​After starting the 2026-27 NBA season 0-2, the Orlando Magic finally got into the winning column on Sunday by beating the defending NBA champion New York Knicks, 111-102, in Madison Square Garden.The win was a much-needed momentum boost for the Magic, who were coming off a blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, in which star forward Paolo Banchero suffered a low-grade high right ankle sprain. That will cause him to miss several weeks.Orlando has a lot of challenges ahead on its schedule, which will mostly take place on the road. In these moments where adversity has hit early and it has hit hard, we are going to learn what rookie head coach Sean Sweeney is made of. He gave us a positive glimpse on Sunday, and now it is time to keep it up.On the latest episode of the Full Court Magic Podcast, I discussed what we will find out about Sweeney on the difficult road ahead for this team: “And I think more than anything, we’re going to find out a lot about Sean Sweeney here. You know, first of all, what are his strengths? What are his weaknesses? And now that he has been hit with adversity early, how can he galvanize this group? And, you know, keep them on the right track and get them to win some basketball games here.And, you know, he’s a very stoic personality, but he also has a good sense of humor. And those intangibles matter in a locker room. You know, you have to be able to take things seriously and keep everything in check, but also, you know, lighten the air a little bit and lighten up the room, especially when a team is going through some stuff like the Magic are.So, I believe Sweeney has all the capabilities, but now he’s going to get put to the test, and I wonder if, you know, a coaching change that the Magic experienced can really remedy the core flaws of this team, the core flaws of the roster. Can Sweeney overcome some of the issues that this team has? I mean, the poor offense, the lack of a true point guard, the thin depth on the bench.I mean, the good news is Anthony Black was made available for the game against the Knicks. That’ll hopefully take some pressure off not having Paolo Banchero. Nevertheless, I mean, the Magic are far from perfect here, and they’re far from one of the deepest teams in the league. I mean, you’ve got a lot of issues plaguing this group, especially right now. And I’m curious if Sweeney can overcome those challenges that he is facing here early. And so there’s a lot to figure out, and we’re going to see exactly what this team is made of here, and the good news is it’s an 82-game season. There’s no reason to panic, but the tests are happening right now, and the Magic have to do something right now to ensure that they can overcome these obstacles.”