Orlando Magic have to earn back their fans through their play

The biggest story from the first half of the Orlando Magic’s home schedule has been the noise coming from the fans.

Not anything critical of the Magic. More so the noise directed at the opponents. Or better, the cheers handed to the visiting team.

That is not how a home game is supposed to go. It is not how home-court advantage is supposed to work.

The friendly confines of a home arena are supposed to help a team — especially a young team — get a boost. The extra support is supposed to give them energy.

The Orlando Magic have often seen their home court turned into a road game this year. But the team is aiming to make a statement and win back their fans as they start to rebuild.

Instead, this young Orlando Magic team has been subjected to hearing “M-V-P” chants for Joel Embiid as the Philadelphia 76ers’ bench eggs the crowd on. Or loud “Let’s Go Heat” chants as the Miami Heat walked out of the Amway Center with a win in December (never mind the team only found out that day that it was just starting the battle with a COVID outbreak within the team and played four players literally signed hours before tip-off).

The Orlando Magic tried to counteract the crush of purple and gold that invaded their stadium for Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers or Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bulls. But nobody could pretend that the Magic were the ones that led to sellouts the last two home games.

Sunday then was the team putting its foot down. Jalen Suggs, the good-luck draft pick that fell to the team at five and sparked initial excitement about this rebuild, put an exclamation point on the game with three thunderous dunks late in the fourth quarter.

After each one he seemed to direct some choice words toward a heckling fan courtside. Skilled lip readers claiming he said, “This is a Magic City” (sometimes with more colorful language added in).

There could be some qualifications added to that 114-95 win over the Bulls on Sunday, but if the Orlando Magic are going to rebuild their fan base and get the casual viewer to buy in, it is going to take more moments like this.

It is going to take the team showing the hard work and culture they are trying to instill.

"“That’s all a part of just what it is right now,” Suggs said after Tuesday’s practice. “For us, we’re trying to build a culture and change that so that no matter who comes in this building, it’s nothing but blue in here. that’s part of the culture we’re trying to change. I was talking no smack to the Bulls and no smack to none of them. I’m energized with our crowd. We’re enjoying ourselves when we are playing good basketball and executing.”"

Suggs certainly was not going to apologize for celebrating his dunk. Bulls TV color analyst Stacey King had some very “Get off my lawn” vibes when he complained on-air over Suggs pointing to his chest and repping his team.

Suggs reiterated that was not directed at the Bulls or any players. Some fans believed he was making that statement to a heckler on the sidelines.

The Magic are openly trying to celebrate the little victories. And Suggs was certainly feeding off the energy of the game. He said he wants to embrace Orlando and that moment was his repping his city. Especially in a heated game.

That moment certainly endeared him more to Magic fans as they still get to know the rookie guard. It was a momentary relief in what has been a difficult and often frustrating season, despite the low expectations of a rebuilding team.

The Magic are just 3-17 at home so far this season, the worst mark in the league by far. Orlando had a reason to celebrate and hope this was something they can build upon.

This extended homestand is giving the team some chance to reset themselves and reinforce some basics and hopefully build some momentum. If the team can build that momentum, then they might be able to sell themselves to fans curious to see if this project will take off.

The Magic are certainly still working on the bigger picture items with how they want to play. Defense was supposed to be the team’s calling card, but it was not until recently that the team started performing better on that end — Orlando is eighth in the league in defensive rating (107.8 points allowed per game) in January’s 12 games.

Still, the team needs to create some highlight moments and pick up some momentum-building wins to turn heads. Having a bit of star power — which Suggs himself seemed to represent — would not hurt either to draw fans to the Amway Center.

Ultimately winning will be the proof the team needs that their rebuilding efforts are working. And there have simply been too few of those. It is no wonder that fans have stayed somewhat away or viewed the early stages of this rebuild with some skepticism.

The Magic have a lot of trust to rebuild with this fan base.

The team has lost a generation of fans in the decade since trading Dwight Howard as one rebuild failed, the team tried to take a middle path and then reset the franchise all over again. And it shows by how the home arena gets invaded for any team with a national fan base (Orlando despite its growth is still largely a transplant city).

If Orlando is going to regain those fans, it is going to start by proving the team and the organization are back on the right track not just to make the Playoffs, but to do something greater. That will convert fans to their cause.

It may be wrong or not how a community is supposed to rally around their team, but fan support right now needs to be earned. The Magic organizationally need to regain the fan base’s trust and investment. It is not something that is going to be freely given.

As Steve Clifford pointed out during the team’s 2019 playoff run, when the fans in Orlando do show up, they can provide the team a big lift. And everyone knows that the Amway Center crowd and Magic fans can provide a huge energy boost.

"“It’s so influential and so impactful in a game,” Suggs said after practice Tuesday. “You hit a couple of buckets in a row, get some good stops, make a big play, you want the crowd to be hyped. You call a timeout and it goes crazy as you’re walking into the huddle. Those are the things you love to hear. It gets you going. For me and the rest of us, we’re going to continue to be us, play our style of basketball and try to get some blue in the crowd and give them excitement and a good time. ”"

The Magic know they have work to do to make the Amway Center more consistently blue (or on City nights: orange). The team made its stand Sunday to reclaim their territory.

They have three more games on this homestand and a host of home games in the second half of the season to make the Amway Center a home again.

Or at the very least show fans a reason to be excited and buy in as they continue to grow and build their culture toward winning.