The Orlando Magic fell short of the postseason this season. Their 5-20 start to the season proved to be too deep a hole for them to climb out of. They were unable to make up that much ground.
But they certainly gave it a good run, finishing the season 29-28 for a final record of 34-48. That left the Magic six games out of the final Play-In spot, although the team packing it in for the final three games of the season after they were officially eliminated made the margin greater than it actually was in the end.
Orlando though clearly still has some work to do to make the postseason. But it is also clearly on everyone’s mind.
Where the Magic in the past have been a little bit more coy about their expectations and what they hope to accomplish in the upcoming season, a lot of players did not beat around the bush at exit interviews. They expect to be in the postseason next year.
The Orlando Magic are already thinking about what they need to make the playoffs. That should include examining their roster and thinking who could be their X-factor for the postseason.
And there is definitely hope that most of the roster will return — knowing president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman likes to operate and even judging off what he has said since the season ended, it might be safe to bet many of the changes this offseason will be more cosmetic rather than seismic.
The Magic are not in the playoffs though. But now more than ever the team needs to be thinking about and planning for what they will need to do to not only make the playoffs and succeed in it.
Obviously, that starts with the internal growth of their key players like Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. But every good playoff team needs a secondary player or role player who can step up. They need someone who can give them a matchup advantage or make defenses pay for putting too much attention on the star players.
As Shaquille O’Neal always puts it on the TNT broadcasts, every team needs its “others” and someone to step up in the postseason.
Now that the Magic are putting their focus on the postseason and making that a clear goal and expectation for this team, the Magic should be thinking about which players are built for the postseason. Who will be their X-factor when the time comes?
Orlando is certainly still in a position to develop players. But as the team looks to its future, it needs to be assessing which of their players will step up when the time is called for.
As a pure exercise then, it is good think of who would be the Magic’s x-factors in a playoff series from their current roster. We certainly have a few ideas.