The Orlando Magic’s Summer League run is over and the depths of the offseason is in front of us.
That means we get nearly three months of hype for the upcoming season. That alone usually would be enough to tide us over and have us frothing at the mouth.
This offseason feels different. After a historic rookie season from Paolo Banchero and a strong finish to the season, there is this weird thing called hope deeply embedded in the Magic this offseason.
The Magic were the last team eliminated from postseason contention in the Eastern Conference last year and they are young with players who are good now and conceivably could be even better very quickly. Orlando indeed feels like a young team on the rise.
That does not mean the Magic are not a team without some major questions. Major questions.
The Orlando Magic are looking ahead to a much-anticipated 2024 season where there will be a lot of growth. And a lot of questions for this young team to answer.
The team’s young roster is loaded with players who still have a long way to go to get better. And the team is going to have to start making decisions on several of them soon. This is a loaded roster where everyone indeed is going to have to earn their spot in this year’s rotation and beyond.
This is a season to discover who fits and what the team needs to win at a higher level. Orlando hopes playing “better basketball” and “leveling up” once again will result in a postseason berth. That is the natural byproduct of the team’s internal development. But this season is about figuring out what works and what does not and who stays and who goes.
It is going to be a high-pressure season even the Magic organizationally are trying to limit the pressure they are putting on their young team.
There is a lot to get to and a lot of it will play out on the court once the team gathers again in October. All we can do is sit and think about the problems the season will present.
That is precisely what we did. Wednesday evening I did a live mailbag episode for Locked On Magic and answered some of the pressing questions you surely have about the Magic and the upcoming season.
The questions were solid. And a lot of them deserve a lot more attention and more detailed answers than I could give off the top of my head without preparation. So that is what I am going to do here.
You can watch the episode above and get all the answers — and those answers are good, if not a bit rambling. But I wanted to dive into a bit more detail with a few of them here as we start outlining the big questions the Magic will face ahead of training camp and a whole lot more.
This is going to be a fun season with a lot of growth ahead. And Magic fans should be very excited about what is coming up for this team.