosted the All-Star Game twice, in 1992 and in 2012.
Playing the right way
Center Nikola Vucevic thinks the Magic do not play “the right way,” especially on offense.
Vucevic believes the Magic take too many bad shots, do not trust the pass and attempt too much one-on-one play.
“Basketball is a very simple game, and if you keep it simple, it works,” Vucevic said after the Magic lost to the New Orleans Pelicans 118-98 Wednesday night.
“The best teams play simple,” Vucevic added. “They don’t do complicated stuff. You look at when Klay Thompson had 50 or 60 [in a game in early December]. He took 11 dribbles. Simple. Everybody was shocked, like, ‘Oh, God!’ Why would he need to take more? They set up every shot for him. That’s how it should be.”
Vucevic then cited the Magic’s 125-112 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday — a game in which the Nuggets made 58.4 percent of their shots and center Nikola Jokic scored a career-high 30 points as he made 13 of his 19 shots.
“They set up every shot for him,” Vucevic said, referring to Jokic. “He didn’t score any one-on-one [baskets] on Biz or me once. Anthony Davis, he didn’t score one-on-one [on Wednesday]. He did not. It was all off set-ups. We don’t play that way. I don’t know. We try to play pick-up. That’s what we’re doing: playing pick-up.”
Vucevic has been saying for weeks that the Magic don’t play the right way on offense, hinting that players don’t adequately follow coach Frank Vogel‘s mandates to “trust the pass” and take smart shots.
The Magic’s shot selection Wednesday contributed to their 20-point blowout loss to the Pelicans.
New Orleans scored 29 first-half points on fast breaks even though the Magic only turned the ball over eight times in the first half.
“Bad offense led to a lot of those run-outs,” Vogel said. “We took too many quick, bad shots, and we turned the ball over too much. We’ve got to do better than that.”
Taking smarter shots and protecting the basketball will be crucial when the Magic host the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night at Amway Center.
The Bucks entered Thursday fifth in the NBA in fast break points, averaging 15.8 per game.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will start for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star Game, is almost impossible to stop when he speeds upcourt in transition.
jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.
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