Orlando Magic Season Review: What Went Right — Record improvement

The Orlando Magic had a disappointing season in some fashion for missing the Playoffs. But they also had a successful one with a 10-win improvement.

For three years, the Orlando Magic had sold rebuilding. Success was not going to be measured in wins and losses, but on whether players made improvements and the optimism the future would provide.

The NBA though is a results business. At some point the only thing that matters is wins and losses. Not at some point, at all points. Wins and losses drive decisions and are all the history books will care about. Even for rebuilding teams.

At a certain point a rebuilding team has to turn the corner. That became the obsession of the 2015 season, and its greatest failure. A modest two-win improvement showed potential, but hardly the step forward.

If this is to remain a slow rebuild — ignoring any statements of Playoff goals or anything else — then 2016 represented the biggest step forward yet. This was no incremental improvement, this was a step forward in a meaningful way.

The Magic went from 25 wins to 35 wins, defying the Vegas “experts” and preseason predictions. They had a 10-win season-over-season improvement for just the fifth time (I am counting the Magic’s improvement during the lockout-shortened 1999 season) in the their 27-year franchise history.

It is something rare. Just as rare as the fourth straight year missing the Playoffs, the longest stretch in franchise history.

That part should not be forgotten either. The team stated its goal was to make the Playoffs throughout the season and in that they failed. The players demeanor at the end of the season was one that recognized the improvement, but also expressed disappointment over their failures.

“We didn’t make the type of progress we had hoped this season,” Magic general manager Rob Hennigan said during the team’s exit interviews last week. “At the beginning of the year we had a stated goal of making the playoffs. Clearly we came up short on that end. At the same time, I think there is a balance between recognizing the fact we did make steady progress in our view. We don’t want to discount that. We added 10 wins to our total from last season with essentially the same roster so we see that as a positive.”

And it is a positive. The Magic improved dramatically in a lot of ways over last year.

On offense, the team left its stodgy, simplistic pick-and-roll, isolation offense for a motion-based offense on ball movement. It was an adjustment for many players, but when it hummed it hummed.

The Magic had a 102.6 offensive rating this year, good for 21st in the league. It was not always a good offense, of course. The numbers bear that out. The Magic would sometimes get bogged down from a poor pass or a lack of ball movement or pace. There was still learning to do.

But there was also undoubted improvement. The Magic’s rank in the league improved from 27th in the league and a 99.6 offensive rating. Orlando was much, much better.

While the defense did not reach the levels Scott Skiles hoped it would reach and did not reach the level Skiles teams have typically reached in their first year, the Magic did improve defensively.

In 2015, the Magic posted a 105.2 defensive rating, good for 25th in the league. That improved to 104.6 and 17th in the league. It was a modest raw number improvement, but a big step up compared to the league.

Orlando went from one of the worst teams in the league (21 in offensive rating/25 in defensive rating) to middle of the road.

That is a step up. Of some sort.

Skiles said during his exit interview that improving from a 25-win team to a 35-win team is the easy part. Internal improvement alone plus a more focused and demanding coaching system will do that. But going from 35 wins to 45 wins and the Playoffs is the more difficult part.

There is undoubtedly work still to do for the Magic. A lot of work. The team’s shortcomings and some of its construction flaws showed as the team struggled to take that extra step forward. At times they played like a Playoff team and other times they played like a Lottery-bound team.

Orlando has something to build up, at least. It is just unclear what that something is still. Tinkering is needed.

Related Story: What Went Wrong: January

But considering the Magic brought back 83.5 percent of their scoring from the 2015 season, to see them improve enough to take this step forward was encouraging.

Even though the Magic did not reach their lofty Playoff goals, it is hard to say the team took a step backward. The record and basic statistics show they did not. They took a step forward. It may not have been the step forward the Magic ultimately wanted, but it was a clear step forward.

There are questions left for this offseason. No doubt about it. Success of some kind always brings questions of how to repeat it and grow from there. That is natural for any team.

Looking back at the 2016 season though, seeing the Magic improve by 10 games and improve generally on offense and defense both numerically and within the league, it is clear the Magic had a positive season.

A team’s record is a reflection of its play. And it is clear this team was better than last year’s team.