The empty feeling was already hitting as the Orlando Magic walked off the floor at Little Caesars Arena in May. A season that had featured so many emotions and so much frustration ended with a familiar thud.
For all the hope and optimism in the fall, they ended in the same place in the spring. They were exiting in the first round.
Nobody cared that they led 3-1 in this series. Nobody gave them a break for the players they were missing during the season or in this series.
The only thing that matters is the ledger in the standings. It is truly win or go home in this business.
And this team failed to achieve anything they wanted.
Their preseason goals were clear: Gain homecourt advantage, win a playoff series and threaten to reach the NBA Finals. They believed they had the players and tools to get there.
But they were back in the Play-In Tournament and having to fight an uphill climb to advance deeper in the Playoffs. The Magic left plenty on the court.
It has left the team eager for next season. Orlando is trying to look ahead and move forward. It is a new season and a fresh start.
They want that chance to make good on that lost potential. They want some redemption.
But the Magic have had to sit with frustration all offseason. They are clearly stewing in it. And they want it to be their fuel for next season.
"This last year was probably the one that hurt the most, being up 3-1 and losing in Game 7 and feeling like we had a real shot," Banchero said on The Stephen A. Smith Show. "Franz going down hurt us. Just telling everybody that we can't be satisfied. Losing in the first round, that can't be the standard. That's not good enough.
"With everyone, that was already understood. Me, myself and some of the guys on the team have had a lot of conversations over the summer. You can tell it's a different type of mentality and a different level of focus. I think everybody is ready to take that next step."
The frustration of the season stung. Not merely because it was born from a truly embarrassing defeat in Game 6, where the team put up an NBA-worst offensive showing in the second half with a chance to clinch the series. Nor the injuries that prevented the team from fully realizing its potential.
The last step appears to be the hardest. And that is the step the team is hungry to take. They are already plotting.
Redemption from last season
The first way to move forward is to understand what happened last season.
The Orlando Magic entered the season with lofty expectations after a second playoff trip and the acquisition of Desmond Bane. Many viewed the Magic as a team that could threaten to win the Eastern Conference or reach the conference finals.
The Orlando Magic showed hints of that in the Playoff series when they took a 3-1 series lead over the 60-win Detroit Pistons.
But that series fell apart much the same way the entire season fell apart. Franz Wagner's injury took a big part of the team's versatility away, and the Magic could not recover in time.
Paolo Banchero said the team must take responsibility for that failure, even if the axe fell on Jamahl Mosley. It has to be something that lingers with the team.
President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has echoed this. The end of the season left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
Banchero's only public comments since the season ended, before his interview this weekend, challenged himself and his teammates not to be satisfied with almost advancing. There is a clear hunger to take the next steps.
The question is whether the team will.
What the future will require
The early odds for the Eastern Conference have the Orlando Magic back in the Play-In Tournament.
There are not many media outlets that are willing to go out on a ledge to predict the Magic as a surprise Eastern Conference finalist as they were last year. The Magic are often considered a peripheral threat in a crowded Eastern Conference now.
Still, the team's stated goals have not changed.
Paolo Banchero took the stage at Fanatics Fest in New York last weekend for The Stephen A. Smith Show and said the goal remains to get homecourt advantage and advance deep into the Playoffs.
Belief within the franchise and the team has not wavered.
But something needs to change. The team needs new results.
The Magic opted to bring back much of the same roster. Orlando's biggest change was hiring Sean Sweeney. The team's success will depend on whether he can find the right context and tactics to maximize this group and whether the team buys into this new direction.
The team's future will require that compete buy-in and commitment from everyone. It will require several young players taking a big step in their career -- starting with the two star players in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner leading the way.
It will take the team winning to fulfill that potential.
That is the secret too. The potential that everyone around the league saw in them last year did not go away. This is still the same group coming off a season where they underperformed. That must be a challenge to be better.
Banchero's challenge after Game 7 is still the challenge. No one should be satisfied with potential or Playoff cameos. This team must aspire to do more.
And then it must go out and achieve them.
This is a season of some measure of redemption after falling flat last year. This team has a lot to prove to itself and to the rest of the league.
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