The Orlando Sentinel: Not So Magic Kingdom

[WillyJakkz]

Not So Magic Kingdom


Former Magic C Nikola Vucevic slams it home

The Orlando Magic dropped another game, this time at home to the Toronto Raptors 91-79 bringing their home record to 0-7 (1-10 overall with their lone win against Dallas on the road). Former Magicians Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris helped lead the Raptors to the win with 18pts 13rebs 2blks and 9pts 7rebs respectively.

"Yeah it was good to come in and get a win against the team that gave up on you", Tobias Harris said, "but we understand it's a business first and to not take things personal and we're happy to get the victory."

New Magic bigman, C Jonas Valanciunas who scored 18pts and grabbed 9rebs and was the main proponent acquired in the Magic's trade with Toronto along with GF Terrence Ross had this to say:

Well you definitely wanna beat your former team and put on a good performance so sometimes you go out and play a little harder but we're a uh young team and we have to be patient with the losing...

Magic Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy was a little more vocal in reference to the state of the team.

These are the duldrums alright... these are the dog day afternoons that we will most certainly face throughout this entire season and as men, as young men and professional athletes you have to ask yourself, "Do I have what it takes both mentally and physically to stand up to the adversity and not only meet, but take on the challenge face to face and exceed expectations?" because listen... no one is gonna give you anything, it will not be handed to you on a silver platter so do you have the courage to go out there and hold your head up high and compete... That's where we're at as a franchise and as a team and as I stated it'll take patience, hardwork, and dedication...

The Magic go on the road to face the 7-3 Indiana Pacers before returning home to take on former Magic C Dwight Howard in his return to Orlando with his new team the 6-6 Houston Rockets.

[lakeshowak7]

Rough start to the season. You knew it was possible though when you took the helm. It's a marathon that you need to see through with the Magic to really reap the rewards.

[blackice]

Retro Jersey looks cool. Jonas has been great for you, almost a double double guy and he's really young. Just needs to work on his shot selection. Oladipo had a great game and looks to be a pretty damn good secondary playmaker moving forward. Goodluck.

[orangeparka]

Not too surprising. It's gonna take some time for ORL but they're in a great position moving forward.

[WillyJakkz]

Appreciate it all and yeah Jonas is playing greater than I expected in his 1st season here, specifically as a rebounder where he's actually 6th in the League this season but man, the season goes by slow when on the outside looking in, especially after I had that Rockets team up and running.

Speaking of which I like my chances to beat Howard in his Orlando return, they're struggling and that offensive set they're running in HOU with that team... I think we have a shot but we'll see.

[bt]

Some serious young talent here. Bright future but short term pain I guess.

[bestnamezRtaken]

I'm glad a good GM took over the Magic, they need some work and a dedicated person to turn them around. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the team moving forward, and how you execute it.

[Rizzo]

There is plenty of firepower in Orlando in the form of assets. You just need to decide if you want to wait for them to develop or move them for pieces.

[emplep7]

Yeah its always the way it is with wanting to wait it out with the players you have in place or move some of them for more ready now assets.