This is not the same Orlando Magic as last year

By Philip Rossman-Reich | Jan 11, 2016

Dec 21, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Orlando Magic small forward Tobias Harris (12) reacts after hitting a three point shot against the New York Knicks during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. The Magic defeated the Knicks 107-99. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

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Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic, Clint Capela, Houston Rockets

Nov 4, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic (9) and Houston Rockets center Clint Capela (15) attempt to get a loose ball during the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

Crash to reality

The reality is the Magic are slumping now, experiencing their first bit of adversity since the beginning of the season when they played so many difficult teams and the principles that would guide their season were just setting in. It is hard to tell exactly which part of the Magic from the beginning of the season was real, and which part was the exuberance of something new and catching teams by surprise.

There is a good team somewhere in this Orlando squad. The team showed it at the beginning of the season for sure.

“I think they’re doing good,” Frye said. “I think they are understanding success comes with work. Especially the way we play ball, it’s not going to look cool. You are not going to leave the game and not be tired. I think that trust and that type of attitude is what coach wants. He wants you to be so exhausted by the first six minutes that you got to come get someone else because you trust other guys to continue it.”

It was easy to build when the team was winning. The winning built on itself and seemed unending. Habits were built. And then relaxed it seemed.

Part of the growing process is learning to deal with the times when the shots do not go in. A team develops its identity and figures out what it can lean on.

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That is what the Magic are still learning to do. That is the next step in the team’s growth.

When things were good, it was easy for players to remind each other not to chase numbers — Frye said players would cuss each other out. When things go wrong, players try to force things to get them right again. They are not necessarily chasing numbers, just trying to do more.

That is different. Very different.

Players have had to sacrifice to help the team. Victor Oladipo had to go to the bench. Tobias Harris had to give up shots. Elfrid Payton had to miss games and get healthy.

As good as the Magic were in the first quarter of the season, they even recognized they had not done anything yet. They are still trying to hold each other accountable and navigate waters they have never been through before.

“The reality is too if we want to be a legitimate team, we can’t cough up some of the games we have coughed up,” Scott Skiles said during the win streak. “We have put ourselves in position where we should win a game and we coughed too many of them up. We have had other games that have hung in the balance that we have made enough plays to have won the game as well. That is one thing we have to improve on.”

The Magic have not improved on that. As good as Orlando has played, there is still growth to come. There is still a hunger to continue to get better.

This is just a small taste of success. Making it last is another trick entirely.

As the Magic prepare for this trip to London and prepare for the midpoint of the season, there is still a lot of work to do for this team to accomplish its goal and make the Playoffs.

One thing is clear and bears repeating. This team is better. Much better. They took the lessons from all those losses and put the work in this summer to earn this opportunity.

“It took a lot of work to get to here. It wasn’t always easy with all the losing. We always had faith.” — Nikola Vucevic

They have not achieved their goals, but they have cleared at least the first hurdle on their way back up.

“I take a lot of satisfaction becuase it was really only Andrew [Nicholson] and me who were here from the beginning,” Vucevic said. “It took a lot of work to get to here. It wasn’t always easy with all the losing. We always had faith. We always knew that we were close.

“I felt like we weren’t getting blown out by teams, we played a lot of games really close that we lost. If we had won half those game,s we wouldn’t have looked as bad record wise. But it was part of the process. All the guys understood that. We had to work really hard to improve. It wasn’t going to be given to us.”

Who is to say if the Magic make the Playoffs? It might still be too early to make any definitive statements on that front. There are still so many games to play.

Next: What should the Orlando Magic do with Victor Oladipo?

One thing seems certain though. Orlando has gotten its rebuild back on track. It has made winning matter again in 2016. And so now the real team building can begin.