Orlando Magic: Revisiting the decade that was the 2010s
By Luke Duffy
The 2010s were a decade that was not kind to the Orlando Magic, but they did enough in the later stages to ensure that they can move forward positively.
As we say goodbye to the decade known as the 2010s, it will forever go down as a strange and mostly sad one for the Orlando Magic. They began it coming off of an NBA Finals appearance. One in which they lost in five games and went out in tepid style to the Los Angeles Lakers.
From there they continued to compete before Dwight Howard’s disaster of a forced trade to the Lakers in 2012 sent the organization into a tailspin. It took them a long time to pull themselves out of it, but by 2017 we were beginning to see the possibility of a new and exciting roster on the horizon.
The Magic came into it knowing who they were. Contenders who had to put as much talent around Howard as possible to win.
They leave it not with the same objective, but rather as a team looking to continue building on making the playoffs in 2018-19, all while improving the young talent that is currently on their roster. What came in between was testing, to say the least, both for those within the franchise and for fans looking at a below standard product.
In amongst the worst years though, there are still fond memories to look back on. Most of which are insignificant now and in the grand scheme of things. But a couple that helped to get the Magic to where they are now, back on the path to contention. This was their decade, and looking back as we are now it is amazing to think that all of this happened to only one organization.
2009-10
It truly does seem like a lifetime ago now, but 2009-10 was an amazing time to be a Magic fan. Looking back it is bittersweet however, as this version of the team perhaps should have gone on to do what they couldn’t the previous year, and win a championship.
Howard deservedly won the Defensive Player of the Year award for the second season in a row, with the team’s defensive rating of 103.3, the third-best in the league. Offensively however they were ahead of their time, and this, combined with the stacked and complete nature of their roster, is the reason that they maybe should have gone one to win it all.
They went 59-23 to clinch the second spot in the east. In April of that year, they became the team that had hit the most 3-pointers in league history to that point (841), surpassing the 837 of the Phoenix Suns in 2005-06.
Under head coach Stan Van Gundy the Magic played with Howard surrounded by four elite shooters. They were doing this at a time when nobody else was, and it is fascinating to think about how well this team could have done in today’s league. During this season, they had six players shoot over 36 percent from 3-point range.
- J.J. Redick (40.5 percent)
- Rashard Lewis (39.7 percent)
- Jameer Nelson (38.1 percent)
- Jason Williams (38 percent)
- Mickael Pietrus (37.9 percent)
- Ryan Anderson (37 percent)
- Vince Carter (36.7 percent)
One look at this list and it is clear why the Magic ran through a lot of teams during the regular season, before sweeping the Charlotte Bobcats and Atlanta Hawks. They had talent at every position, with guys like Lewis in particular crucial to how they were able to play and different lineups they could use.
Unfortunately, they ran into a Boston Celtics outfit in the conference finals who were desperate to get back to the peak as they had in 2008. Their Big Four of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo proving too much for the Magic as they prevailed 4-2.