It is often said that when the schedule comes out every year, every team is upset about something.
They may dislike a particular stretch of games with little or no practice time. Or they may dislike a swatch of road games with few home games to break it up. There is always something teams are upset about.
And often those misgivings even out in the end. Everybody gets 41 home games and 41 road games one way or the other (although there are now some regular season games in Las Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals).
There are rough spots and lighter spots on the schedule every year. And there is always the unforeseen—which teams exceed expectations, which teams fail to meet them and when do injuries hit?
The Magic have their share of difficult spots. They will start with 16 of their first 25 games on the road and 11 of their final 19 on the road. That will make getting off to a fast start difficult just as it might be difficult for the team to finish strong.
There are quirks in every schedule that make them unique to each team. It is not simply that you play every team virtually the same as your opponents. There are built-in advantages because of teams coming on the second night of back-to-backs or at the end of long road trips. There are even differences in the number of back-to-backs that teams get to play. There are teams you get to play four times and others three.
That is where it is hard to get a handle on the Magic's schedule though. Every team will have some part of the schedule they dislike.
But the Magic's schedule is both one of the most difficult and easiest in the league.
Huh?
Orlando has arguments to cry foul and to be pleased with how its schedule breaks down. That is probably something to say about the balance in life. And the balance of trying to piece together an 82-game schedule.
So how is this possible? That is an argument worth breaking down on both sides.