Looking back at the 2018-19 Season

Last season, the Orlando Magic made a surprise trip into the playoffs for the first time since Dwight Howard‘s departure in 2012. The Magic shocked the soon to be champion Toronto Raptors with a victory in Game 1 and then lost 4 straight for an abrupt ending to a truly feel-good season. Despite the first round playoff loss, the Orlando Magic have plenty of positives to build off of. Nikola Vucevic posted career highs in points per game, rebounds per game, and 3pt shooting percentage on his way to his first All-Star appearance. Jonathan Isaac and Aaron Gordon with their hallowed positional length took a major leap forward defensively and are poised to become the best defensive forward pair in the league. New coach Steve Clifford, who was overlooked for the NBA’s Coach of the Year, turned a 25 win roster into the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. The future’s looking bright in The City Beautiful.

Eastern Conference Upheaval

After the free agency bonanza of 2019, the Eastern Conference has two clear favorites, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers, and a number of question marks. The Celtics lost two All-Stars in Al Horford and Kyrie Irving. The Nets lost their lone All-Star D’Angelo Russell, though they signed Irving and the currently injured Kevin Durant. The Toronto Raptors lost Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and 3 and D sniper Danny Green. The Indiana Pacers are projected to be without their star, and former Magic guard, Victor Oladipo to begin the season. Last year’s 8th seed Detroit Pistons, who added Derrick Rose and Markieff Morris, offer a lengthy defensive group without an offensive threat besides the oft-injured Broad City star Blake Griffin. The 9th seed Hornets lost Kemba Walker, and the 10th seed Heat added Jimmy Butler. With all of these changes, the Eastern Conference playoff picture could be vastly different than last year. The Orlando Magic return this season with their core intact, and added switchy 3 and D wing “Chief” Al-Farouq Aminu. One can fully expect teams with fewer changes, to jump out to a hot start to begin the season. Continuity will be key for the Orlando Magic in 2019-2020.

Hope for a deep playoff run in 2019-2020

Hope. A wide open East, budding young defensive stars, and a previous playoff appearance give Magic fans hope that they have lacked for years. They have the continuity to start out hot. They have defensive length to matchup against any team. They have possibly the biggest X-Factor in the NBA in Markelle Fultz who is allegedly going to start for the Magic this season. Think about it, the Orlando Magic started this offseason with a bevy of cap-space and tradable assets. If the Magic felt they were in dire need of a PG they would’ve either: a) stuck their toes in the proverbial trade waters of Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Kemba Walker or the lower tier of Terry Rozier, or b) draft summer league standout Nickeil Alexander-Walker who has the positional length our front office loves, and went the pick after their selection of Chuma Okeke. This lack of attention to upgrading the PG position probably means just one thing, the position doesn’t need to be upgraded. I cannot wait to see where the Markelle Fultz experience will take us. This is a lot more recent in our NBA history than we remember:

Speaking of the past, as a history teacher I can’t help but to look to the past. During the 93-94 season, Orlando made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history and were promptly swept by the Indiana Pacers. The next season, the “too young” Orlando Magic blasted their playoff competition in the East, knocking out MJ and avenging the previous year’s loss to the Pacers on their way to the Finals.

25 years later, this iteration of the “too young” Orlando Magic is sitting pretty in a conference with no runaway favorite. As history has a pattern of repeating itself, Magic fans ask a familiar question. “Why not us…why not now?”