Throughout the offseason and even the day after the Orlando Magic's season ended in Cleveland last year, the Magic talked about one thing being important to their next steps.
In a seven-game series where the home team won every game and they could feel the energy and lift they got from the home crowd at Kia Center, homecourt advantage was a simple and clear step up for them to take as a team. It is measurable progress if the goal is to advance even just a little bit further year after year.
To get there though took some reflection and realization. To get that homecourt advantage was a narrow margin—a one- or two-game difference from where they were last year.
Players pointed to the down period they had in January when they dropped games while dealing with injuries. More recently they focused on the three-game losing streak in the final week of the season that put their playoff spot in jeopardy on the final day of the season.
That was last season though. The question for the Magic is not looking back at what they learned from a breakthrough 2024 season. Now it is about asking what the Magic will do about it and how they will take in all of those lessons for their next season.
The Magic enter their 2025 season with soaring ambitions to be among the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Jonathan Isaac said the experience of going to the playoffs was a great one. But the defeat still left a bitter taste in their mouths. This is a team hungry to do more.
To get there, they are approaching training camp a little differently.
This is a team with more intention of what they want to do and perhaps a more mature approach to how to do it. Experience is the greatest teacher and the Magic know their experience will push them to be better and more focused this season.
"Obviously we don't want to be the same as we were last year," Paolo Banchero said at Media Day on Monday. "We want to improve in all areas and build on what we did last year. If we got knocked out in the first round again, nobody would be calling that a success I would think. We want to get further than that. We know it's going to be one game at a time, one night at a time. We aren't winning any playoff games in November and December. Taking it one step at a time is going to be the key for us."
How exactly that will translate this season is the ultimate question.
Magic are putting in the work early to find results in May
The Orlando Magic are hoping that focusing on the day-to-day work and being more intentional in their preparation will relieve the slip-ups and down moments they did not even know they needed to avoid.
Certainly part of the goal for the Magic last season was to gain experience so they would know how to handle the ups and downs of winning during a season.
These were all experiences and all things they had to go through. They could only see how close they were and how much more work they needed to do by experiencing those frustrations and ultimately coming up short.
It might seem obvious, but the team can now look back at its 2024 season and understand where the season tripped them up and where they need to be more focused and attentive. They can now see where their attention might have slipped and it cost them. They can now know how to spot it and get back to attention.
They have a better sense now of how the whole picture comes together. And that gives them focus to be sharper in camp.
"I think the cliche answer is you learn the value of a possession," president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said at Media Day on Monday. "I think that a lot of the stuff we need to do to get better as a team is stuff that is more associated with veteran players. We need to turn the ball over less, we need to foul less. We need to recognize windows in games.
"I think the beauty of the playoffs is it compresses all of that and it crystallizes it. And then the way we lost I know is something that our guys thought about every single day this summer. It's going to make them hungry and give them a greater awareness."
The edges for the Magic are a bit sharper it seems. The focus a bit keener. The team now has the road map of preparation to get back to the playoffs, now the group wants to refine that approach to net results.
They do have to show more maturity on the court. Orlando finished last year 26th in turnover rate at 15.0 percent. The Magic gave up a 26.4 percent free throw rate, 24th in the league. The Magic made a lot of young team mistakes that typically dock a team several seed lines or prevent them from making the playoffs.
If the Magic want to hold homecourt advantage in the playoffs next year, they will have to have more poise on the court.
The repeated word around training camp was one of urgency. The Magic need to understand that every minute on the court is a chance to get better and more refined.
But that is work that excites this young team.
"I think it's more intentional. This is the most excited I have been for a basketball season in a long time," Jalen Suggs said at Media Day on Monday. "The energy this year is different. So much fun and excitement still. So much laughter and joy, that will never change with the people that we have here. But the intention and competitiveness, being in the playoffs and being close and seeing how invested the city was in us was huge. And then losing was huge. It sounds negative but you have to learn from those things, understanding negatives and losses are part of life and growth."
Orlando Magic are more serious, but maintain a joyous identity
The team has this experience now. Jeff Weltman said it will show up, they just do not know how yet. These are young players still learning themselves and their way. They needed these key lessons.
That is what they will be looking to focus in and refine through training camp.
Ultimately, success is about raising the level of play and intensity of training camp, doing the work early so that it becomes second nature not only by the time the games begin but by the time they get to March and April.
The Orlando Magic are putting this experience into action more now. They are looking to push themselves forward.
The team has to grow up and mature. They have to be a bit more serious with their approach and their work. They have to make the most of their time together.
But it is important too that they not lose sight of their identity and what made their team special last year. As Jamahl Mosley put it, they cannot lose the joy of playing basketball.
"We said from day one, what we do is we're going to play defense," coach Jamahl Mosley said during Media Day on Monday. "Secondly, are we doing it with the amount of attention to detail? And the third part is are you doing it with a level of joy and fun? Yes, we understand the wins and losses come. But we have to enjoy the game together as this group has continued to do."
This is still a young team, after all. There are still a lot of things for this team to learn. And even though the expectations have raised this year, they are still looking to develop and grow individually and as a team.
Orlando is more serious about what it can accomplish this year. The team is more confident in what they can do and eager to continue growing a trajectory that takes them closer to a championship.
Still, the most important thing the Magic can learn is that getting there is a detail-oriented, daily process. It is something that begins even before training camp begins—with the workouts the team conducted as a group whether they were in Colorado in July or Los Angeles a few weeks ago. It is something that carries over into training camp as the team tries to rebuild what made it successful last year.
It continues as they establish their defense and try to expand their offense this year. It has to keep working and keep building as the season begins.
And finally, all that work and focus pays off in the playoffs as the reward at the end of the season.
There is a long way to go and a lot of days to stack before the team gets there. But they all have their eyes on that return and that moment now.
"I think that playoff experience was super valuable for everyone on the team," Franz Wagner said after Media Day on Monday. "It was the first time for a lot of us. I'm sure everybody is super motivated to get back to it. I think those games in January and February have a lot more meaning.
"It's one more year under everyone's belt. A lot of guys that we had are really mature and have the right mindset coming in. I think that will be really important for us going forward."
Now that they know how to get there, they are eager to walk that path to get there again. Doing so will take a different kind of focus than they had last year.
The Magic will have to be a more mature and intentional team.