Jalen Suggs says he\u2019s sorry.<\/p>\n
And you know what?<\/p>\n
Apology accepted.<\/p>\n
Now, Jalen, can you and your Orlando Magic teammates please do us all one gigantic favor?<\/p>\n
Stay freaking healthy.<\/p>\n
Seriously, is that too much to ask?<\/p>\n
At Magic Media Day a few weeks ago, Suggs offered a heartfelt apology to Orlando fans for last season\u2019s epic playoff collapse against the Detroit Pistons. He spoke with the sincerity and emotion we\u2019ve come to expect from a player who wears his heart on his sleeve, his passion on his jersey and occasionally his entire body on the hardwood.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the fans and the city, I feel like we let them down,\u201d Suggs said. \u201cWe blew it. It was a misrepresentation of who I am and who we are as a team. And this is a public apology. That was unacceptable. We talk about standards that we want to uphold and the places we want to go, and (the playoff collapse) was not representative of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good for him. It was refreshing to hear a professional athlete take responsibility instead of hiding behind the usual collection of sports clich\u00e9s about adversity, learning experiences and trusting the process.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the thing, Jalen. Magic fans don\u2019t need another apology. They need an entire season of you, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane actually playing basketball together.<\/p>\n
Imagine that. A basketball team whose best players actually play basketball. What a revolutionary concept!<\/p>\n
As the Magic prepare to open their season Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks, there is once again optimism surrounding a franchise that has spent years selling hope, promise and potential. And, frankly, it\u2019s time to start delivering something more substantial.<\/p>\n
Quite frankly, last last spring wasn\u2019t just disappointing. It was downright disgraceful.<\/p>\n
The Magic had the top-seeded Detroit Pistons on the ropes, leading their playoff series three games to one. They were poised to pull off a monumental upset and announce their arrival as legitimate Eastern Conference contenders. Instead, they performed one of the great disappearing acts in Orlando sports history.<\/p>\n
They blew a 24-point second-half lead in Game 6, during which they missed 23 consecutive shots, and then completed their collapse in Game 7. Seriously, 23 straight misses! I\u2019ve seen better shooting at a county fair basketball booth where the rims are bent and the balls are overinflated.<\/p>\n
Suggs talked about barely leaving the house for weeks after the embarrassment because he didn\u2019t want to show his face around town.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took a while for me to let it go,\u201d said Suggs, who hit 3-of-19 shots and 1-of-10 threes in the final two games of the Pistons series \u201cActually, I still haven\u2019t really let it go, and it\u2019s I think that\u2019s still kind of driving a lot of the fire inside of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meltdown cost coach Jamahl Mosley his job. Mosley was a good man and a good coach who helped drag this franchise out of basketball irrelevance. But professional sports are a results business, and when a team blows a 3-1 playoff lead in such spectacular fashion, somebody usually gets handed a cardboard box and shown the exit.<\/p>\n
Enter Sean Sweeney, the Magic\u2019s new coach, who arrives with a reputation for defensive intelligence, player development and holding people accountable. Wonderful. But unless Sweeney also happens to possess a medical degree, a miracle-working massage therapist and the ability to wrap his players in industrial-strength bubble wrap, his coaching genius might not matter.<\/p>\n
Because the biggest question facing the Magic isn\u2019t whether Sweeney can design a better offense or instill a tougher mentality. It\u2019s whether this team\u2019s most important players can remain healthy long enough to develop some actual continuity.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be honest, if Wagner had not injured his calf and missed the final three games of the Pistons series, the Magic almost certainly would have advanced into the second round and perhaps even contended for a title.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the maddening part about the Magic. We\u2019ve seen enough flashes to know they\u2019re talented. Banchero can be a superstar. Wagner can be an All-Star. Bane can provide the shooting this team desperately needs. And Suggs, when he\u2019s healthy and attacking the game like an angry pit bull, can be one of the NBA\u2019s most disruptive defensive guards.<\/p>\n
But those tantalizing possibilities come with an enormous asterisk \u2014 *When healthy.<\/p>\n
Those two words have become the most aggravating phrase in the Magic vocabulary. When healthy, they can beat anybody. When healthy, they can compete with the best teams in the East. When healthy, they can make a deep playoff run.<\/p>\n
Well, enough already. At some point, \u201cwhen healthy\u201d becomes the basketball equivalent of \u201cthe check is in the mail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody is accusing Suggs or Wagner of lacking toughness. Injuries happen. Bodies break down. Basketball is a brutal, physically demanding sport. But the Magic have invested too much money, too much time and too much organizational faith in this core to spend another season wondering what might have been.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s training staff, medical personnel, coaches and players must collectively find a way to manage the physical demands of an 82-game marathon. Because the Eastern Conference isn\u2019t going to wait around for Orlando to get healthy. Neither are Magic fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody is making the leap in the weight room, before practice and after practice about how intentional and how detailed we are in injury prevention and taking care of our muscles and tendons,\u201d Suggs says. \u201cWe don\u2019t want injuries to be the narrative. These windows are so short. After your career is over, you don\u2019t want to look back and say injuries are part of the reason why you didn\u2019t achieve what you wanted to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n
This franchise has reached the point where simply making the playoffs is no longer a meaningful accomplishment. The rebuild is over. The honeymoon is over. The participation trophies have been put away. Now comes the hard part: winning when it matters.<\/p>\n
Which brings us back to Suggs and his apology. I believe him. I believe he and his teammates were embarrassed by what happened against Detroit. I believe he cares deeply about Orlando and desperately wants to make things right.<\/p>\n
But the best apology isn\u2019t delivered behind a microphone in September. It\u2019s delivered on the court in April and May. It\u2019s delivered by staying available, playing with purpose and refusing to let another promising season dissolve into another painful postseason autopsy.<\/p>\n
Wednesday night against Atlanta is just one game. It won\u2019t erase the embarrassment of Detroit, but it can mark the beginning of something different. Something better. And, yes, something healthier.<\/p>\n
So thank you, Jalen Suggs, for the genuine apology. Now please, for the love of everything holy in the Magic Kingdom, let\u2019s have fewer injury reports, fewer excuses and fewer what-ifs.<\/p>\n
For once, let\u2019s see what this team can actually accomplish when everybody shows up for work.<\/p>\n
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my radio show \u201cGame On\u201d every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com\/listen.<\/p>\n
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