At this point, this season for the magic truly almost feels like a stand up performance. There is a statistic that is just being thrown around way too much about how this starting 5 this season has been the most successful in scoring per 100 possessions vs their opponents. What kills me, is who gives a shit about scoring per 100 possessions when the magic are like 3-9. Why don’t we go cherry pick more stats to try and pull the wool over eyes. There have been guys this year in their expanded role that I would say have been close to impressive. Sadly, the only thing at the end of the day that even matters is the winning, and there isn’t a stat out there that can help the magic in that category. I understand the excitement around different things, and I understand about what the future may hold. But holy shit, to not be competitive since 2010 truly is one down right embarrassing, and two hard to keep showing up for night in and night out. I’m not a GM by any stretch of the imagination, but I can tell you my goals of being competitive would have much higher than my goals for the future. Everyday is about working for the future and you can’t win the future in an hour. Winning today is something that is a lot easier to focus on and sadly it feels like it’s fuck all when it comes to the right now.

The irony between me bitching about how the Magic’s style of play is never going to be truly competitive, and then them knocking off the Jazz is art. Although, they may have gotten the win last night, the style of play the magic are running out with every night is going to be something that falls off. There’s no look for consistency, there is nothing they are doing that the defense in theory will really want to change. Why would they try to run 7 footers off the three point line? The long rebounds are easy to gather with no one inside, not to mention they can save a lot of energy with their half ass contests. I very much respect the effort that these guys are putting in every night, because you can tell they are really working their asses off. But it seems like the magic truly just know that 3 is more than 2 and it feels like they think they have some dirty secret and if they just jack as much as they can their odds must go up or something. It’s crazy how effective a team can be when everyone knows their role. It’s crazy how bland and mentally draining a team can be when it feels like everyone has the same damn one.

Age and consistency, age and consistency, age and consistency Age and consistency, age and consistency, age and consistency. These two go hand in hand better than anything the NBA has ever seen before. These are two things the magic truly possess none of, and it shows going down stretches of games. Which, there’s two ways to look at it, the way that’s in the moment and right now like we are dealing with. In which we take on struggling teams with real problems and still drop the game after playing hard for two quarters. The execution gets lax, the offense dissolves and they don’t play defense even from when the tip is thrown. There is also the mode that you can be excited for the future assuming the magic don’t magic themselves and let all these young developed guys get out of town before they can even reap the benefits of the development. Which, the magic have some guys here who really have good foundations under them. The structure and system the magic run is hindering some as welll, but the magic really do have some diamonds. This will be the true heartbreaker if these young core guys all get out to different teams to go crazy I can’t stress that enough. I will personally be leading revolts if this group somehow doesn’t work out.

Tell me last night wasn’t one of those nights where the offense looked great. Almost exactly what I was talking about with everyone clicking. Now, we still played very horrid defense truthfully. Went under on a lot of things, the wolves just found so much space available to them. All in all, a very very promising night. Cole Anthony put a clinic on about how to lead. He has taken a great leap this second year so far and the best place it has happened is in the consistency. It’s absoluetly huge for not only him, but for the Magic who need to use these building blocks to build properly.

The inconsistency of the young guys is a damn roller coaster. Which this is what to be expected at times as that is the nature of the league, but shit the highs and lows are hard. Especially with how these guys have been able to just show these incredible flashes at times. It will be amazing when the 7 game stretch comes where everyone playing is clocking and magic look like real life competitors for a couple of weeks. You can just tell at times when the magic arent completely comfortable, and this goes for anyway right now. Every player in the NBA has something that got them here, and being able to do it for the course of 48 and night in and night out takes experience. The magic have been the team for giving people experience and I truly pray this isn’t another build up of a guys confidence to go lead another city to happiness, I just need it to pan out one time. There is very much slot to bitch about, but there’s probably a lot more to be hopeful about in all reality and living with that did now feels good.

Last night was almost the perfect explanation for the Magic’s capabilities this season. Watching the game and using the eyeball test everything couldn’t have seemed better. The magic were hooping on offense and we’re doing some work in ways to be scrappy and hard nosed. But the magic never really got more than an 8 point lead, and it honestly never felt like there was a chance the magic could pull away. It was an incredible effort last night, and when the magic play even a fringe contender team, that seems like what the outcome is going to be time and time again. The Magic don’t have the experience to be able to look to close things out, at times they can hardly build off their own momentum because it seems like they get so excited. The hornets were very entertaining to watch, and it was nice having the opportunity to see the Magic give everything they could. Much like what it feels like this season is going to be, the Magic eventually came up short and it felt like in the end, it was all for nothing.

It’s a really tough season, when you rely on getting what feels like the absolute best from guys in order to even be remotely competitive. The magic aren’t in a good spot as it stands. There is almost no chance to be competitive right now. It seems like every chip the magic has is placed on the future. It feels at times that even guys on the court are completely checked out, which I cannot blame them at times. The fact Terrence Ross is coming off the bench with these starters is a slap in his face. At this point it’s guys like him who are deserving of the chance to go, guys like Gary Harris. But yet, running with the young guys in hopes of development is the card that is being played. The magic have punted the season, essentially they had no choice it feels, but they also exhausted 0 options. It’s quite hard to want to spend money at Amway when you know nothing is going to matter right now. And there’s nothing to be done. They go with no experience and look to figure everything out on the fly. It could always be worse about things, but the magic might end up 30.

If I am going to live and die with every negative this team decides it’s going to show us, I have to go ahead and fall all over the positives as well. Cole Anthony looked like a real leader. The dude was super involved in every aspect of the game and looked to truly be all over the place. I hope this isn’t just because shots were falling or because momma had a birthday, which happy belated your son seems so incredibly well mannered. That type of activity all over needs to continue, needs to be the standard. The dude has a double double on the night he couldn’t hardly connect with anyone who was hitting shots. He was attacking the screens well and he was really on it from a defensive stand point. The team last night showed some solid life, hopefully this is more a building block than an exception.

Fournier coming back to put on a classic performance was much needed. His inefficient night from the field and standing with no pressure created at times was very much needed for my soul. With that said, the magic still got their fucking doors blown out, and the tanking schedule they seem to be on really has me so pissed off. Playing nothing but young and do not seem to be developing them in anyway useful. Like Cole Anthony constantly running the point just because he’s the smallest is stupid as fuck. Suggs was a true bread leader in college and that shit translates. I’m not sure the direction being given from the front but it doesn’t seem to be to win. There are a million things to do differently and that same young starting group is going to be trotted out for the next one.

The magic got absolutely dummied last night. They let 7 guys just go straight for double digits. I know the ball going in the basket for your own team is the fun thing, and the thing that usually gets all the retweets and likes on Twitter. I would like to see some proper rotations, I would like to see some guards help effectively from top to bottom, I would like to see the only thing be left is the skip after a break down, I would like to see guys get jarred when they catch the ball and look to blow by immediately. If you want me to be honest, I would say there are a lot of different things I would very much appreciate changing on the defensive end. Look, I get it, the magic are young. They couldn’t have hammered it home enough. But instead of the young bucks only focusing their development with the ball in their hand, to still shoot 3/12, maybe we can work on some slides, some defensive scheming, some situational decision making skills. Like, this team is going to hardly win 30 games, they have a hot hand in Mo last night, and this guy hardly touched the ball. And then Gary Harris not playing, coaches decision? What the fuck?! Man is certified in the league and we just decide a healthy scratch is best for the team? I’m getting the impression, and it’s only game 1 so it scares me, that the magic are actually looking to tank this season. I think the 1 goal this season is the 1 pick.