The Final Question
10. Will the Orlando Magic take the leap and compete for home-court advantage?
Thoughts on the Orlando Magic vary widely. The team is considered a shoo-in to be a playoff contender. There is even some buzz for them to get home-court advantage.
There is no doubt the Magic are a competitive team. Nobody sees them falling back to the deep lottery again. The question is just whether they can make the playoffs again and just how high they can climb when they get there.
Steve Clifford has been fairly optimistic about the team. He has flat out said this year’s team is more talented than last year’s team.
The question he has laid out throughout the preseason is whether the Magic will get back to that level they were at last year. The biggest challenge for the team is re-establishing the standard. How quickly they can do that will be the biggest key for the season.
So just what can this Magic team accomplish?
This Magic team can compete for home-court advantage. This team can threaten to get out of the first round of the playoffs.
But this team also could fall apart. The careful balance they had last year could get derailed with injury or a number of issues. The team could struggle.
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Or they could be just the same.
The important thing for this year’s team is to provide a map forward. The Magic want to be more than just a playoff participant in the future.
The trick, for now, is to just confirm that last year was something they can repeat. That they have that foundation solidly built. Then they can figure out how to get better.
My expectations for the Magic are fairly modest. I think they can accomplish all those things. But I think the most likely result is they stay roughly where they are. I see the team hitting 43 or 44 wins, a slight improvement. And I see them making the playoffs comfortably.
But I do not see them improving their seeding much. I have the Magic as a 6- or 7-seed in this year’s playoffs. The team feels and looks the same in a lot of ways.
And that could produce some similar results.
How the Magic get there will map out how the team moves forward. And that might be the biggest question of all.