The Orlando Magic will need all of the Christmas help they can get to continue pushing for the playoffs this season.
Christmas is the time of the year to share gifts with one another and feel thankful for what you’ve got in your life. For the Orlando Magic, while they may not be the disaster from earlier in the decade, the 2019-20 season so far has been a stop-start one.
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Last season’s run to the playoffs and subsequently bringing their entire team back while also adding Al-Farouq Aminu to a young core, created real optimism around the franchise. At 13-17, it hasn’t been a continuation of last year’s efforts, but it also hasn’t been as bad as some fans would have you believe on Twitter after any of their losses.
This is still a young team, one which is growing and has already dealt with an injury to All-Star center Nikola Vucevic. Aminu, who really hadn’t gotten going in Orlando either, was also sidelined for an indefinite period of time with a torn meniscus. He won’t be helping out until around the February exhibition game either.
So despite the continuity in place, all of the players and pieces haven’t had a real chance to get a run of games together to figure out what they can. Which is why Christmas has come at the right time for them. It is a period where they can take stock of what’s gone wrong, while also being happy for the positives that have occurred so far this season.
With the Magic not playing again until Friday, they will also get the chance to enjoy a few days at home with family. That may end up being the best gift of all, but the following are three important presents the organization will be hoping to find under their Christmas tree for the rest of the season.