Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag: Making a list, checking it twice

The Orlando Magic have rounded the quarter pole with a lot of questions about where they stand this year and beyond. Let’s answer a few of them.

The Orlando Magic are in the playoff race.

Jonathan Isaac is emerging as a potential Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Markelle Fultz has been the comeback story of the league, providing a bright future for the Magic at the point guard position. The team is holding steady near .500.

Maybe it was not the start everyone imagined. Aaron Gordon, for once, has failed to take the leap. Nikola Vucevic‘s injury put the team behind the 8-ball again too. The team did not get off to the hot start everyone imagined. And the offense has been . . . not good, to say the least.

The Magic are still right there though. They are still in the playoff hunt and still in control of their playoff destiny, so to speak. The Magic recognize how good they can be but they have not been able to put all the pieces together yet.

If the goal is to get better as the season progresses as they did last year, then the Magic still have plenty of work to do and plenty of room to get better.

Even with all the injuries and ups and downs early this season, the Magic still clearly have some bigger issues to handle too. The first quarter of the season showed this team has the potential to do some big things this year, but also some flaws that could hold them back.

For those hoping the Magic would compete for home-court advantage and break into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference, the first 20 games did not provide much evidence for that. The team’s margin for error remains very small. Slips in any small area will lead to some difficult outings, especially against elite teams.

The Magic are still searching for that resume-building win, so to speak. At least they are taking care of business against the non-playoff teams for the most part. A 10-3 record against those teams will help the team stay around .500 and that should get them into the playoffs.

But for a lot of people — and probably for the team itself — just making the playoffs is not enough. The team wants to do more, get to the second round and continue growing. While the promise of some of the young players and Evan Fournier has shown a path forward.

But the Magic want to do more. And that will inevitably turn the attention toward the trade market and making changes to the roster.

The trade season officially opens Sunday on Dec. 15. There is a lot of eagerness to see if the Magic can fill in the offensive gaps they have left at the trade deadline. It may still not happen until the summer.

So while the Magic are fighting and grinding to make the playoffs this year, there is still a clear eye on the future and setting the Magic up for beyond this year.

Orlando has a lot still to accomplish. they have a lot still to build. And while there is a short-term success and a short-term goal to achieve, there is still a long-term vision to achieve.

The Magic have a list and they are going to check it twice leading into the February trade deadline this Christmas. There is still a lot of information to gather and a lot of games to play.

As the Magic round the quarter-pole of the season and enter the trade season before the Holidays, it is time to open up the Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag.

Submit your questions to me on Twitter @omagicdaily, in the comments below or by e-mail at omagicdaily@gmail.com.

I look forward to answering your questions!