Orlando Magic quiet one of their biggest naysayers, gain respect around league

At media day last year, the Orlando Magic declared their postseason ambitions mostly to silence.

This was not a team in the national spotlight. Even with the reigning Rookie of the Year, there was not a lot of hype surrounding the Magic.

They got only one national TV game on their schedule—not coincidentally against the No. 2 pick in Paolo Banchero's draft who was getting considerably more hoopla.

The Magic were confident in what they could do. But the rest of the NBA was still catching up. This team had a lot to prove.

It was not surprising to see ESPN's predictive top 100 ranking exercise put both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner in the top 50. It was easy to see both of those players becoming impact players.

As these lists do, though, it caused plenty of controversy. A few people latched onto ranking the two young stars who had yet to go to the playoffs. None more than on-court (and now off-court) provocateur, Patrick Beverley.

Beverley criticized ESPN for ranking the Magic's star duo in the top 50 last year, shouting that to be a top 50 player, you must be in the playoffs. It was a challenge as much as it was a provocation.

Patrick Beverley even awkwardly continued this one-sided feud by sending his producer to an Orlando Magic press conference when the Philadelphia 76ers visited the Kia Center to ask a question directly about it to Wendell Carter Jr.

The predictions and the Magic's confidence proved to be right though.

Orlando won 47 games, made the playoffs and Paolo Banchero was an All-Star. As those top 100 lists have come out now, Wagner is comfortably in the top 50 and Bancher is in the top 30 if not the top 25 in almost every one of these lists.

Orlando has started to gain some respect. A year later, Beverley has flipped on his opinion about the Magic, speaking about their growth and the impact of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on last week’s episode of the Pat Bev Podcast.

Like many veterans, such as Boston Celtics legends Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and former Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem, they see the acquisition of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as something potentially transformative for this young team. He will give them a veteran and championship edge that this young team perhaps lacked last year.

Not to mention he adds the spacing and shooting the Magic need without taking the ball out of the key scorer and playmakers' hands.

But everything still comes back to the Magic's two stars. Caldwell-Pope is a player who enhances what they do and they enhance what he does.

Respect comes from heightened expectations

At the end of the day, the Orlando Magic will go as far as their young stars' development will take them.

And there have been plenty of questions and concerns about both Magic stars throughout the offseason—whether that be continued criticisms of Paolo Banchero's efficiency and questions about Franz Wagner's max contract. Even though the Magic accomplished a lot, there is still a lot more to do.

A part of that story though is getting recognition more often as a serious threat and contender.

Coach Jamahl Mosley said in the offseason the Magic would not be sneaking up on anyone this season after their breakthrough last year. That was a repeated message from Media Day too. The Magic are facing a new challenge with expectations.

"We're not going to be able to surprise anybody this year," Banchero said at Media Day. "I think within the league and within our peers, everyone is familiar with us and knows they can't sleepwalk into playing us. I think we'll have something where the teams below us last year are going to be trying to prove they are better than us and they should be up there with us. And I think the teams above us will be trying to prove we're not ready yet or not on their level yet. It's going to be fun for us and we'll have a lot of fun challenges this year."

That is something new for the Magic. Everybody expects the team to make the Playoffs again. And the team itself has a lot of ambition for what they can accomplish after last year.

Teams aren't going to be surprised about how difficult the Magic are to play.

Magic will gain respect from national TV appearances

Those who watch the league have plenty of respect for the Orlando Magic even if they are not involved in many of the national narratives.

Part of that is getting on national TV more. The Magic will have more of a spotlight on them with five games on traditional national TV, including the NBA Cup group play finale against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

There will be more eyes on the Magic this year. And more people outside the team and the NBA will know more about this team.

The spotlight is not fully on the Magic yet. But they will have a chance to make an impression in a way they did not last year before the playoffs.

"Those games make a difference whether you want to admit it or not," Banchero said at Media Day. "Those games get you out to the whole world. Those games are being streamed across the world. People turn on their TVs and see the Magic. I think it's going to surprise some people. Some people might say they haven't seen us on TV for a while. We'll have some pretty good games as well. We have some good opponents."

Orlando did a lot of work last year to change the perception about this team and get into those conversations.

Clearly they have changed a lot of minds. And there is also clearly more work to do for the Magic to be considered true contenders.