The first practice of training camp for the Orlando Magic also produced the team’s first injury during play.
Point guard Elfrid Payton strained his left hip flexor and missed the final 40 minutes of practice according to head coach Frank Vogel. Vogel did not give a timetable for the return of Payton.
Otherwise, the team’s first practice was a typical one.
“A lot of turnovers,” said Vogel. “A lot of sloppy play, but that’s to be expected on the first day.”
“Good, it was a good day,” said center Nikola Vucevic. “I think we had a very good day, we went through a lot of stuff.”
“The first day was great,” said big man Bismack Biyombo. “Still got a lot of legs in me, maybe I’m in shape but I think overall, it was competitive,a lot of teaching.”
With their first practice in the books, the message from coach Vogel from the beginning is a clear one, this team will be a defensive one.
“We’re going to do some things defensively that I've never done before,” said Vogel. “So I mean it’s just not my defense. We’ll start there as our foundation, and then we’ll get into some other elements in terms of switching and whatnot, but it’s going to be a work in progress all year.”
Effort on defense wasn’t the only thing the Magic worked on. Vogel put the team through a full court drill where they had to sprint the length of the floor and make a left handed layup. They needed to make 82 in 2 minutes but came up short, only making 74, showing the room for improvement is there. Vogel showed passion and emotion after the team failed to complete the drill in time, yelling at them and saying they need to “play harder than every team they play.”
“These guys all think they’re running hard, but they really do have another gear,” said Vogel. “You gotta challenge them to find that other gear and that’s the speed we want to play at, we don’t want to be a jog it up team.”