The FIBA World Cup is now in the rearview mirror. That puts the start of training camp and the NBA regular season clearly on the horizon.
The Orlando Magic will open their training camp with Media Day on Oct. 2 and the first practice on Oct. 3. That is a mere three weeks away.
The anticipation for this year’s season is palpable. The Magic finished last season strong and showed real hints that they can win consistently. Paolo Banchero set the players’ expectations pretty clearly when he accepted the Rookie of the Year Award: It’s playoffs or bust.
Management probably will not go that far. But “leveling up” one more time does lead to only one conclusion and place for this team to reach.
Thus the anticipation for what this team can accomplish and its potential to grow even further is only expanding as we get closer to training camp.
It will be a battle for the Magic to achieve their goal. They are not a shoo-in to reach the postseason just because they seemed to be on an upward trajectory last season.
Training camp is less than a month away for the Orlando Magic. Their schedule breaks down into several key stretches that could determine the year’s outcome.
Everything is going to have to come together right for this team to reach its potential and meet its objectives and expectations.
That is why the schedule is still pretty important. The Magic will be the first to tell you that they believe the only thing that kept them from reaching the postseason last year was their 5-20 start. That might have happened because of injuries at the guard spot as much as anything. But the team cannot afford to put themselves in that deep of a hole again.
The Magic will have to do a good job navigating the schedule this year to put themselves in a position to make the postseason. Especially considering how difficult the start of the schedule will be.
As we turn our attention toward training camp now, the best way to digest the journey ahead is to break the season into segements and find the most important stretches this season.
5 most important stretches of the Orlando Magic’s season
The Start (Oct. 25-Nov. 2)
Oct. 25: vs. Houston
Oct. 27: at Portland
Oct. 30: at Los Angeles Lakers
Oct. 31: at LA Clippers
Nov. 2: at Utah
Jalen Suggs said earlier this offseason he was “locked in” for the upcoming season. He said he and his teammates are eager to get the season started not merely because they have such high expectations for the year ahead and what they can all accomplish, but because they want to prove a lot of people wrong.
They flew in under the radar because of that 5-20 start and so Suggs said the team is focused on getting off to a good start. This team wants to set the pace this year rather than have to make up ground.
That is a strong goal and one that is necessary for a young team trying to build confidence.
The bad news is the schedule is going to be extremely tough for them to do so. Orlando will take the earliest West Coast trip in franchise history, heading on a four-game road trip after the opener at Amway Center against the Houston Rockets.
Perhaps worse still, the game against the Rockets will be no pushover with veterans Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks joining an eager Rockets team. And even the game against the Portland Trail Blazers to open the road trip on Oct. 27 will not be as friendly as it might be in March because Damian Lillard appears likely to still be in Portland.
Playing teams early in the season can be tougher because everyone has hope and belief in what they can do. Just because a team is projected to finish near the bottom of the standings does not mean they start that way.
Going out on the road — heading to Los Angeles for the back-to-back and then to Utah — is always tough. The Magic will have to band together quickly to pick up wins and get off to the start they want — not helping matters is that Orlando returns for a four-game homestand that includes a game in Mexico City interrupting the time at Amway Center.
Suggs, for his part, told The Sixth Man Show that he likes starting on the road like this. He thinks it will be good for the Magic to have to band together like this early if they want to achieve their goals.
Only time will tell. Either the Magic will have a solid and impressive start on the road or they will be trying to dig themselves out once again.
5 most important stretches of the Orlando Magic’s season
The In-Season Tournament (Nov. 14-Nov. 24)
Nov. 14: at Brooklyn (In-Season Tournament)
Nov. 15: at Chicago
Nov. 17: at Chicago (In-Season Tournament)
Nov. 19: at Indiana
Nov. 21: vs. Toronto (In-Season Tournament)
Nov. 22: vs. Denver
Nov. 24: vs. Boston (In-Season Tournament)
Nobody really knows how teams or players will react to the In-Season Tournament. This peculiar new thing that the league has invented to put some early spice into the season is still unknown.
On one hand, these games are baked into the middle of the regular season. A lot of teams will still be trying to figure themselves out and what they are about.
On the other hand, put a trophy in front of anyone in this league and they are going to get competitive and go for it. That is why the later rounds are likely to give the NBA exactly what they imagined when they pitched and executed this idea.
The early games? It just is not clear how much more serious these teams are going to take it. Especially contending teams.
It may come down to the first set of In-Season Tournament games will feel fairly normal. Then as the standings shake out and the stakes of the games become clearer, perhaps the intensity and focus for these games will increase.
A team like the Orlando Magic should take this kind of tournament seriously. Orlando’s players need pressure game situation practice for the postseason — let alone for what is likely to be a close race for the postseason in March and April.
The Magic will have a busier-than-most schedule for the In-Season Tournament weeks. They play seven games — the first four on the road and then three at home.
For me, this actually gives the Magic a perfect venue to practice some playoff focus and feel. The In-Season Tournament games are obviously the most important. But the Magic could easily treat these two weeks as a mini-seven-game series.
Win four of the seven and the team “wins” regardless of whether the Magic advance to the knockout round. Of course, that would be better to give the team some more intense game practice.
It is still unclear how any team, let alone the Magic, will treat these games. But there is the opportunity to get a test run for the postseason if the Magic want it.
And a Game 7 with the Boston Celtics on Black Friday would have a big-game feel with the time and date of the game along with the opponent and the potential stakes involved.
5 most important stretches of the Orlando Magic’s season
The Second Road Trip (Dec. 31-Jan. 5)
Dec. 31: at Phoenix
Jan. 2: at Golden State
Jan. 3: at Sacramento
Jan. 5: at Denver
The Orlando Magic typically take two extended West Coast trips during their season. They usually get them both done by early January (sometimes they have one in March if the Amway Center is hosting the NCAA Tournament as it did last year).
Trips out West are always difficult, regardless of the balance between the conferences. The Eastern Conference has gotten better and deeper, but the West is still really good. And really tough. Even the best teams in Magic history struggled on these road trips.
This second West Coast road trip is going to be extremely difficult for the Magic. There is no other way to cut it.
All four of these teams were among the top teams in the West last year and are projected to be among the top teams in the West again this year. And the Denver Nuggets, of course, are the defending champions.
Orlando got a win at Golden State last year with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson out for that game. The Magic had not won at any of these four locations before last January’s win over Golden State since a Feb. 2021 win over Sacramento.
The Magic have not won in Phoenix since November 2018 and have not won in Denver since December 2015. That was Nikola Jokic’s rookie year and he played 17 minutes off the bench in that particular game.
That should give you at least some idea of how rare Magic wins in each of these four locations are and how difficult it has been for the Magic to get wins on the West Coast like this.
It will really feel like the Magic are stealing a win if they can hold their own on this specific road trip. It could be essential too as the Magic round the midway point of the season while they are on this road trip.
The Magic also will need to keep their head above water. They return home from this trip with two home games before they embark again on a four-game East Coast road trip — at Miami, at Oklahoma City, at New York and at Atlanta.
5 most important stretches of the Orlando Magic’s season
The Long Homestand (March 17-April 1)
March 17: vs. Toronto
March 19: vs. Charlotte
March 21: vs. New Orleans
March 23: vs. Sacramento
March 27: vs. Golden State
March 29: vs. LA Clippers
March 30: vs. Memphis
April 1: vs. Portland
The Orlando Magic do have some extended homestands — a three-game stay at home here and there after the late November In-Season Tournament four-game homestand. But it really does feel like the Magic spend a lot of time on the road.
This is a difficult schedule. Every schedule is virtually the same as any other — every team has parts of their schedule they despise and are upset about. Every team still has to get over it and play their schedule. They have to find a way.
The schedule does balance out at some points. Everybody gets the parts of the schedule they like. And the Magic will get that at the end of March.
An eight-game homestand that could end up being decisive in their postseason chase.
Orlando according to some metrics has one of the 10 toughest schedules before the All-Star Break (admittedly, the bulk of the season) that includes most of their league-high 15 back-to-backs. Those same metrics say the Magic have one of the easiest schedules after the All-Star Break.
This homestand is a big reason why.
There are tough opponents, it is not going to be some cakewalk. But clearly, one of the things the Magic will have to do to make the postseason is to defend the Amway Center better. The team finished 20-21 at the Amway Center last year, thanks to fun roster decisions in the home finale against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the final game at home last season.
Orlando certainly should make it a goal to be a comfortably winning team on the home floor next season.
The Magic know how big a late-season homestand can be. Orlando used a perfect 5-0 homestand in the 2019 season heading into the final two games on the road to cement their place in the postseason. The Magic would clinch their first playoff berth in seven years one game later in Boston.
Orlando is hoping it will not desperately need a perfect 22-9 finish to make the playoffs like it did in that 2019 season.
But the Magic will have that cushion if they need it. And this homestand could be the kind of homestand that either cements the Magic’s postseason position, enables them to climb up the standings or could be the death knell if they do not take advantage of this stretch of games.
Orlando will have its work cut out for it to get to this moment of the season. It is a moment the Magic need to take advantage of.
5 most important stretches of the Orlando Magic’s season
A Rough Close (April 3-14)
April 3: at New Orleans
April 5: at Charlotte
April 7: vs. Chicago
April 9: at Houston
April 10: at Milwaukee
April 12: at Philadelphia
April 14: vs. Milwaukee
When there is a long homestand, there is another shoe that will always drop. A road trip is on the horizon.
And this is why performing well on the eight-game homestand is so critical.
Especially since we expect the chase for the Eastern Conference playoffs to be so tight. The Orlando Magic need every win they can get.
The Magic will close their season with five of their final seven games on the road. One of those home games could be a critical matchup with the Chicago Bulls — tiebreakers may matter, or they may not.
The season ends with the insane Houston-to-Milwaukee back-to-back. And a three-game finish with two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference in Milwaukee (twice) and Philadelphia.
Maybe that last game will not have meaning for the Bucks and could be a free game for the Magic to take if they need it. Still, the prospect of needing a win over the Bucks on the final day of the season feels a bit leery.
This should bring everything back full circle.
Orlando needs to be playing from ahead and hold the pole position for whatever postseason spot the team ends up with. It is going to be hard to make up ground in these final seven games, even with a manageable start to this segment of games.
The Magic’s road ahead is going to be a major challenge. There are not a lot of pockets for the Magic to get their feet under them. Not until the eight-game homestand. There are a lot of challenges.
It only feels like a challenge though because so much of the Magic is unproven. Orlando could easily be up for the challenge. The team may not have a choice if it wants to achieve its goals of reaching the postseason.
Orlando certainly hopes that by the time they reach the end of the season, they are playing at a high level and who they play matters less than how they themselves are playing.
That is what matters most for winning teams. You worry less about your opponents and worry more about the consistent way you play. That is the level the Magic are trying to reach.
This schedule will challenge them to level up in that way.