Orlando Magic season preview
Team eager to build on stretch run of 22 victories in final 31 games.
They want to be here. Let me repeat that: They actually want to be here. In Orlando. With the Magic. That’s right, you heard me correctly.
This Orlando Magic team is filled with players who could have pursued other options with other teams, but they chose to stay in Orlando. Refreshingly, a franchise whose history is littered with players who were trying to get out now has players who are dying to stay put.
“We are building something special, and I want to continue my journey here and leave a mark that lasts forever,” Magic all-star Nik Vucevic told me when he re-upped with the team during the offseason.
“Why wouldn’t you want to be in Orlando?” Terrence Ross said when asked why he chose to sign a new free-agent deal with the Magic. “This is a franchise on the rise.”
Said Aaron Gordon, who signed a new deal with the Magic last season: “People don’t understand that Orlando is a great way of living. It’s laid-back. It’s family friendly.
The weather is nice yearround. The town loves us and loves its basketball. We have great facilities, solid ownership, a great coach and a great GM. And we have players who understand that if we stay together and work hard, we’re going to win.” See what I mean? Seriously, how exhilarating is it to have a basketball team filled with players who love being in the City Beautiful as much as we do? Instead of having players who are trying to force their way out of town, the Magic now have players who are negotiating a way to stay in town.
At long last, the Magic have a team that fans want to root for and support. It’s been a long, long road to get to this point. When the Magic came from nowhere to make the playoffs last season, I wrote a column comparing them to the beloved “Heart & Hustle” team of 1999-2000 that won over fans by collecting floor burns as if they were badges of honor.
The other day, when I brought up the comparison to Magic community ambas
Mike Bianchi Sentinel Columnist
sador Bo Outlaw, a charter member of that Heart & Hustle team, he nodded his head and confirmed the resemblance — but with a caveat.
“This team is a little more talented than we were,” Outlaw said with a smile. “The thing I love about this team is, they are really good guys who want to put in the work to get better. That’s what you’re looking for; you want guys who live in the gym and have the dedication and commitment to want to get better.”
Of course, it remains to be seen whether the Magic can continue the style of play they displayed at the end of last season. They immediately bought in to new coach Steve Clifford from the beginning of last season when everyone showed up before training camp for non-mandatory offseason workouts. The work they put in and the chemistry they built before the season paid huge dividends at the end of the season when they went 21-9 — the fourth-best record in the league — in their final 30 games.
“We have to bring the same attitude we did at the end of last season,” Clifford said. “We have to have a huge care factor, be prepared to handle disappointment and success and understand the importance of trying to get better game by game. The final 34 games last season, we were first in the league in defense, 15th in offense. If you can do that for a whole season, then you’ve got something.
“Our players did it last year for the right reasons. They worked. They never gave in. If we can get that approach and attitude back, we’ll have a chance to be very good.”
I believe this Magic team, in fact, will be very good — maybe even 50-wins good. Not because they have a great player, but because they have a bunch of good players and good guys who seemingly have put their egos aside for the betterment of the team. For instance, when I asked Ross whether he is content to remain in his role as a momentum-generating sixth man coming off the bench, he said, “I’m content on doing anything I can to help the team win.”
When I asked veteran starting point guard D.J. Augustin whether he will help mentor young point guard Markelle Fultz into a player who ideally would replace Augustin in the starting lineup, you know what he said? “Markelle’s my guy. He’s like family. It all comes down to winning; that’s all I care about it. Markelle is the future of the team.”
And for the first time in a long time, the future looks blazingly bright.
“This place feels like home,” Fultz said. “It’s a place where everybody loves coming to work every day.”
Can you believe it?
Can you conceive it?
They want to be here.
Hallelujah, they actually want to be here.