Orlando Magic make no promises except to work hard, improve every day
There were no Playoff proclamations at Media Day this year. The Orlando Magic are taking a more measured approach, turning to the daily process to improve.
This time last year, the Orlando Magic were fairly open with their goals. They were not hiding from the pressure the team was under to make good on a four-year absence from the Playoffs or the investment the team had made in its team financially.
Players stated they were planning on making the Playoffs. They did not mince words or hedge their bets. The goal was to make the Playoffs. Their ultimate arrival in the postseason was not to be doubted, no matter how few people actually picked them to make the Playoffs beforehand.
The confidence was positively bursting. The Magic believed wholeheartedly they had taken that last step.
They had not.
The 2017 season was a rough one that the Magic are still, in many ways, coming to terms with. The season wore on coach Frank Vogel throughout, frustrating him to no end. Longtime player with both the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic Damjan Rudez said it was clear to him Vogel was frustrated. Vogel is a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve he said and Vogel felt very responsible for what happened last year. Damjan Rudez even said it was clear at points of the 2017 season the team did not play hard enough.
Bismack Biyombo added if a player was not frustrated with last season, they do not really love basketball. Nikola Vucevic admitted to letting frustration get the best of him at times. Several players at the Magic’s 2018 Media Day outright called the 2017 season a failure.
In many ways, the offseason provided some therapy from such a difficult season. And a tempering of expectations as they enter the next one.
"“Day to day and game after game is really the mentality right now,” Evan Fournier told Orlando Magic Daily at Magic Media Day on Monday. “We have to get better each and every game. After each practice, we have to get better. That is how we are going to win. If we are going to be successful, we have to create something and build it from the ground. Every practice and every game is going to be important for us if we are going to have a good year.”"
Very few players on the Magic would deviate from that focused goal. The Magic were not going to fall back into the trap of promising the Playoffs and coming up short on the delivery. In many respects, they said it would be skipping steps. And this time the Magic are not going to skip the steps necessary to win — even if the process takes a bit longer.
Bismack Biyombo said the goal was simply to play to win. The goal is not to make the Playoffs but to focus on winning every single game and doing what it takes to win each individual game. He said the goal is not to win more games necessarily or to judge the season based on that number. Playing the right way and accumulating wins individually will help take care of the larger goal.
This all sounds like coachspeak in a lot of ways. Saying a team has to focus on winning is the kind of obvious statement that receives some ridicule. But for a franchise that has not been the Playoffs in five years and struggled with all those expectations last year, the seemingly mundane and obvious becomes a goal in itself.
The team is returning to a process-driven approach. An approach where the goal is to get better each day and build the team up. The results would take care of themselves.
"“We can’t focus on the end result, we have to focus on the process and the task at hand,” Vogel told Orlando Magic Daily at Media Day on Monday. “That is how you achieve the result. I’m definitely focused on that.”"
Vogel said he felt the team played the right style for the team it had to start the season. But things had to improve overall. As that collapsed, the team clearly needed a shift.
And even as the Magic changed their style and found some success, there was still a lot the team had to improve. Orlando knows it is still working with small margins for error.
Nobody is ready to put the cart before the horse with this team again.
Still, there is a quiet optimism about the team. A growing excitement to get things going, perhaps born out of the reality of being 0-0 and an anxiousness to start the season.
"“Every season is a new season,” Nikola Vucevic told Orlando Magic Daily at Magic Media Day on Monday. “I think guys have improved over the summer. We brought in some good veterans. Some guys who have played for good teams and good coaches. They will bring us a lot of experience. There are young guys who have been here the last few seasons who have improved.”"
Vucevic said the pressure to make the Playoffs was real last year. He said the team overthought things a lot of times last year trying to chase that goal. Once things started falling apart, he said the frustration sank in and the team did not play to its full level — individually and as a team.
The Magic needed a fresh look.
While Orlando did not get a full makeover on the roster, the front office had a major turnover. The Magic hired president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and he worked to remake the bench as a start. But his task was to help instill confidence and faith in the players that remains.
Vogel’s shift to a smaller lineup helped begin that process. It appears the Magic are set to run that experiment again and hope for better overall results.
"“I think the goal is to put our guys in a position to succeed,” Weltman told Orlando Magic Daily at the Magic’s Media Day on Monday. “I don’t feel you can ever go wrong by adding character and shooting and veteran experience. We’re trying to add the best players and the best people that we can and evaluate and see how it looks. I think it is important to get to know our players both the ones we brought in this summer and the ones we inherited. Putting them in the best position to show what they can do is priority one for us.”"
The Magic’s expectations for this year are very different. The tenor from the team as they gathered together for the first time is very different than it was a year ago.
Orlando Magic
That is not to say the Magic do not hope to make the Playoffs. The way they are going about achieving that goal is very different. Perhaps these are some of the scars from last year’s frustrating defeat. They do not want to get anyone’s hopes or expectations too high.
Yet, the Magic still want to demand a lot from themselves. By narrowing the focus, perhaps they have done that.
So Orlando is trying a different approach entering this season. The team is not going to outright proclaim themselves ready for the Playoffs and put that pressure on. The pressure to win remains.
It remains in the pressure to get better every day.
Next: Internal improvement key to Orlando Magic's season
It may be cliche. But the Magic are hoping this refreshed approach can lead to the progress the Magic have lacked the last few years.