Can somebody tell me where the buzz is?
Seriously, where is it?
The Orlando Magic opened their season Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks at the Kia Center, and even with a new coach making his NBA debut, I’m still searching for that groundswell of excitement, that feverish anticipation, that unmistakable electricity that usually accompanies a team supposedly on the verge of something special.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. The Kia Center was packed. The fans cheered. Stuff made everybody smile. The lights flashed. The music blared. The T-shirt cannons fired. And Sean Sweeney made his head-coaching debut in the 132-125 loss to the Hawks.
But, nationally, the Magic barely register a blip on the NBA’s hype meter. And even locally, there’s a distinct difference between this season and last season, when the Magic had just traded for Desmond Bane and fans were giddy about the possibilities of a young, ascending team.
This year? Meh.
And maybe — just maybe — that’s a good thing.
“I hated (the hype) of last summer,” Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman told me earlier this week. “I love not being included among the elite groups in the East. Just forget about us, let us go to work and let us have a modicum of health so we can come out and show who we are.”
Added Bane: “Last year, people spent all preseason talking about how we were going to make a deep postseason run. What did that get us?”
It’s not surprising that the Magic have gone from last year’s darlings to this year’s discarded toy. Let’s face it, we live in a society addicted to NEW. We want the new iPhone, the new Tesla, the new Netflix series, the new restaurant everybody’s posting about on Instagram. We don’t want last year’s model, even if last year’s model still works perfectly fine.
And that’s essentially the Magic’s problem. They’re last year’s model.
Except, of course, for Sweeney.
But here’s the thing: This isn’t college football, where a new coach can electrify a fan base just by winning the introductory press conference. The NBA is a player’s league. Nobody is buying season tickets because Sean Sweeney is drawing up a new out-of-bounds play.
Sweeney isn’t a celebrity coach. He isn’t a household name. He isn’t arriving with a championship ring and a suitcase full of guarantees. He’s a respected NBA assistant getting his first opportunity to run his own team.
And perhaps that’s exactly what the Magic need.
Not a coach who wins the news conference. A coach who eventually wins a playoff series.
Of course, the Magic have a lot of work to do before then. Despite Paolo Banchero’s 35 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds against the Hawks, the Magic had 20 turnovers and shot 1 of 12 from 3-point range in the decisive fourth quarter.
Sweeney admitted afterward that he envisioned having a better feeling after his inaugural game as an NBA coach, but added: “After the first game, we’ve definitely got a lot of teachable moments. “We can definitely improve in the vast majority of areas.”
Make no mistake, Sweeney inherits a talented but frustrating team. Same stars. Same supporting cast. Same injury concerns. Same questions about their three-point shooting.
The Magic have lost in the first round of the playoffs three consecutive seasons. They’re still one of the NBA’s youngest teams, but they’re not the league’s adorable little upstarts anymore.
Magic fans have heard the promises. Now they want the payoff.
We had Weltman on our radio show earlier this week, and after he hung up, the reaction from listeners was decidedly cynical.
One listener summed it up perfectly: “Listening to Weltman feels like I’m watching Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. ‘If we can stay healthy.’ … ‘We’ve got a really young team.’ … ‘We hope to have him back soon’ … It’s the same thing every year.”
Ouch.
But is the listener wrong?
Weltman has been preaching patience, development and health for years. At some point, those explanations begin to sound less like a blueprint and more like a broken record.
Here’s where I’m going to lose some of you because I actually agree with Weltman. I believe this team, if healthy, can contend in the Eastern Conference.
I believe if Franz Wagner hadn’t injured his calf and missed the final three games against Detroit last postseason, the Magic wouldn’t have blown a 3-1 series lead. I believe they would have advanced to the second round. And who knows what happens from there?
As Weltman said earlier this week, “The margins are so thin in today’s NBA. The Hawks went up 2-1 last year in the first round against New York and then the Knicks go on a crazy run and end up winning the title. One of my friends in the league told me a couple of years ago, ‘If you can get to the second round of the playoffs then anything can happen.’ ”
He’s right, but that’s a big ‘IF’ for a Magic team who hasn’t been to the second round in 16 years. That’s why this season shouldn’t be championship-or-bust. It should be second-round-or-bust.
And that’s the measuring stick for Sweeney. Not whether he creates excitement in October, but whether he creates victories in April. Not whether he changes the national narrative, but whether he changes the postseason results.
Maybe the Magic don’t need the hype this year. Maybe they need something much more meaningful.
Belief.
And belief isn’t manufactured by marketing departments, slick hype videos or breathless preseason predictions. It’s earned by winning games that matter, beating teams you’re not supposed to beat and finally delivering when the pressure is greatest.
For years, the Magic have sold their fans on promise, potential and the tantalizing prospect of what this young team might someday become.
But someday has to arrive sometime.
The Magic have a new coach, but they’re still trying to escape the same old story.
Sean Sweeney wasn’t hired to make the Magic the talk of the NBA in October.
He was hired to make them relevant in April and May.
If he does that, the buzz will take care of itself.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my radio show “Game On” every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen.