Everyone has had a few weeks to digest the NBA's schedule.
It is the little oasis in the NBA's offseason desert, giving fans something to glom onto when there is little basketball to discuss. It makes the upcoming season feel real.
Schedules still vary widely. Some teams play more back-to-backs than others. Some are located in places that make it easier to travel. Some teams get longer homestands for that reason, but they also get longer road trips.
How the games are composed and when teams play each other are different across teams. Some teams get a string of supposedly tougher teams in a row or easier teams. And who knows who will be healthy and what breaks might develop during the season.
It is hard to know in September who has an advantage.
But the schedule is mostly the same. You play the teams in the other conference twice, eliminating any differences there. You play every team in your division four times -- sometimes that is a disadvantage. It is hard to complain too much about the balance in the NBA schedule.
In coming up with the 82-game schedule, there is one difference across teams. Within your conference, you play a certain number of teams only three times. And who you end up playing three times could prove to be huge -- or who gets added to the schedule at the end of the NBA Cup matters.
Three games against a team at the top of the standings are an advantage. Three games against a tanking team are one fewer win against an easier opponent. Especially when the East is expected to be this tight.
Who those teams are can matter at the end of the season -- even if predicting which teams will be consequential is difficult to do in late August and early September.
The three-time opponents
Sitting at this point, it is easy to see that the Orlando Magic may have a more difficult road because of the teams they only play three times.
The teams they will play only three times are the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers.
That means the Magic will get three games against two of the teams expected not to be in the running to make the Playoffs, losing out on a home game with the Nets and Bulls. That is a major disadvantage if the other competitors get them four times.
Unless Orlando gets them added to their schedule as a NBA Cup makeup game, those are chances at a win the team will not get back.
But Orlando also lucks out, missing out on the two conference finalists from last year in the Cavs and Knicks, getting two home games against both, and the top-seeded Pistons and contending favorite Sixers only three times too. Again, maybe those games get added back after the NBA Cup group play.
That is at least a little bit of an advantage for the Magic.
Still, the Magic get fewer cracks at teams that at least on paper are not considered a playoff team.
The Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls are widely considered the three worst teams in the East. Who they play only three times are at a disadvantage. But that too runs the gamut.
The Milwaukee Bucks will play the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors only three times.
The Brooklyn Nets play the Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards only three times.
The Chicago Bulls play the Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors only three times.
That puts the Hornets, Magic and Raptors at a disadvantage with only six games against two of these supposedly weaker opponents. That is a deficit the Magic will need to overcome.
It helps not getting a full complement with the Knicks and Pistons -- standby for those NBA Cup quarterfinals or replacement games which will potentially add one of these weaker teams back onto the schedule -- but the Magic have a bit of an uphill climb compared to their competitors, it would seem.
The travel schedule
The other piece is that the Orlando Magic typically travel among the most miles in the league.
That is a function of geography as much as anything. Orlando is in the southeast corner of the map and there are no teams in supe close proximity -- it is a roughly 45 minute flight to Miami and a little more than an hour to Atlanta.
Last year, the Magic traveled the most miles in the league, but the jaunt to Europe contributed much of those miles. So too did the surprise trip to Las Vegas in December, followed by a return home and then a return to Denver for a West Coast trip.
Travel this year is not as much of an issue.
The Magic are slated to travel 43,327 miles this season, putting them 17th in the league. They are usually a team in the top 10 in the league. There is some relief there.
Do not celebrate too quickly, that is still the second-most in the Eastern Conference. The Miami Heat take the crown for the most miles traveled -- excluding the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs, who take Europe trips this year -- with 49,540 miles.
Everyone will be happy not to see an overnight jaunt to New York or Brooklyn. And the Magic get some relief.
But they still face a lot of back-to-backs and will not have a lot of rest advantage games.
Orlando is sitting at the average for back-to-backs this year with 14 this season (the league average is 14.2 per team). Orlando has four home-to-home back-to-backs, easing the travel strain. The Magic will have four home-to-away back-to-backs, but none of them are egregious -- Jan. 8 at New Orleans, Jan. 25 at Charlotte, Jan. 29 at Houston and March 10 at Miami.
The Magic will play 11 games with a rest disadvantage, the ninth-most in the league. They will play eight games with a rest advantage, the sixth-fewest.
There is still a lot that is daunting about this schedule. As there is every year with the schedule.
Orlando will indeed have its work cut out for it.
Ultimately, the Magic need to take care of their own schedule. They need to win the games. And everything else will fall into place.
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