Orlando Magic: Hurry Up All-Star Weekend!
By Luke Duffy
The NBA’s annual All-Star Weekend is many things for many people. Some like it, the exhibition game having precious defence on show (until the fourth quarter) but plenty of highlight reel dunks and plays. Others enjoy seeing the best players in the world come together for one night to put on a show. A Stephen Curry pass to Blake Griffin for the vicious slam? You got it!
Others aren’t so into it, they see the event as a distraction from the actual meaningful games that take place. Almost all agree that once it’s over though, the road to the playoffs truly begins. For the Orlando Magic though, they’ll be wishing All-Star weekend began tomorrow, and lasted about a month.
Orlando has lost eight of it’s last 10 games, and has taken a lot of the positive vibes surrounding this young team with it. Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic, Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, all young players with plenty of upside. But losing grinds the players and fans down, you can only sell the vision of the future for so long.
Strangely enough, the two wins in this stretch came against the Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets, a somewhat encouraging sign that this team can compete on a given night.
Other than that though, it’s been pretty tough to watch. Orlando can play well for whole quarters, yet more often than not they’re on the losing side. This is a classic example of a team in transition, and those wins will come in time.
For now though, it would be great for the All-Star weekend to show up, because it would give this team some much needed respite and a boost in a number of areas. On one hand, the Magic won’t have many players participating in the events, and while there will be some media obligations, they will at least get a little bit of time to regroup.
What could be better for this team than getting off the court, taking a few days break and coming back for the remainder of the season energized? There’s little to play for now anyway, so at least playing with smiles on their faces and a renewed optimism would be nice to see.
Also setting realistic goals for what to try and accomplish for the rest of the campaign (Something we’ll return to at a later date) and then going out and achieving these goals would be a nice boost heading into the summer.
One thing that would be even better though, although unlikely to happen, would be seeing Vucevic in the All-Star game itself. Despite being a popularity contest in terms of the starters on each team, the reserves that the coaches pick are usually spot on.
If the Magic could get a player in, it would be some sort of small vindication that what they are building has an end product and it’s not a million miles away. You would think this is all pretty small and insignificant stuff in the grand scheme of things, and in some ways it is. But this team needs to get off the court and regroup, and the All-Star game is the perfect opportunity to do this.
In keeping with the Vucevic theme, having Oladipo take part in the slam dunk contest will be nice as well. It gives Magic fans added reason to tune in and watch one of their own perform. That Oladipo is extremely athletic and likely to impress as well will be a nice boost for the organization.
The lineup for the contest itself has been criticized by many since its reveal, but looking at it from another angle, it’s a chance for the players on show to make names for themselves and their teams. To the casual fan, the Orlando Magic don’t register, but Oladipo (and hopefully Vucevic) could change that in a few week’s time and bring some good vibes back to the AmWay Center.
Personally I’ve always enjoyed the All-Star weekend, as it’s a showcase of all that is good (offensively) about basketball and a chance to see players from the better teams play together and make you think what if.
Mostly though, it means that the serious stuff is starting, and that exciting feeling of trying to make a push for the playoffs or seeding is something the Orlando Magic haven’t had in a little while now. In some ways it’s sad too, to think that this team needs this break so badly because they’re really struggling on the court at the moment.
You know what’s even worse? One time head coach Stan Van Gundy is leading a renaissance over in Detroit as well, as if to rub in Magic fan’s faces that they’re stuck with Jacque Vaughn. That might be an issue for another day (and a thorny one at that), but it just compounds the rough time this team is currently having. Is it Feb. 13 yet?