How to convince your friends to watch the Orlando Magic
By Alex Horvath
The Orlando Magic have enjoyed success this far in the season, but aren’t getting any attention, we’ve got an article that might help with that.
The Orlando Magic have enjoyed a fairly quick start to the season, standing at 20-18 heading into the team’s trip to London on Thursday. Around this time last year, they were 13-27, and almost unbearable to watch.
This year, they made some changes to the front office, hiring Scott Skiles, and adding some veterans that have helped them along the way.
Us Magic fans see how greatly improved they are from previous years, but does everyone else?
The answer is no, most people outside of Magic fans pay zero attention to them. Times have changed since the early years, there is not a superstar on the team (See: Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady, Anfernee Hardaway) to entice people to watch the Magic whenever they play. There are no national television appearances to get some form of national notice, just League Pass obsessives.
What we do have, is an accumulation of young talent, each with their own skill set, that has made the Orlando Magic one of the most underrated and fun teams to watch this season.
According to FOX Sports Florida, the Magic have enjoyed a 96% increase in local viewership, meaning almost twice as many Floridians have tuned into the Magic this year.
However, the Magic have not gotten much national attention, rarely any mentions from ESPN (then again, do they really mention anything outside of Stephen Curry or LeBron James?) and the occasional mention elsewhere. Even in the power rankings, such as those from NBA.com and ESPN, have the Celtics higher on the rankings than the Magic, even though this happened.
The games themselves are quite entertaining. Orlando ranks eighth in assists and ninth in points allowed per game, as its always fun to see ball movement and defensive energy. The Magic played arguably the most entertaining game in the NBA thus far in the season, with a thrilling double overtime loss to the Thunder.
Now do you see, what this team is capable of? You will. Oh. You will. And you will be able to spread the gospel.
Anyway, let’s dig into why you and/or your friends should tune into the Orlando Magic.
Next: The up and comers