Otis Smith has the right mindset

I am catching up on all things Magic after spending the weekend at the depressing Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

The one thing I finally watched was Sun Sports' Inside the Magic special on the 1995 Finals team. The show was average and more told the 5-year-old fan exactly what happened without going to deep into anything (that team deserves a 7-part miniseries, it would be interesting and I would watch for sure).

But there was one interesting point made in the telecast -- something I have never heard and something I believe deeply about that team.

At the end of the program Shaquille O'Neal is sitting talking about that team. He has won four titles since his first trip to the finals ended in a sweep to the Rockets. So he knows a little bit about winning a title.

He says in his interview that the 1994-95 team had the goal of making the finals. They did not say to themselves throughout the season that they could win the championship. That Magic team accomplished their goal and did not finish the job. Winning a title is twice as hard as winning a conference.

That team was incredibly naive and young. I was too young myself to remember everything that happened that season. But from everything I read, that was a team that ran on emotion and energy and that they simply lost it to the more experienced, veteran Rockets team.

But the franchise has learned its lesson since then. The Magic certainly know it is special to make it to the second round of the playoffs much less the Finals.

Otis Smith has proudly stated that the team's goal is to win a title. He has posted a picture of the Larry O'Brien Trophy in the locker of every player on the roster. This team's goal is rightly to win a title.

They may not do it. But:

Why Not Us? Why Not Now?