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Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag Volume 12: I can haz winning? Gess nawt

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Jan 14, 2016; London, United Kingdom; The Orlando Magic mascot performs during the game between the Toronto Raptors and the Orlando Magic in the NBA Global Games at The O2 Arena. Mandatory Credit: Leo Mason-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 14, 2016; London, United Kingdom; The Orlando Magic mascot performs during the game between the Toronto Raptors and the Orlando Magic in the NBA Global Games at The O2 Arena. Mandatory Credit: Leo Mason-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 14, 2016; London, United Kingdom; The Orlando Magic mascot performs during the game between the Toronto Raptors and the Orlando Magic in the NBA Global Games at The O2 Arena. Mandatory Credit: Leo Mason-USA TODAY Sports /

The Orlando Magic were winning and that was fun. Then they were not and that is not fun. In this mailbag I answer some big questions in this season’s wake.

All right, all right.

The mail bag is overflowing, and I promised one by Christmas. This is what happens when a Jew makes promises on Christmas — what is a Christmas anyway?

The Orlando Magic have blasted past the midpoint of the season. At 20-24, the team has fallen a bit but still hovering around .500, a symbol more than anything after the last three years. The losing has been painful with expectations shifting up to the fast start.

Still, it is hard not to call the season something of a success to this point with the Magic in the playoff conversation.

Then again, expectations always shift in the course of a season. A 35-win season sounded nice in November, but now feels like it would be a disappointment. Especially since the Magic are already at 20 wins and spiraling to the tune of 11 losses in the last 12 games.

Recency bias is no fun, right?

Winning has that effect on things though. You start focusing on the short term much more than the long term to keep that winning feeling going. The Playoffs are such a tantalizing prize that it would be silly not to go all out for it.

Just not at the expense of the future.

There are a lot of issues with the Magic. And even when I solicited questions in December, there were some big issues to sift through.

Next: Sustainability