The Orlando Magic, one of the most exciting teams that no one is talking about, had their Media Day on Monday. Here are three takeaways from the day.
The Orlando Magic are ready for their close-up. This was made evident by an entertaining Media Day this past Monday where members of the team and their personnel stepped in front of the cameras and discussed the upcoming 2018-19 season.
After Media Day, second-year forward Jonathan Isaac posted an Instagram picture of the entire team and captioned it:
"“US and WE!!! Magic Media Day in the books!! We are laser focused on having a great start to training camp, which will propel us into am amazing season more memorable than it just being the organizations 30th! We as an entire organization from the Devos family to the sweet people who clean up after us are WAR ready!!! Thank you fans and supporters!!”"
According to members of the media present, there was a certain confident buzz in the Amway Center. One that, according to NBA.com Magic writer John Denton, hasn’t been felt in a long time. Many members of the team remarked to Denton about how this team has become tight-knit this offseason and have all been working hard.
Starting point guard D.J. Augustin elaborated on this saying:
"“A lot of the time you don’t see the full team show up until a week or two before training camp starts, but we’ve had guys here since August working hard every day and doing things together on and off the court.”"
This kind of commitment to self-improvement and overall team improvement as well has got to be encouraging to Magic fans for the upcoming season.
The Magic have talent, both young and old, and have a cast of characters. With center Mohamed Bamba being the eponymous name in rapper Sheck Wes’ hit song “Mo Bamba,” shooting guard Evan Fournier clowning LeBron James’ hairline on Twitter during Media Day, Isaac being outspoken on his faith on social media and Terrence Ross being an active social media workout poster, this is a team that likes to both have fun but also genuinely seems to like being with each other.
The is not the same Magic team that fans have become accustomed this decade. This is a team that seems to have a renewed sense of focus, possess new and old talent on both sides of the ball and wants to build an identity moving forward.
Let’s look at three takeaways from the Orlando Magic’s 2018-19 Media Day.