The Orlando Magic gather together for the first time this year as Media Day takes place Monday. Here is a position-by-position breakdown of the 2017 roster.
Welcome to the Orlando Magic’s 2017 season.
The team gathers together officially for the first time Monday for the team’s media day before beginning practice Tuesday morning. All the questions and worries about the Magic’s massive makeover from the summer will get their answers sooner or later.
Training camp will be a time to build chemistry and get things focused for the Playoff run the franchise is sure to desire this season. The Magic have a long 82-game trek on their way.
It all stars with a single practice.
The group the Orlando Magic will bring with them into this critical season for the franchise is set. I tis an entirely new, versatile and diverse roster.
The Magic aimed for an identity and to improve their defense. They largely did that in acquiring defensive big men like Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo and hiring coach Frank Vogel.
The Magic aimed for more veteran leadership where players like Ibaka and Jeff Green will surely help. They aimed for more shooting and picked that up in Jodie Meeks, Ibaka and C.J. Wilcox.
The core for the Magic remains the same. The way the Magic season turns will still rely on how the players they have cultivated in the last few years shake out. The rebuild is not as over as everyone would suggest.
The season still comes down to several key questions: Is Nikola Vucevic able to play defense for an elite team? Can Aaron Gordon take the next step in his career? Can Elfrid Payton return to his rookie year level of defense? Can Evan Fournier duplicate his breakout 2017 season? Can Mario Hezonja take his next step after an uneven rookie year?
These are all critical questions for the Magic. As critical as the questions about the team’s newcomers.
It will all be part of the fun of training camp and the preseason before the games start counting in late October.
Before the Magic get there though, they have to look at what they have. As Frank Vogel told OrlandoMagic.com, he has pieces to a puzzle. He will have to put those together in the next month.
That seems like the best place to start this first day of the Magic season.
For the past two weeks at Orlando Magic Daily, we have looked at the outlook for all 14 players expected to make the roster this season. The team is ready to roll and so are we for this 2016-17 season.
Here is a position-by-position breakdown of the Orlando Magic this season.