The arrival of the Orlando Magic‘s media day signaled the end of an offseason full of speculation about what the future could hold for this group. Instead, members of the media got the chance to sit down and talk with the players, as well as get a general feel for where this young team is in their development.
To that end, all went well. As expected players were in good spirits, which has become something of a hallmark since coming together in the summer for some team bonding, and everybody said all of the right things about the upcoming season. Robin Lopez in particular, looking every inch the superb locker room presence it was hoped he would be.
Even the proverbial elephant in the room, Jonathan Isaac’s stance on vaccinations, was handled extremely well.
The Orlando Magic media day is in the books, and it was one that brought with it a lot of positives ahead of what is an important year for the group.
After a piece published by Rolling Stone recently, and which garnered plenty of negative attention for some, Isaac fielded questions and spoke well about his reasoning for continuing to not get the vaccine. Outside of what is going on with Ben Simmons in Philadelphia, plus Kyrie Irving’s own opinions on vaccines and how it impacts the Brooklyn Nets, this looked like one of the trickier conversations in the entire league to navigate.
Instead, the Magic sailed through the day, with attentions now turning to a preseason slate of games which will give us some clues as to the rotation and roles of a number of players. Back to the matter of playing games and finding ways to get better, which is all fans want at this stage in the franchise’s development.
There were many takeaways from the media day, but the following three stuck out more than anything else because of their importance for the Magic both this season, and hopefully in years to come as well.
Orlando Magic media day takeaways: 3. The battle for the center spot
One of the more fascinating subplots from media day was the clear change in body type of both Wendell Carter Jr. and Mohamed Bamba. Two individuals who clearly used the offseason to lift some weights and work on their game. For both men, it is a huge season, as it will shape their future not only in Orlando but in the league as well.
Carter is eligible for an extension, and started life with the Magic well. He came in and immediately provided some consistency at the five that had been lacking since the departure of Nikola Vucevic, albeit in a totally different way. Bamba on the other hand will see this as a chance at a fresh start under new head coach Jamahl Mosley.
He looks to have packed on a ton of muscle, and as somebody who was never fully trusted by previous coach Steve Clifford, he has a golden opportunity to be the long-term solution for the Magic as their center. He too is eligible for an extension, and it will be interesting to see which direction the organization goes.
It is not often you get two players who play the same position, who are both eligible for extension and who could both lay claim to the starting role because it is there for the taking. Both Carter and Bamba have a fresh start because of being on a new team (Carter Jr.) and having a new head coach (Bamba), so both should be heading into this season with tons of optimism.
It will be interesting to see which direction the Magic leans. Carter is the more traditional big of the two, at a time when the likes of DeAndre Ayton have brought some old-school feel back to the position. Bamba probably has the higher ceiling as a guy who can do more on both ends, but this is a ceiling we have spoken about before, and which we have yet to see him get near. Expect Carter Jr. to start once the regular season begins, but Bamba will get his opportunities.
Orlando Magic media day takeaways: 2. Team chemistry is for real
Pretty much everybody gets up for media day, so it was no surprise to see smiles on player’s faces and the likes of rookies Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner enjoying the new experience. But what also seemed evident was just how much the social media stories and interactions from the summer appeared to be genuine.
There was Suggs taking a selfie with Isaac, and Bamba and Cole Anthony joking around with each other while the other was being interviewed. Markelle Fultz sat in on the media availability for Gary Harris, with Harris himself having a funny moment with media member Dan Savage.
Put simply this was a group that had a college-like feel to them. Everybody interacting with each other, with Lopez and Terrence Ross the old heads who were getting in on the act as well. Being friends isn’t going to get you to the very top. Neither is bringing J. Cole in for a scrimmage just before the games get real.
But all of this does build a culture and a bond, and it was great to see that translate to the interactions that took place at media day. Much had been made about Isaac’s previous comments, and how somebody who has a different viewpoint of such an important issue might look and feel next to everybody else.
Instead, those worries were dispelled immediately, adding to the positivity here. Even if behind the scenes Isaac doesn’t end up being best friends with everybody (although there is no reason to suggest this won’t happen), to know that everybody can and will get along when the cameras are trained on them is important. There will be enough present once the regular season begins.
Orlando Magic media day takeaways: 1. Markelle Fultz will have his say
Point guard Fultz had the most telling line of the day when he said that they were going to “shock a lot of people” when addressing the media. He’s got a point, because Fultz, Anthony, Suggs, Isaac, Hampton, Harris, Carter Jr., Bamba and Chuma Okeke is a nice place to start. A young group that could grow to be really, really good, and who won’t get their recognition until it actually happens they play in a smaller market.
For Fultz personally, though, that statement rings just as true. We have all gotten caught up in the potential of Suggs, while the two inches Hampton grew over the offseason was mentioned as well. If his game took a leap forward as his height did, he could be the real x-factor for the Magic in the near future.
Anthony had a solid rookie season and has a chip on his shoulder that his teammates feed off. All three of these players are guards, and they made it easy to forget about Fultz. A guy who had been the second-best player in a playoff series for the Magic in the past, and who looked comfortable playing with the older core before they were all traded.
But the ACL injury he sustained early last season meant he went away just as Anthony was beginning to assert his personality on the team. Hampton’s arrival at the trade deadline and the stroke of luck to get Suggs then buried Fultz altogether. But make no mistake, he can still be the best player of all four mentioned.
He may not be back in time to start the new season (although watching him shoot at the Magic’s first official practice back together was encouraging), but at some point soon he will be. When that happens he will return as the best passer of the four, with an ability to get everybody to play at his tempo, while also still hopefully being the best penetrator too.
If the Magic are going to shock some people, and even flirting with the play-in tournament would probably constitute that, then a healthy Fultz looking like his old self would be a huge help. In what has been a stop-start career for him, now is the moment where he could lead a young crew to heights they did not yet seem ready for.