Focus on the Orlando Magic’s present, don’t obsess about the future

Orlando Magic fans are excited about the team’s future with several young players. But right now the focus should be on what the team can accomplish now.

When it comes to Orlando Magic conversations, there is a lot of hand-wringing about the future.

That is what the entire offseason was spent focused on.

The team drafted Mohamed Bamba to set the foundation for the future. Everyone is excited for what Jonathan Isaac displayed throughout Summer League to build upon his strong defensive showing when he played as a rookie. And then the team added Aaron Gordon back to the fold on a long-term deal, investing in his continued growth and future.

Fans have rightly gushed over the future Victorious B-I-G lineups. And Summer League seemed to bring the Magic some positive press for what they may become down the line.

There is no way around it. After a 25-win season and a six-year absence from the Playoffs, the team is trying to rebuild again. It will likely be a long process to get there.

President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman came in when the team had reached the end of its run and has had to clean house. He has changed things gradually and refusing to give in to the quick fixes that doomed the franchise, to begin with.

That slow development should and will remain the focus for the front office. All their decisionmaking will go toward that goal. And it is the right place.

Fans will undoubtedly be thinking about these possibilities too. There is already plenty of push to see the team throw Mohamed Bamba into the deep end and put him on the court as quickly as possible. There is going to be a lot of anticipation for it to happen. And it will.

Just like it will for Jonathan Isaac and his expanding offensive role. Both key players will have to prove themselves. That is part of the process for the team. No one is going to get minutes or opportunity handed to them. It is all earned.

The future will then come into focus as the season plays out.

But the goals for the start of the season? As training camp gets set to open next Tuesday? That is still for the present.

Coach Steve Clifford is the only person really talking about the Playoffs with any kind of seriousness. But the players probably believe it too. Isaac responded to a fan on Instagram saying the team’s goals are to make the Playoffs.

That should be their goal. At 0-0, why not believe in the best possible outcomes of the season and have confidence and belief?

Until the reality goes out of distance, the Magic will be doing everything they can to win games. That might even mean taking some temporary sacrifices to their future.

As much as it may annoy fans, Nikola Vucevic will probably start the season as the team’s center. With Mohamed Bamba waiting in the wings, Nikola Vucevic’s time in Orlando is likely coming to an end.

Evan Fournier will probably be the team’s lead offensive option at least to start the season. That is until someone takes those roles from them. Aaron Gordon will not be long to take that role from him.

Those roles and where players fit in will sort itself out through training camp and through the course of the season. Bamba will play more when he is ready to take on more and can contribute more to the team. Gordon and Isaac will take on more responsibility within the team as they prove themselves capable.

At least for the beginning of the season, the Magic’s primary goal is to win. Development for their young players will come within that context. If the season goes as everyone suspects, then it will come to the forefront at that point. But it is not the place the team will start.

This is the time to worry about the present. A coach knows development is part of his role. But in training camp, the goal is to make everyone on the team better and put them in the best position to win. As the Magic showed last year, they can get off to a hot start and keep themselves in the mix — if for a little while.

Orlando, for all of its struggles and questions, still has a talented roster. This is not a team full of young guys and castoffs that is almost guaranteed to get a top pick in the coming draft. Like last year, Orlando has quality veterans who should be able to contribute something.

Orlando Magic

For as much as fans want to move on from Vucevic, he is a reliable double-double player. His defense is often better than people give him credit for — despite a horrid field goal percentage allowed at the rim, he has had two straight years with a defensive box plus-minus of 2.0 or better. Vucevic can help the team still.

Fournier is a capable scorer. He may not be the guy who can lead a team to the Playoffs as the leading scorer. But his presence alone will keep the team at least a little bit respectable. His presence is still important for a team without many reliable shooters.

The biggest obstacle for the Magic at least to compete later into the season is their own will to stick together and recover from losing streaks. Here the team’s years of losing have hurt the team most.

With few changes to the roster, it is still hard to see things changing much. The reality is this season very well might go how everyone expects. The team will show some improvements but not nearly enough to make a serious Playoff run. The team could very well be in line for another high draft pick. And maybe that is what the team ultimately needs.

This is not the time to worry about that though. There seems to be plenty of time to worry about the future.

At this preseason stage, it seems best to imagine the possibilities if everything goes right for the team. That is what the coaches and players must do at least.

Their focus as the season begins is on the present. What can each player do to make the team better today?

That is the Magic’s focus today. There will be plenty of time to deal with the team’s future. It will be a storyline throughout the year — even if the team outperforms expectations.

But now is the time to focus on the present. Now is the time to put players in their best position to succeed for the team. And see just how far the team can go on its own.

When it becomes unequivocally clear they cannot take that next step, then the focus on the future will take primacy. To begin the season, a team’s focus should always be on what it can accomplish in the present and how best it can go about doing that.