The Orlando Magic set the tone for their 2022-23 campaign at the end of last season when coach Jamahl Mosley said this past year, in part, would be about “leveling up one more.”
The Magic lived up to that standard, making several improvements that resulted in a 34-48 record — a 12-win improvement from the previous season.
Their objective for 2023-24 already has been set.
“Playoffs,” center Wendell Carter Jr. responded when asked what the standard for success will be for next season.
He added: “Guys don’t like to look at it as, ‘We got to make the playoffs,’ or ‘We got to win a champion to be successful.’ But we’re at a pretty good point where we can say that now. Guys want to win now. That comes with winning — making it to the playoffs.”
The league’s playoffs started Saturday. And for the third consecutive year and ninth time in 11 seasons, they didn’t feature the Magic.
Orlando’s focus going into the offseason is making sure that doesn’t happen next season.
“I know a lot of people were talking about [making the playoffs] this year,” guard Markelle Fultz said. “We talked about it earlier. That’s what we want to do. We want to be a playoff team and win. In all our minds, we all agree we’ll be very upset if we’re not in the playoffs next year.”
The Magic’s aspirations come with an understanding that development and improvement in the standings on a yearly basis aren’t guaranteed.
Progress isn’t linear. And each step of becoming a better team is more challenging than the previous one.
“I told the guys in the locker room just now, we have to remember the work, effort and energy it takes to get to another level,” Mosley said. “Because sometimes people think because you’ve done it in one year that it’s supposed to repeat itself the next year. We’ve got to put the work back in and we’ve got to make sure we do it at a higher level — individually and collectively.”
Mosley’s message has been received.
Players already have started reflecting and focusing on what needs to be done — individually and collectively — to become a playoff team.
“Training our minds and bodies to be able to play an 82-game season and be able to play in the playoffs,” Carter said. “Accountability can take another jump. With us being such a young team, sometimes we can be a little bit goofy. Sometimes kind of get lackadaisical throughout the games. Being able to hold each other accountable to a whole other level will be a next step for us.
“And mental toughness will be a big one for us. As a young team, that’s something that we struggled with sometimes. We’re not making shots or [the] other team has scored 2-3 times in a row, sometimes we get down on ourselves instead of continuing to play.”
The Magic learned important lessons in 2022-23 — lessons that guard Cole Anthony said they’re still learning and will continue to learn.
Even with how encouraging this past season was, especially their 29-26 record from Dec. 5-April 4 (when they were eliminated from postseason contention), they have bigger goals in mind.
“The reality of the situation is, ‘Yeah, this [was] a very successful season for us,’ ” Anthony said. “But we’re still not where we want to be. We still didn’t make the playoffs. For us, it just shows we have a lot of room to grow. Next season we have a chance to really be a playoff team.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
()