Orlando Magic: Taking October

The Orlando Magic head into this season off the back of four terrible years. Here’s why winning in October is so important to their growth.

Now that the elongated NBA preseason has come to an end, attention can turn to the real basketball.

For the Orlando Magic, they enter this regular season as one of the more puzzling teams to determine how good they can be.

The preseason is not a precursor for success, and it’s just as well as this team went 2-5 during that period.

They did a lot of things wrong, while also excelling in some areas as well. Now that the games have meaning however, winning all of their contests in October has to be a high priority.

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This may sound strange, but the Magic have three games in the month of October to begin their season.

They come at home to the Miami Heat, followed by two away games against the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers.

On paper, two of those games look winnable. The third, against the Cavaliers, should be used as an early “nothing to lose” game where head coach Frank Vogel can get a little creative.

What would starting the season 3-0 mean? Nothing if the team went on to lose their next three games.

But from a morale standpoint, this would be a great way to start a new season in which there are only six players on the roster who were there last year as well.

Since Dwight Howard left the team in 2012, the Magic have gone through an awful four-year stretch.

They have won 20, 23, 25 and 35 games during that time, but their bottom feeder status has unfortunately never yielded them a star player through the draft.

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Their highest pick during that period, Victor Oladipo, was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder this summer.

They’re going to be better this coming season, but it isn’t that hard when the case could be made that the Magic have been the worst team in the entire league since 2012.

Every other rebuilding team has either been worse but has now gotten the young players to show for it (Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers), has accepted that they’re bad and are building for the long term (Brooklyn Nets) or have a star player to play with (Sacramento Kings).

The Magic have cobbled together a strange blend of talent, and have allowed the likes of Oladipo and Tobias Harris to leave before either could really fulfill their potential.

Which is what makes this season, and starting well, so important. Serge Ibaka was the big summer acquisition who instills hope. But he is an unrestricted free agent next season.

Letting this season get away from them before it has even begun would not be an ideal way to show Ibaka that they will mean business in the coming years.

At only 27 years of age, he is now in theory entering his prime. This despite him coming off two seasons where his numbers have continued to tumble.

That opening night game against the Heat is also big for another reason, as a win here would represent a power shift between Florida’s two teams.

Only two times since the creation of the Orlando Magic have they been a better and more appealing team than the Heat.

These two instances were when the Magic paired Shaquille O’Neal with Penny Hardaway, and when Dwight Howard led them to their lone finals appearance in 2009.

Even during some of the periods when the Magic and Heat had similar rosters, players like Dwyane Wade, Alonzo Mourning and ironically O’Neal kept the balance of power in the Heat’s favor.

They’ve got the three championships and the third longest win streak in league history (27 games) to show for that.

All of that is without even considering LeBron James won two championships with the Heat and routinely battered the Magic when they crossed paths.

But with the future of Chris Bosh seemingly elsewhere, the departure of Wade and an inability to replenish the roster accordingly, the Magic have a chance to be the team in Florida this season.

That begins on opening night, and could be further solidified by going 3-0 through their first three games.

Since 2012, the Magic have posted the following records in the opening three games of the season: 2-1 (2012), 1-2 (2013), 0-3 (2014) and 0-3 (2015).

That 2-1 start in 2012 is partially explained by the fact they played their first two games at home against the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns.

In 2014, after that 0-3 start, the Magic never got to .500 again and there season was effectively done by Christmas Day (11-20).

Last year, they didn’t get back to .500 until mid-November. Jan. 18 was the last time they would keep their heads above water for the remainder of the season (they were 20-20 at the time).

So recent history would suggest that starting the season well would set them up nicely for the rest of the campaign.

This is especially true when you also take into account that the Magic’s schedule to start the year is among the easier in the league.

Of their first 18 games, seven come against teams who made the playoffs last season. Of those seven, the Heat, Dallas Mavericks and even Oklahoma City Thunder have shown little to no improvement.

So getting wins on the board early, before the longer trips out West that come at the turn of the calendar year.

Really then going 3-0 in October, while ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of things, should be the aim for this version of the Orlando Magic.

A win away to the Cleveland Cavaliers will be a big ask, but if they could start the season among the league’s best, the vibes around this team would be as optimistic as any in recent memory.

Their defensive cohesion is only going to improve as well, and the expectation is that they will close out tight games as the season progresses.

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In the meantime they have the chance to be the surprise package who starts the season flying, when nobody expects them to be. There’s plenty at stake, including being the top draw in Florida once more.