Has this season of the Orlando Magic been a total disaster?
Yes and no.
On one hand, we have one of the weaker records in all of the NBA, in the history of the organization, and pretty much from the beginning showed no threat towards the Eastern Conference, even if the darn thing is layers weaker than the Western Conference (Let’s be serious, Carmelo Anthony is leading the Knicks into the top 4, that’s a sign right there). We lost to Dwight Howard’s Lakers at home, we didn’t make history by ending the Heat’s streak, and worst of all was the abysmal, disappointing, and downright treacherous trade of J.J. Reddick.And do remember, injuries absolutely killed any momentum we could have had---our start consisted of .500 basketball before people started getting hurt.
But on the other hand:
We have a good young core that’s a couple years of experience away from being a formidable threat. We have a coach whose optimism has actually sparked the late quarter rallies and will also improve greatly with experience. We have a fanbase that didn’t exactly crumble in a way that was expected—even though the loss of Reddick probably affected us more than Howard. We have a future; it doesn’t look as abysmal as say the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets, the Sacramento Kings, or the totally unlucky Minnesota Timberwolves. The momentum may start to build next season when the players are more aware of their roles or perhaps when the injuries stop mounting and hounding us.
And now I have a major plea: stop trying to get basketball stars. Stop going after the LeBrons, the Carmelos, the Duncans, the Chris Pauls, the Howards, we just have to stop as soon as possible and not ever start up this strategy ever again. We need to adopt the Denver Nuggets strategy, we need as a fanbase to totally root for this team riding a great winning streak and holding a #3 seed in the roundhouse kick of a conference known as the West. We need to root for them to at least hit the NBA Finals without a major star, without much fanfare, consisting of a good group of guys that can win backed by an incredible coach.
Name 5 players on the Denver Nuggets. Name their star player. I thought so. This is a ragtag team with a variety of great players lacking the star power for the commercials and are a few steps away from becoming the best team not named the Oklahoma City Thunder. And they have been doing stuff like this for the past couple seasons---after getting rid of Carmelo Anthony. 90-52 in the past two seasons, Post-Carmelo Anthony. This team has been proving that you don’t need to have a star or a major leader to enter the playoffs and become a threat. Technically, the Nuggets exited the first round only once with Carmelo. Now, they have a true-blue chance to reach the Western Conference finals with the Clippers and Grizzlies slipping a little.
The Orlando Magic has always been a fantastic team in terms of acquiring great role playing talent. The Pistons that almost won back to back championships in the mid-2000s consisted of several ex-Magic players. That Heat player that nailed all those threes in the clinching game against the Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals? Mike Miller, who had his start with the Magic. The Lakers player that burned the Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals? Trevor Ariza….another ex-Magic player. Potential 6th Man Award might go to Matt Barnes of the Los Angeles Clippers who had a great run with…….the Orlando Magic. If you sit there and analyze, lots of lower-key players came to Orlando and left Orlando and became good acquisitions elsewhere. If we simply did a better job in focusing our future on these players as opposed to stars, maybe we would see a better chance of being a truly successful franchise.
After all, we saw the likes of Shaq, Penny Hardaway, Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis, Grant Hill, Rashard Lewis, and now Dwight Howard ultimately burn us (sometimes unintended) badly after years of depending on them to turn us around. And yes we did sometimes achieve great success, but they were usually short-lived and always came with questions. Even success with Howard (when the 2009-2010 team became arguably the best we had ever seen) came with some doubt because of his refusal to sign that darn contract to remain in Central Florida.
It is simple: we need to stop chasing after stars. We need to focus more on developing a team that can look threatening on paper without that one guy that everyone knows. We are not Miami. We are not New York. We are not L.A. We are not Texas. We are a state with constant competing fanbases, we are a city with not as much to offer as the bigger cities, and ultimately we aren’t as attractive a draw as your popular cities around the nation. We need to be realistic. Players sign with certain teams for the lifestyle as well as the money. Orlando is a wonderful place to live in, but we don’t appeal to the basketball players in the NBA right now. It can’t be coincidence that every single time big-time players can see an opportunity to go elsewhere they take it.
So it leads us to the Denver Nuggets current status as one of the 5 best teams in the NBA. We should root for them to go far. We should root for them to take down the attractive franchises like the Lakers and the Clippers. We should want to see them get close to the title. Because ultimately, we would benefit more to become like them. The Magic historically are more entertaining, more likable, and more durable when we surround ourselves with underrated talent. The 2009 team was successful primarily because of role players like Cortney Lee, Rafer Alston, and Hedo Turkoglu.
If the Nuggets win or go far, maybe the upper management would be less inclined to save money, sacrifice fan favorites like J.J. Reddick, and attempt to go after stars like Chris Paul, LeBron James, and maybe even younglings like Anthony David and Kylie Irving down the road. I see our flailing team and believe it or not I can see a future. Even if there are no icons. Even if their names aren’t household names. We can truly be Magical, as long as we shoot for the moon as opposed to the stars. Magic fans, let’s root for the Denver Nuggets. They are the team we could have been many times in the past decade, and they are the team that we can still become in the coming years.
Go Nuggets.
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