The Orlando Magic are struggling to find their identity and the Playoff dreams are quickly fading away. The team is sinking toward the bottom in January.
The Orlando Magic knew January would be a turning point for them. When the schedule came out in August, everyone pointed quickly to January as a difficult month and suggested the Magic would have to come together quickly and bank some wins in the first half of the season to weather this storm.
The process of coming together took much longer than everyone anticipated. The team has muddled along, hovering a few games below .500 and just outside the Playoff race. A sense that the team could make a run with a quick push remained.
Then the January schedule began to kick in. Orlando is 1-4 since the calendar turned to 2017. The team is not in the dire straits of going 2-12 like last year (yet). But the Magic also did not have the cushion of a 19-13 start like last year.
Orlando is desperately trying to make the Playoffs this year. And this is not the way to do it. It feels like a trade is imminent to get this team to that goal. It almost has to be.
What the Magic are working with simply is not good enough.
Since Dec. 1, the Magic’s defense is 26th in the league in defensive rating. This is a team that at one point seemed to be thriving on the defensive end and wanted to build an identity on that end. Offensively, Orlando is 18th in that same time period.
Overall, the Magic are still 28th in offensive rating and 19th in defensive rating. That is not the picture of a team heading to the Playoffs — much less their -5.0 net rating is 27th in the league, essentially a bottom-five team.
The schedule only gets tougher. January is brutal and this six-game road trip has only just begun. And Orlando already lost the team’s most winnable game, at least on paper.
The Magic are going to have to rally again and find that identity they have lost since November.
Otherwise, they will continue sinking to the bottom of the league.
Marc Stein, ESPN.com
It is indeed a critical time in the Orlando Magic’s season right now. There is no getting around it. January proved to be the turning point for the Magic last year and it will again this year. As it is really every year as teams begin to assert themselves and hit a second gear as the calendar turns.
The Magic have to find that second gear fast. And they will have to do it on the road.
The first half of the road schedule has been friendly to Orlando as the team has gone 9-9. But that record is quickly getting put to the test.
Jeremy Woo, Sports Illustrated
This is an oddly positive take on the Orlando Magic. One that comes from a perspective outside of the bubble Magic fans live in.
Yes, the Magic have been through a four-year rebuild that has yet to yield a Playoff berth. And yes, fans and ownership are impatient as the Magic have experienced the longest playoff drought in franchise history. But there is something to this notion the Magic still have some decent flexibility.
But Woo is also absolutely correct. Regardless of whether the Magic make the Playoffs or not this year (or who is in charge), the next moves the Magic make could very well set the franchise’s path for much of the next decade.
Matt Moore, CBS Sports
Here is an outside perspective that seems to jive with the current narrative for the Orlando Magic.
Vogel, as said earlier, entered this road trip saying the Magic’s season is at a turning point. Moore puts it a little more bluntly. The Magic do seem to be balancing on the edge of oblivion.
And after Sunday’s loss, it feels like the Magic’s slim Playoff hopes are already slipping.
John Schuhmann, NBA.com
The Orlando Magic’s offense for much of the last month has at least been a flickering light. The Magic flirted with at least the league average. But it does appear the team is settling back into being a poor offensive team again.
The Magic likely lost Sunday’s game largely on the back of a nine-point, 2-for-20 shooting third quarter in Los Angeles. In the last five games, the Magic have a 101.4 offensive rating (26th in the league). It is still a problem.
Throw on top of that the defense continues to struggle. It seems like the Magic are not getting better.
Gerald Bourguet, Hoops Habit
The Orlando Magic’s pursuit of making the Playoffs is certainly blinding everything the franchise is doing these days. They gave up a lot to throw a lot into this boat.
And so far that roll of the dice is coming up craps.
Next: The Orlando Magic explained in one chart
The Magic are likely looking to make another deal to save an already sinking season.