TL;DR
I’m curious, did any fans of other teams see the Magic’s season opening up like this?
I follow the NBA in general and I was not shocked at all when SAC and OKC broke out in the last couple seasons. I’m watching this Portland squad and I see where they’re headed assuming health and growth. I’ve been following San Antonio since the Murray trade and have been keeping tabs on what’s brewing there (pre-Wemby). Candidly did not expect the Jazz to open up like they did last season and while I didn’t see the Pacers coming out as hot as they have this season, their offensive firepower potential has been sitting there on paper for everyone to see.
It kinda surprises me that someone so ingrained in the NBA (particularly the Eastern Conference) would be so blindsided by a team that’s had a relatively static and consistent roster since our rebuild? Iirc, the Magic currently have the most draftees on a roster right now, I believe at 8. Our FO is notorious for not making big trades or going after big FAs so the personnel changes have been far and few between. Not like the Jazz who suddenly got a hodgepodge of misfit guys and nobody was sure how they’d gel.
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As a Magic fan I had been waiting in heavy anticipation for yesterday’s new episode of the Hoop Collective. I knew the Magic would finally be getting some well-deserved air time and I was curious how they’d frame our recent run and some of the noise we’ve been making (I know, I know, it’s truly a small sample size).
By in large, I thought they had some very respectable takes and treated us as legit. This may sound obvious, but large-market fans have to understand that there are running inside jokes inside small-market fanbases about how the national media frames their success. For example, if the Magic won the championship we joke the next day newspaper headline would read: “The Magic don’t lose in the last game of the season.” It’s really refreshing to hear national media giving us credibility.
Suffice it to say- we’re fucking pumped in Orlando and we’ve been thirsting for this validation for so long. Other franchises can certainly relate, we’ve been relegated to NBA purgatory since the Dwightmare began in 2012- 10 years of this shit. Please have a little patience with us as we process this recent success- we’re remembering the taste, it’s been so long. Sorry if we’re annoying.
Like a god damn masochist I’ve passionately followed our teams through the recent dark ages and after watching almost every single game last season and the season before, to me and anyone else following that extensively- this early season success was completely expected. I ran a poll months ago in our subreddit asking where we thought the Magic would land at the end of the season and a slight plurality agreed on a proper actual playoff seed over a playin candidate. I personally think we’re absolutely capable of locking down a top 4 seed in the East and I don’t even think that’s a hot take right now. Maybe I’m delusional.
All this to say, I find it a little surprising that Bontemps (whose job is to know the NBA up and down) would loosely speak for, what I presume, is the national media at large and claim “Nobody saw this coming…”
Certainly 1 or 2 people outside of the Magic fanbase saw this coming?
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A friend of mine and I like to play a game called “sleeper team of the year”. I picked Orlando and got disqualified because “nobody is sleeping on them.” Just one of the many times in sports where casual fans may not know, but most of the people who come onto a subreddit to discuss basketball probably saw it coming
I thought the Magic would be playoff contenders because Paolo and/or Franz Wagner took a leap offensively. Not because their defense went from #15 to #5.
I’m a Nuggets fan, and I had Orlando on my short list of teams that could go from bad to homecourt.
I expected Magic to be a 4-5 seed, Magic had way too many pieces to not make a leap, and anyone who follows the league knew they were the next team up. last year was SAC, this year its ORL. The more shocking part is that Goga and Mo are holding it down while Carter is out.
I was expecting a play-in push so I’m happy. I’m generally pessimistic about the team due to the past 10+ years, so I’m genuinely surprised. Franz is still working himself out of a slump too so the 3 point shooting should be improving as he gets back to normal.
I thought time was right for them and OKC to break out but it’s still early, magic probably not going to finish second but I’d say lock them in a playoff spot for shre
I expected them to finish somewhere in the 5th-8th in the East range. If I’d really tried to predict every team in order, I think they would’ve landed 6th.
Like a few others have said, though, I thought it would be because of a big offensive improvement and not because of suffocating defense.
Maybe I’m delusional too but I saw them being a top 6 seed because they were really good last year when not injured.
Wolves used to drop a lot of games to bottom seed teams and I remember before the Magic game, Ant instantly said “no they’re a strong team, they are just injured. Their record is deceiving”. That’s when I was like hmmm and started watching more Magic games. I remember them having impressive wins over the Celtics and the Warriors, and thought this team had a lot of potential. They were just injured AF.
I didn’t expect top 2 defense and 2nd seed though but top 6 yes. It’s early in the season so we;ll see how these young teams keep progressing, but I love seeing it! And OP I totally feel you on thirst for validation after so long. Seeing your team finally get flowers hits like crack lol
I was really high on them after the way the ended last season and even with that I thought a sixth seed would be the absolute best they would reach. There is still a long of season left and that’s where they may end up but I never saw them being a 3 seed and one of the best defensives in the league.