There is a lot of frustration surrounding the Orlando Magic.
This was a team many predicted to coast to homecourt advantage in the Eastern Conference. This was a team many pegged to win 50 games. This is a team that should have had a strong foundation to build on after their big move in the offseason.
Things have clearly not gone according to plan.
And the Magic are still looking for answers. They are still trying to find their way.
Moe Wagner revealed on his podcast last week that the Magic have had several meetings, both with and without coaches and with small groups and the whole group, trying to find a way out of this malaise that has plagued the team all season long.
Nothing feels right and nothing seems to be getting fixed.
"The group is so great, the guys are all so close," Wagner said (translated by YouTube). "We have great chemistry, we do a lot off the court. So much fits together, and the talent level is also very high. So there's definitely a belief that we can really achieve something in the Eastern Conference compared to the other teams. But somehow we can't seem to turn the tide."
On the podcast, Wagner painted the picture of a team that is genuinely close and is striving for great things this year, but cannot figure out the malaise that has taken over the team.
Wagner said the fact that the team is so close makes things even more frustrating. Following the loss to the Charlotte Hornets two weeks ago, Wagner told reporters in the locker room that this was probably the lowest the team had felt since he joined the team.
The team has struggled to make anything stick.
A frustrated team
The best way to describe this team is not fractured or working against each other, it is frustrated.
The Orlando Magic are literally the most average team in the league, sitting a game above .500 and 16th in defensive rating and 20th in offensive rating. This team is about as average as can be.
Orlando enters Wednesday's game sitting in eighth (in a virtual tie for seventh) and 3.5 games back of sixth. Like last year, injuries have put the team in a hole, and the Magic have watched other teams get themselves together while they struggle to find stability and consistency.
Of course, nobody is striving to be average. And nobody expected this team to be average and struggling to stay above water. The Magic simply did not look ready for primetime or for the pressures of expectations.
Even 49 games into the season, the Magic are still figuring things out. And still looking for answers.
There is little evidence that this team can put those pieces together long enough to make a dent. Even the hope of getting healthy does not seem to be enough to get the team back on track.
It has been a season of one step forward and one step back, only to stand in the same spot. That probably explains their .500 record.
Fighting the noise
There remains a lot of noise surrounding the team. Noise that only gets louder with each loss.
While fans continue to debate and rage over the direction this team is going -- with questions centering especially on coach Jamahl Mosley and his impact on the team both schematically and as a motivator -- the team is seemingly trying to find answers internally.
That was at least part of the tension for the last few weeks.
That is what happens when teams fail to meet expectations and make the loud and splashy moves they made in the offseason. The Orlando Magic invited the pressure and have failed to live up to the expectations.
But like last year, Orlando still has the chance to rally. The team has not hit the extreme lows of last year. But everyone is waiting for this team to figure out all the pieces.
The Magic have the seventh-easiest schedule remaining in the league according to opponent win percentage. Of the teams the Orlando Magic are chasing, only the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat have easier remaining schedule.
Every single one of Mosley's teams have outperformed their overall record after the All-Star Break. They went 14-12 after the break. That included the disappointing 1-6 homestand that seemed to sink the season. The Magic rallied after that bitter disappointment to finish 12-6 to earn the 7-seed.
That team is in there somewhere. Maybe health and Franz Wagner's return will fix some of these issues.
But that will take action and not merely words. Even if the Magic finish the season on a 50-win pace, that would leave them at 20-13 and with 45 wins. That is likely a 7-seed and another trip to the Play-In.
The time is now to make these changes and make that push up the standings.
Increasing the urgency
Nobody can seemingly put their finger on the team's struggles, even with all the meetings and discussions to figure it out. It will take some clarity on the court. One that has not come despite what seems like everyone's good intentions.
Nobody is going to feel sorry for the Orlando Magic. This is still a results-based business. The Magic still have to find a way to win. And in this Eastern Conference, maybe it is better late than never.
Despite all the costs of adding Desmond Bane and the hopes of growth from young players, the Magic seem to be stuck in neutral.
That adds to the frustration.
There is still some time to fix things. The team needs to find an urgency it has frustratingly lacked in the last few months to realize their potential.
Regardless of how the season ends, the Magic will have to ask themselves bigger questions to find out why things went so wrong this season. And that might necessitate change and bigger questions in the offseason -- if not sooner, even after the deadline.
Ending this frustration should have started already. But it continues with this four-game homestand, all against teams at the bottom of the standings. The Magic need to fight their way out. That is the only way they will ease that frustration and find themselves.
Then again, this deep into the season, the team might be who it is and there is no answer to these frustrations other than to reset and change in the offseason.