The Orlando Magic are 20-19 after they played the Toronto Raptors in London on Thursday. They are slumping a bit having lost six of their last seven games, and there are certainly signs the fast start to the season is beginning to fade. The coaching staff has already recognized there is a tough February and March coming and so they have to bank as many wins as they can and get playing a high level.
These are part of the typical ups and downs of a season. Especially for a team like the Magic trying to grow up and move forward with their rebuild.
With the schedule in a little break at this point though, there is some time to take stock of where the team is at.
The Playoffs are squarely in focus for the team as a whole, but there is plenty of stock to be taken in how far the team has come.
Despite having virtually the same roster as last year, the Magic are a significantly better team:
“This is not the same team,” Channing Frye said after the blowout win over the Hornets nearly a month ago. “This is not the same guys. Let me tell you that right now. This is a completely different group of guys in understanding the game of basketball. I think give a lot of credit to the guys buying in to what Skiles want, but we’re a team. We weren’t this [last year]. You look at it, we weren’t this.”
Indeed the Magic were not this. Not even close. As I wrote for Orlando Magic Daily, the magic have really turned this franchise around this season, making good on the promises of improvement that came with Year Four of the rebuild.
“All the talk of a team tired of losing and wanting to turn it around has come to some limited fruition nearing the season’s midpoint. The Orlando Magic are 20-1[9].
“They are beating teams with defense and have found some formula offensively (executing it consistently has been more of the storyline for the first quarter of the season doing so on the defensive end has been the story of the next quarter).”
The Magic have improved in just about every way anyone could think.
They are competing in games and matter in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. That could easily turn if the team does not come out of this slump. But even through some of these losses have begun to pile up and there have been discouraging efforts from the team as they continue to grow, the Magic are a significantly better team.
There is still a lot of work to do and expectations have shifted with the way the Magic have played in the first half of this season. But the Magic are on the right track through the first half of the season.
