Jamahl Mosley discusses new challenge ahead of Orlando Magic's season

The Orlando Magic are team with expectations for the first time.

The team's trip to the 2024 Playoffs did not feel like a coronation or the cap of a long process. It truly felt like the start of a long Playoff run. That is how everyone talked about the season in its aftermath after the Game 7 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There was undoubtedly disappointment in defeat, but the talk during exit interviews was optimism for the team's future. There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the team's future at this point.

The message throughout exit interviews the day after the season focused on the things the team learned throughout the course of the season. And the hunger to get back to the playoffs.

Two months later, it still feels like the Magic feel that hunger. It still feels like the Magic are eager to get back to work and build on their season.

In many ways, the Magic's 2024 season was exactly what they needed to get to this point. Getting that experience of being in the playoff race and going through the Playoffs was vital to their growth. It is the thing they feel will help them prepare to do it again.

As Jamahl Mosley put it on an appearance on The Jim Rome Show earlier this week, the offseason has been building off the experience the team gained last year.

"I just think it was growth. It was experience that was needed from each one of our guys," Mosley said. "You can talk about it throughout the year about what the playoffs look like, how you need to play, why a game in January on a random Tuesday matters. Our ability to register and recognize those things as the year finished off. Now, as we move forward, the expectation rises, our guys understand what they need to do, how they need to play and how together we need to be and how need to push each other."

This was something many of the players echoed the day after the season ended in May.

Many of them spoke about the lessons of trying to get homecourt advantage after playing a playoff series where the home team won all seven games. They all spoke about understanding now how critical those losses in January when the team was battling injuries and illness played a factor in the outcome of their season.

There was a resolve then to take each game more seriously to ensure they position themselves better in the playoffs. There is an absolute confidence they will return to the postseason next year.

At the very least, the Magic's 2024 season changed their perspective on what they were capable of doing. It opened the doors to the anticipation for the upcoming season and how the team will grow.

The team is not sneaking up on anybody this time around, if they even did last year.

The Magic did some work in the offseason to try to add to the team, bringing in veteran guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and drafting senior forward Tristan Da Silva, who has impressed during Summer League.

Many analysts believe the Magic quietly won the offseason with the addition of Caldwell-Pope, praising it as a measured move that improved the team's shooting and brought in a player with championship experience. Orlando may have been more conservative this offseason, but the team knows it brought in an impact player and maintained its culture and chemistry.

"[Caldwell-Pope is] a guy who said he's willing to sacrifice wherever he is to win basketball games," Mosley said on The Jim Rome Show this week. "He's won two championships. And he's done it by being exactly who he is every time he steps on the floor: A lockdown defender, a guy who is going to take and make open shots and willing to do all the little things on the floor to help you get wins.

"With our team, that's what we are continuing to prove and show that guys are willing to step into whatever role they are asked to be in to help the group win. That's who he is. It's not a big deal that it is not getting the fanfare of the other signings. It's important that we just keep our head down and work. That's the type of guy we sign and bring on."

Orlando felt like it brought in players who will fit into what the team is already building and will build upon that. That is already clearly becoming the message for this team. The team is hoping to build on their success from last year.

But they know it will take work to do so. They have to apply the lessons from their 2024 breakthrough to get there. The Magic should have all the tools to do so.

The biggest question is whether this young team can live up to the expectations -- both internal and external -- and build on their season last year.

It is absolutely a new challenge for this team and its coach. The Magic have a lot of work ahead of them to meet this challenge.

But that is the nature of growth and the NBA. It is a league of constant evolution. And this Magic team is trying to evolve again.