The rookie magician says he’s learning a lot
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Orlando Magic rookie and No. 1 overall draft pick Paolo Banchero is journaling with The Associated Press this season to chronicle his first year in the NBA. This is his second installment, his first since the regular season began. The Magic are an NBA-worst 5-20 through the first 25 games of his rookie campaign. He is averaging 21.7 points and 6.8 rebounds.)
I’m learning.
The first few weeks of my first NBA season, I would say it’s been a lot of learning, a lot of learning on the floor, off the floor, habits, learning what works, what routine works for me, things like that. And then you just learn what this league is like, how you have to wear it every night. You have to learn to win. They won’t just hand it to you.
I think I learned it. We’ve all learned and are doing it the hard way, including me, just being a freshman coming from Duke, coming from always winning my whole life. It’s a little different now. I have to learn to prepare the same way, still have the same love and joy for the game, and focus on how we can get wins and be competitive.
There’s a lot to like here. All the boys are close. We all communicate when we are not in the arena or at the AdventHealth Training Center. Honestly, it’s a great atmosphere every day around here. It’s not like guys don’t talk to each other. It’s not like there’s any commotion. Everything off the court is going well and everyone likes what we are doing. It’s just trying to figure out how we can bring that camaraderie to the court, to the games, and help each other win. And we’ve dealt with a lot of other things, injuries and other things. We just want to look healthy. Then we can try to build.
It’s about patience. That’s the main thing. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Banchero missed seven games with a sprained ankle.) I’ve never been injured before. In high school, my sophomore year, I had a concussion that kept me out for two weeks. But as far as injuries go, I never had any. I hadn’t missed a game in college. Outside of that concussion, I didn’t miss a game in high school. I just had to learn to listen to my body and be patient. I’m still not as explosive as I was before I got hurt. I feel like I’ve pretty much got my wind back, but as far as the explosion and movement, I’m still trying to get it up to speed and get back into the flow. It’s a daily process.
There have been some good “Welcome to the NBA” moments. There have been some that weren’t so good. I had the kill in my first game. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Banchero dunked on Detroit’s Cory Joseph in his debut game in October.) I mean, that was a nice hit. I think I had one in high school that I would consider better than that one. I’ve never had a spring in my life where someone tried to take over. All the fights I’ve had with people have been when they’ve tried to jump to block me. And even a couple of my close friends were like, “Wow, that was crazy to watch.”
I’ve had some moments where you realize this is the NBA. Whether it’s against Kevin Durant and he goes 45 and only misses five shots, or I have 30 in two games, you learn from all of that. And you realize, ‘Hey, I’m here. I can do it.’
Before the season, he was definitely one of the guys that was like, ‘This is going to happen this season, we can do this and we can do that.’ And then you look up and we’re 5-20. For me, it’s just a reality check. You can’t come into this league and get wins and be successful. You have to work for it. It will take several years.
We know it won’t happen in a week. It won’t happen in two weeks. It won’t happen with a player or an adjustment. This could take a year, two years, three years. It’s not just an overnight success. We have a work ethic and just knowing we’re at the bottom right now, there’s nowhere to go but up. So we’re going to take the little wins, whether it’s a win, whether it’s a good quarter or a good half, and then we’ll move on to the next one and try to build it up and let it continue to grow.
This is a process. And whether it translates into immediate wins or not, I just want to see us play better basketball, see me continue to learn and stay engaged. We cannot let what happens discourage us. We just have to keep at it, keep at it, because you never know what can happen. Let’s go into each day with a fresh mind, a fresh soul, and be ready to improve.
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