The 2012-2013 season was a very difficult year for fans of the Orlando Magic. After star player Dwight Howard fled to the bright lights of Los Angeles, the Magic stumbled to a record of 20-62, leaving them one game behind even the lowly Charlotte Bobcats with the worst record in the NBA.

Ouch.

Most fans would say this season was a complete disaster for the Magic. After all, the team barely won half as many games as they did the previous season, which was even shortened by 16 games due to the lockout.

I, however, have a different perspective. I believe the Magic season was a complete success.

I know the team’s record wasn’t pretty, but the Magic made several strides in the right direction during their losing season. With eight players under the age of 24 playing meaningful minutes by season’s end, the team spent the year grooming promising young players who will help the club in the future.

And some young standouts did emerge. Second year big man Nikola Vucevic ranked second in the league in rebounding with nearly 12 per game and emerged as a candidate for the Most Improved Player of the Year Award. After a slow start, rookie small forward Maurice Harkless, just 19 years old, surfaced as a major contributor, averaging 13 points per game over the season’s final two months. Rookie Andrew Nicholson also enjoyed a successful season and proved he belonged in the NBA.

Magic GM Rob Hennigan also pulled off a great, though controversial, trade before February’s deadline. By making the tough decision to trade away Magic fan favorite JJ Redick to the Milwaukee Bucks, he freed up a great amount of cap space while also bringing back promising young players, helping the team in the long run.

One such player acquired in the Redick trade was second year forward Tobias Harris. Often buried on the bench in Milwaukee, Harris emerged as a focal point of the Magic offense, averaging 17 points and almost nine rebounds per game with the team.

Already blessed with an excess of young talent, the Magic’s terrible record will only help the team improve even more. They will have one of the top few picks (and maybe even the first overall, depending on the bouncing of the ping pong balls at the draft lottery) in the upcoming draft to spend on another prime talent.

Next year’s team will improve, but even with all the aforementioned talent, the Magic will likely find themselves towards the bottom of the NBA record-wise once again. The team is simply still too young to succeed in the league, but their poor performance will again help them in the long run.

The 2014 NBA draft will likely stocked with more talent than any year since 2003, a class that included Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade. The 2014 draft could change the course of the Magic franchise forever.

Now it’s time for my bold prediction: Should the Magic avoid draft busts and make the correct selections in both the 2013 and 2014 drafts, they will compete for and eventually bring home Orlando’s first title before the year 2020.

Granted, this does seem like a long way away, and, yes, Magic fans will suffer through a few more hard-to-watch seasons. But at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

All Magic fans can do for the next few years is pray we make the right picks in the draft, watch our exciting young players develop, and, if all goes well, start planning the potential championship parade down Church Street.

Well, at least a guy can dream.