The Orlando Magic were one win from the second round in April. They led top-seeded Detroit three games to one.
Then they scored 79 points at home in Game 6, lost Game 7 in Detroit 116-94 on May 3, and fired their coach the next day.
That sequence explains nearly every decision the franchise made this summer, and the ones it chose not to make.
Change the voice, keep the players
Jamahl Mosley left after five seasons, a 189-221 record and three straight first-round exits. President Jeff Weltman said the team needed a fresh perspective. On June 1 the Magic named Sean Sweeney, 41, their 16th head coach.
Sweeney ran the defense in San Antonio as associate head coach, where the Spurs climbed from 25th to third in defensive efficiency and won 62 games. Before that he spent four seasons on the Dallas staff. He beat out Billy Donovan and Jeff Van Gundy for the job.
The core around him is untouched. Paolo Banchero, who averaged 22.2 points and 8.4 rebounds and led the team with 26 double-doubles, starts his five-year max extension this season. Desmond Bane played all 82 games and averaged 20.1 points. Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black and Wendell Carter Jr. return.
Weltman has described the plan as a bet on internal growth rather than roster churn. With the team working under the second apron and no first-round pick this year, it was also the only plan available.
The Franz Wagner problem
The most important player in this preview may be the one who barely played. Franz Wagner averaged 20.6 points but appeared in only 34 games, sidelined by a high ankle sprain in December and then a calf strain in Game 4 against the Pistons. He missed Games 5, 6 and 7.
Orlando was 3-1 with him in that series and 0-3 without him. That is a small sample, and Detroit was a 60-win team, but it is the kind of number a front office remembers.
