Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag: Playing all the hits

Markelle Fultz was one of the big surprises of the Orlando Magic's season. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
Markelle Fultz was one of the big surprises of the Orlando Magic's season. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

The NBA season is slowly clicking back into place. With so much Orlando Magic not happening, it is time to once again open up our mailbag.

It has felt a lot longer than two months since the last time the Orlando Magic took the floor.

On that night in Memphis, it felt like the Magic were taking a gigantic step forward. They had a home-heavy part of the schedule ahead of them and manageable opponents. Orlando had torn through the league after the All-Star Break and picked up three of four wins on the road.

After a frustrating season that saw the team sort of stagnating rather than taking the expected leap, the Magic seemed to be turning a corner finally. That at least would have helped them solidify the seventh seed once again. And with all the injuries, getting back near .500 would have been a minor success.

But nobody is really satisfied with how this season turned out. Staying in seventh with Jonathan Isaac on the shelf with an injury and Aaron Gordon struggling to break through was certainly disappointing.

This season has not gone how anyone wanted.

Most of all then, this offseason will prove to be an important one in mapping how this team develops its future. The Magic have proven they are a consistent playoff team. Now, they have to prove they can be more than just a first-round cameo.

And that is the most difficult part.

All that is being made more difficult by the league’s current hiatus. It is not clear when or how this season will conclude. The Magic certainly have earned a playoff spot. But that will likely hold no bearing on how the Magic move forward beyond this season.

Financial realities will make the next steps difficult for the team too. Nobody has any clue what this year or next year will look like.

It feels like everyone has to take things one step at a time. And everyone is eager just to know when basketball will be played again.

The time off has given u sa chance not only to reflect on the season but reflect on the team’s history.

FOX Sports Florida has started re-airing classic Magic games — going through the expansion team and the 1995 Playoffs before starting up the 2009 Playoffs run. It has given everyone a good reminder of what these teams actually played like and a chance to relive their success.

Additionally, The Last Dance has also shined a (brief) spotlight on the 1995 Magic in the Michael Jordan story.

Everyone is feeling nice and nostalgic about the Magic these days.

But ultimately we want to see real, live basketball again. And hopefully, that is coming soon — with the re-opening of training facilities and apparent momentum to play the season again, we could be about a month away from getting that reality.

We are still killing time though. And so we are still doing our best to stay grounded in the present while reflecting on the past and looking to the future.

So it is time once again to open up the Orlando Magic Daily Mailbag. Everything is open. If you have a question about this season, the offseason or Magic history, send them my way. Whatever is on your mind, I have an answer for.

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

I look forward to hearing from you!