Could the Orlando Magic finally have a breakthrough season? Or will lack of experience hold them back? Let’s predict what could happen in 2018-19.
The Orlando Magic are a frustrating team to root for. Since the exit of franchise cornerstone Dwight Howard in 2012, this team has been a rudderless mess with more coaches than stars and horrendously bad leadership in the front office.
The Magic had their chances, however. Who can forget the 2015-16 season when their roster featured names like Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris, Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings and won 35 games? Yeah, the next year they were all gone and young guys like Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier were expected to pick up the pieces with new coach Frank Vogel. A combined 54 wins in two years and a new coach later, here they are again, basically back to square one.
That’s not to say the Magic haven’t tried. They got rid of a bad general manager in Rob Hennigan near the end of the 2017 season, drafted high potential guys like Jonathan Isaac and Mohamed Bamba, made moves for contributors like Jonathon Simmons, Terrence Ross and D.J. Augustin and haven’t given up on a rapidly improving Aaron Gordon, which is very un-Magic-like in recent years.
2018-19 brings new hope for the fans in Orlando. The Magic now have a budding star in Gordon, exciting young guys, the most length of any team in the NBA and bunch of scoring role players that dot their roster. This year could bring newfound success for Orlando. It has pieces in place to win games in a weakened Eastern Conference and with new head coach Steve Clifford, an identity is forming.
However, this team is still very inexperienced when it comes to winning. Even veterans like Fournier and Vucevic have never gotten out of the first round of the playoffs. A winning culture has been missing in Orlando now for an entire decade and it will take extended time to instill. Even with a successful season (maybe an eighth seed?), establishing this culture will take multiple years of winning more than 35-40 games.
Can the 2018-19 season begin a successful trend upwards for the Orlando Magic? Let’s look at five predictions for them this season.