It is fair to say the Orlando Magic have had a memorable 2022, for both the right and wrong reasons. On the one hand, they got the first overall pick and snapped up an amazing rookie in Paolo Banchero.
But on the other hand, there have still been plenty of losses. And Wednesday night’s brawl with the Detroit Pistons is not how coach Jamahl Mosley will have wanted to end this calendar year.
That story and subsequent suspensions making news on the other side of the ocean is not something that can be attributed to the Magic often over this last decade.
Yet despite suffering back-to-back losses at a bad time, the Orlando Magic are still in the hunt for the play-in and have fans firmly onboard.
What then should be their goals for 2023? Just when it felt like the organization had perhaps turned a corner, regression to the middling play we have seen far too much of returned once more.
Here is where the Magic should be focussing their efforts as the calendar flips, armed with the knowledge that this is the best the franchise has looked collectively and in terms of their future in a long time.