The Orlando Magic are 6-5 through their first 11 games. That is not something they have been very often.
In fact, Orlando has never been under .500 at any point so far this season. That has not happened with this team through 11 games since the COVID-shortened 2021 season (we all know how that one ended) and has not happened before that since 2017 (and we all know how that season ended).
That is to say, there is a lot of basketball left to be played.
As coach Jamahl Mosley put it before the Magic’s home game against the Los Angeles Lakers a few weeks ago, he does not really look at the stats until around game 20. Until then, it is about trends and where things are trending in the right or wrong direction — thus the lack of panic after the disappointing loss to the Brooklyn Nets as that was an extreme outlier for the Orlando Magic’s defense.
We will take a step back and do a review of where the team is sitting then around game 20 and the quarter mark of the season — the quarter mark of the season will come during the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals or the fill-in game scheduled for that week in early December.
The Orlando Magic have shown plenty of promise through the first 11 games this season. But there is clearly still much for the team to work on and improve upon.
But the 10-game mark is a good place to take at least a little pause and think about what we have seen so far. What things are trending in the right direction and what things are not?
That is the big question surrounding this team.
By record, the Magic have put themselves squarely in the race at 6-5. That is all the team could ask for with a road-trip heavy start to the season. We knew the Magic’s first quarter of the season would be difficult. And so Orlando has done well.
The team has done well too with a clear identity with its defense. There are still plenty of concerns to sort through too though.
At this point, this is just a temperature check for this team. Like we did after the preseason, these are merely numbers to be encouraged by and see the team continue to build on and three numbers to be concerned with moving forward.