ORLANDO, Fla. — The 35th anniversary season of the Orlando Magic officially tips off at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Amway Center, bringing fond memories of past seasons and players and refreshed hope that this year’s team will create new reasons to celebrate their success.
The Magic will face the Houston Rockets in their NBA season-opener — as well as some rising expectations around the league and by even their own players.
What You Need To Know
- The Magic’s 2023-24 season starts tonight at home against the Rockets
- Orlando has its sight set on an improved record and players are aiming for the playoffs
- Guard Jalen Suggs played with the starters during the entire preseason
- Special events are planned inside and outside the arena
“The way that we start this year is going to be very important,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said . “We know it’s not an easy schedule, but that’s also not an excuse….We can’t be the team that’s beating itself.”
That schedule starts with the Rockets, who finished tied with the San Antonio Spurs for the second-worst record in the league last season at 22-60.
The game will offer an interesting comparison of the ways the teams handled their offseasons.
Orlando didn’t make many changes to its roster that showed a 12-win improvement and finished the 2022-23 season with a 34-48 record. It still missed the playoffs and play-in, the last team eliminated from contention in the Eastern Conference. The Magic added veteran free agent Joe Ingles, who has made deep playoff runs almost yearly with the Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks, and 2023 NBA Draft picks Anthony Black and Jett Howard.
The Magic could have a change to their starting lineup this season, though. During the entire preseason, Mosley started guard Jalen Suggs alongside 2022-23 starters Wendell Carter Jr. at center, forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and point guard Markelle Fultz. Gary Harris was the starting shooting guard last season.
In contrast, Houston made aggressive moves in the offseason to try to accelerate its improvement. The Rockets hired a new coach, Ime Udoka, who led the Boston Celtics to the 2022 Finals. In free agency, they supplemented their existing young core with two players who have won NBA championships — Fred VanVleet from the Toronto Raptors and Jeff Green from the Denver Nuggets — and physical defender and agitator Dillon Brooks from the Memphis Grizzlies. They drafted Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore.
Mosley knows the Magic will have their hands full.
He said the Rockets are tough and gritty. He expects them to reflect the personality of their coach and play with physicality and an ability to switch.
The changes have the full attention of the Magic players.
“Everyone on this team’s focus is on Game 1 tomorrow (Wednesday),” said guard Cole Anthony, who signed a reported three-year, $39 million contract extension on Monday.
“We’ve got a tough, tough challenge with the new and improved Houston Rockets….They’re a real talented team, and we’re excited to play them.”
Getting a win in the game is key for the Magic, who will head west for four games after the home-opener.
Magic executives and coaches have said they want to see the players focus on the details, grow their games, play with maturity and, most of all, stay healthy this season after multiple injuries left them short-handed at the start of last season, resulting in a 5-20 start. While they have expressed optimism that the team will improve this season, they have not gone on record as saying the team should make the playoffs, or the play-in, this season.
But some of the players have.
“I think this is the best you’ll see Orlando since I’ve been here,” Carter said. “…We want to make it to the playoffs.”
The positive outlook started at the end of last season for Banchero, when he departed for the summer, saying the upcoming season would be “playoffs or bust” for the Magic.
“We had some success last season once we all got healthy,” Banchero said when he returned for this season after spending the summer playing with the U.S. Men’s National Team in the FIBA World Cup. “We’re just trying to carry that over to this season.
“As long as we stay together as a unit, I feel confident with us going up against anybody.”
The Magic went 29-28 down the stretch last season after they got healthy.
Banchero said the continuity shown by management is important, and as long as the players focus on the key factors that helped them improve last year, “the playoffs and anything else will take care of itself.”
His frontcourt running mate Franz Wagner, who along with his brother and Magic teammate Moe Wagner won the World Cup playing for Germany, is taking a long view of the season.
“I think it’s definitely possible (for the Magic to make the playoffs), and everybody should think like that and try to get the most out of themselves,” Wagner said.
But he noted that it’s a very long season and he and his teammates have to take it day by day. If they are successful at that, the team should end the season “in a good place,” he said.
“I think it’s important to build on what we did last year and don’t start from zero,” Wagner said.” I think it really helps that we have some continuity and a lot of familiar faces are here.”
That continuity helps the players understand what the coaches want, he said.
The view from outside Orlando
In preseason predictions, the rest of the league, media analysts and oddsmakers have taken notice of the Magic’s improvement at the end of last season, but most of them aren’t willing to say Orlando is ready to make the playoffs yet.
Some media analysts have predicted that the Magic could make the play-in for the postseason, meaning they would finish as high as seventh or as low as 10th in the standings at the end of the regular season. The best win total forecast by most sports books was 37.5, which would be a 3.5-win improvement from last season. No team that won fewer than 40 games made last season’s playoffs or play-ins.
The Magic were not named as a playoff team in a survey of the league’s general managers for nba.com either. They did tie for third with the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons as the team that will be most improved at 10% each of the GMs surveyed.
The GMs also recognized that Orlando has assembled a roster filled with good players.
Orlando (7%) finished third in voting for the team with the best young core behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (73%) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (10%).
Franz Wagner placed third among general managers at 13% as the player most likely to have a breakout season in 2023-24, and Banchero (7%), the 2023 Rookie of the Year, tied for fourth with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Mosley got some respect, too, receiving at least one vote as best manager/motivator of people among the NBA’s coaches.
Magic fans, though, have room to grow in the eyes of the league’s GMs. Orlando did not rank among the eight teams listed with the top home-court advantage.
Regardless of what anyone else thinks, the players said they are eager to get the season started.
“I’m excited to see the fruits of our labor and the work we’ve put in,” Anthony said.
What’s going on besides the game?
- Team executives have planned special activities for Wednesday night to help get the 35th anniversary season started, including:
- T-shirt distribution to every fan in attendance
- The first “Classic Night” of the season, when the team will wear Classic uniforms and play on the Classic court
- Two former Magic players in attendance will be recognized
- An immersive LED light show experience from player introductions to the final buzzer
- A unique player introduction sequence, with full team introductions
- A halftime performance featuring Photon Krew from Las Vegas, a world-renowned dance group incorporating the latest LED technology
- Fan Fest on Church Street starting at 5 p.m., featuring live music, a caricature artist, inflatables, a mobile video game trailer, basketball skills and drills and a rock-climbing wall.
Team officials urge fans to get to the game early, so they don’t miss any of the festivities. As a reminder, bags and backpacks are not permitted at Amway Center. In addition, the building is cashless, which means visitors must pay with debit or credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay or the Orlando Magic app.
Limited tickets are still available and can be purchased at www.orlandomagic.com or by calling 407-89-MAGIC.
The Magic also will deliver yard signs, schedule posters, and schedule magnets to city districts to show support in local neighborhoods.
The team’s logo and colors will be displayed in a few city locations, including art on a dedicated traffic box and the “big chair” by Lake Eola. In the evening, buildings throughout downtown will be lighted in blue.
Source link
credite