The Orlando Magic’s preseason ended with supreme celebration.
Jeff Dowtin, a player likely headed to the G-League to play for the Lakeland Magic hit a turnaround jumper with 0.2 seconds left to deliver the Orlando Magic a win in their final preseason game.
This close-knit, young group celebrated in the locker room with an ice bath for a young player who may never get another NBA moment quite like this. It is this power of positivity that is going to have to sustain the team through its quite possibly difficult season ahead.
Because there is undoubtedly a new challenge on the horizon.
Training camp is running short on time. The team took a few days of hard practice before coach Jamahl Mosley said he plans to scale things back a bit and begin the normal game rhythm. There is always a tricky balance of making sure the team gets its work in and improves but also saves themselves for the games.
Many of these players will be experiencing that balance for the first time. This coaching staff will be figuring this out together too.
But the focus is still on the present and on the team itself.
The Orlando Magic are turning toward their regular season. But the focus is still on themselves and how they can improve.
The Orlando Magic will probably begin game-planning for the opener against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday — the team is scheduled for an off day Sunday after two hard days of practice on Friday and Saturday. But the focus is not wholly going to be on the opponent.
The Magic are still laying their foundation and the focus remains on themselves and how they can improve. Orlando will study its opponent, but the focus will still be more on developing and growing itself.
"“The big thing we keep concentrating on is we’re going to focus on us getting better, us developing, us getting our guys in the right space to execute and make the right decisions,” Mosley said after practice Friday. “Regardless of the opponent, we’ll have a game plan on how the style of play they play, but the focus is going to continue to be on us and what we do to disrupt their offensive sets and how we want to play offensively and how they may defend.”"
Mosley is certainly still getting settled on how he wants to manage games and manage the attention he puts on practice.
He said he is still determining what number of deflections he would like to see. This was a measurement coach Steve Clifford and his staff tracked meticulously to determine defensive activity. He had a number in mind. Mosley will at some point too, but he is still shaping his style.
Similarly, Mosley said on the box score he looks at the team’s defense in the paint, transition defense and turnovers when he glances at the stats during the game. He is still finding the things he wants to emphasize.
The preseason offered good practice, but everyone will be returning to a regular-season rhythm. Mosley will have to finish with the outright experimenting and settle into a fairly consistent rotation and playing group.
There is a lot more pressure involved now as the calendar shifts from preseason mode to regular-season mode.
Mistakes will not just be mistakes, they will cost the team wins. There will be a true measure for the team.
Now, we learn what this Magic team is about.
"“No matter what we did — good, bad or indifferent — the regular season is way different than the preseason,” Gary Harris said after practice Friday. “The preseason doesn’t matter. Those stats don’t count. It’s a whole new season. Each game counts. The mistakes that we had in the preseason, we can’t continue to make the same mistakes. We have to grow and continue to get better. Now we’ve got a real test of what is going on.”"
Yes, the stats have been impressive in some areas and concerning in others.
But every preseason performance comes with that grain of salt and context of when it happened and how it happened. The Magic’s comeback against the Spurs in the preseason game was impressive and fun, but it largely came with the Spurs’ starters on the bench.
Orlando will have to know quickly the challenge changes now that the games count.
But the approach will not for the team. This is a development outfit with a group trying to improve individually and as a group. They are focused on getting better.
So the focus is still rightly on them. The preseason may be over and games may be taking more precedent, but the goal remains to get better every day.
Mosley said that is the measure of the team as the season begins.
"“It’s about us getting better every single day,” Mosley said after practice Friday. “It’s about us playing hard. It’s about us coming together and working as a team every day. The results will absolutely take care of themselves if we do that. We’re not going to put on a number on it versus us just coming in to do the work every single day to get better.”"
For the team, the Magic felt good about their preseason and the work they did.
Mosley said he believed the team laid its defensive foundation and did a good job understanding how they want to protect the rim. They still have to defend the 3-point better and get their offense down, including a focus on pushing the pace.
There is still work to do. But the main things the team worked on and focused on seemed to get accomplished — the defense especially and the mindset and attitude the team wants.
That mindset is probably the most important one from the Magic at this point. The work is not done. There is still more the team has to do.
"“I feel like there was a lot of growth in the preseason,” Gary Harris said after practice Friday. “There were a lot of things that we came into camp that we wanted to work on and I feel like we got better in a lot of things. We have to continue to keep working and continuing to get better.”"
Perhaps not to get regular season-ready — that is coming whether the Magic want it to or not — but still room to improve. And that is going to be how the Magic approach things.
This is not the preseason. The regular season is different with different pressures and different expectations. But the focus on improving and getting better have not changed.
The focus is still on themselves.
Winning games will come from that focus on themselves. At least at this stage. It is still about the team laying its foundation.
The next steps are still about getting themselves better even as the games begin to count.