Good morning, everyone! Hope you all had a good, relaxing Saturday filled with great sports. Really, we had so many options with all of the college football, the World Cup starting and some exciting soccer games as well. We’re about a month away from the Magic opening camp, so basketball will be here very soon, I promise. Let’s see what’s going on with the Orlando Magic Today.
First we go to CBSSports, where James Herbert had a chance to talk with Victor Oladipo about a handful of topics, including Oladipo as a leader. It’s a great read and gives a lot of insight into Oladipo and how he feels about a lot of things. I’ve said it before, and I’m going to keep saying it: it’s going to be a big year for Oladipo, and I really think he’s going to take a big step forward.
"Guys always say the season’s about staying even-keeled. Is that easier said than done?It is one of the toughest things, actually, to be able to do that. Especially when you’re losing games, man, it’s tough. You’re losing close games and not-so-close games. It’s tough, you’re going out and you’re playing as hard as you can and you know you’re still going to come up short. It’s a tough feeling and a tough thing to handle. At the end of the day, you do have to keep an even keel throughout the whole thing ‘cause if you get too high or you get too low, you could eventually break down.Do you ever stop and go, “Wow, this is amazing?”Yeah, definitely. Pretty much every day of my life. I’ve been playing basketball since I was five years old. It’s a crazy experience for me to be known as just an NBA player. But it’s not even satisfying, I feel like I want so much more from this game. I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of how good I can be, so I’m just going to continue to keep working until I reach my goal. Goals.What is the best moment of last year? What was the worst loss?I think the best moment was probably my first game ever. Actually, it was at Indiana and all the Indiana people were there — I went to school there. I got a standing ovation when I checked in the game. It was my first every game in the NBA and it was a crazy experience, one I’ll never forget.All the losses were the worst losses. They’re all tough. All of them were the worst. Every loss feels the same. No matter if you lose by two or 20, they’re all terrible."
Next we go to OrlandoMagicDaily where Philip examines Luke Ridnour and exactly what he can do for the team this season. Ridnour, the team’s final signee this summer, is someone who could be very important to the team, especially to rookie Elfrid Payton. He’s been through it all, so having that voice in Payton, and to a lesser extent Oladipo’s ear, could be huge for the team moving forward.
That’ll do it for today’s edition of Orlando Magic Today. I know, a light day, but there’s a lot of reading in those two posts, so you guys should be occupied for a bit. We’ll be starting our season preview stuff tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that. Have a good Sunday with your family and get ready for another day off, for many, on Monday.