Everything changed for the Orlando Magic on draft night in 2016.It was then the franchise shifted its direction, moving away from the methodical draft-based rebuild and into a win-now mode.The team traded away former second overall pick Victor Oladipo for Serge Ibaka. They continued their remodeling with a massive free agent spending spree that included signing in another rim-protecting center in Bismack Biyombo. All this with a new coach in Frank Vogel, hired after Scott Skiles sudden resignation.The Magic team that takes the Amway Center court Wednesday in the season opener against the visiting Miami Heat is going to be hardly recognizable to the team that finished in April. Orlando has seven new players and heightened expectations after a four-year playoff drought.Everybody is ready, Magic forward Aaron Gordon said. Offseason is great, but this is what we live for. This is what we live to do. Its so much fun. We know we can do something special and we are looking to seize that opportunity.The Magic remain one of the leagues biggest mysteries entering the season, but things have changed drastically in Miami too.The Heats championship dynasty is completely gone. Dwyane Wade surprisingly left for the Chicago Bulls after 13 years in Miami. LeBron James left two seasons ago for the Cleveland Cavaliers. And the Heat have not cleared Chris Bosh to play after continuing heart problems keep him on the sideline.Miami must rely on a multi-faceted versatile offensive attack and balanced scoring to succeed.A big strength of our roster is versatility, depth, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. And that we have multiple guys that can have nights, where its not one or two guys dominant. And thats a strength.It is certainly a different situation for Miami, which does not have the superstar players or the sure path to the postseason. They are relying more heavily on young players -- including Hassan Whiteside, whom the Heat signed to a fresh four-year, $98.4 million deal.The Heat have always been good about mining role players and will need their support more than ever to defy the odds and reach the playoffs. But they still have the steady hand of veteran point guard Goran Dragic running with Whiteside to help fill that void.As the teams battle changes and adjustments to new rosters and new teammates, the Magic and the Heat will be trying to feel comfortable in their new skins.Its going to be an 82-game process, Magic coach Frank Vogel said. Ideally, you hit the ground running. But you dont want to overreact if you dont. If things arent working early, youre really just learning about your team. You are able to make adjustments either by improving what youre doing or changing what youre doing. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Benardrick-Mckinney-Jersey/ . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Tyler-Ervin-Jersey/ . "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Jeff-Allen-Jersey/ . -- The boos poured down on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at the end of a horrible first half. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Jeremy-Lane-Jersey/ . The Dane followed up his first European Tour title last weekend with eight birdies and just a single dropped shot on Thursday for a one-stroke advantage over South Africas Allan Versfeld and Portugals Ricardo Santos. http://www.texansrookiestore.com/Texans-Donta-Foreman-Jersey/ . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. When last have you been to Bulawayo?A friend asked me the question fans have been asking Test cricket since the last time either of us was there five years ago, in 2011. So long ago that we were warned that we would face the land that time forgot. Frankly, I couldnt wait.Like any second city, Bulawayo has had to endure its fair share of shadow-occupancy to its bigger brother Harare, and its smaller but more beautiful sibling, Victoria Falls. Its famous for being the birthplace of royalty - not just the kings the city is named after - but Charlene, Princess of Monaco, and its connections to other notables such as writers Doris Lessing and NoViolet Bulawayo, Olympic medalist Kirsty Coventry, footballers Peter Ndlovu and Benjani Mwaruwari, and cricketers Graeme Hick and Heath Streak. Apart from its people, Bulawayo is a sepia photograph filled with memories. For some, those memories include the last time big cricket came to town.Since Zimbabwes 2011 Test matches against New Zealand and Pakistan, Queens Sports Club has hosted 17 ODIs and four T20Is, which does not sound too bad. But in a place where pause seems to be the default setting, theres a thirst for Test cricket. Finally, it has arrived, and everything from the airport to the Queens clubhouse seems to be quietly celebrating.Joshua Nkomo International Airport has an upgraded terminal to replace the tin shed that welcomed us five years ago. Then, there was one boarding gate, and rudimentary immigration and passport control services. Now, it gleams of newness and the queues to the counters snake around a small room.On Tuesday morning, it had to accommodate Makhaya Ntini, who was returning from CSAs 25-years anniversary dinner, on the 10:40 flight from Johannesburg, along with several members of the television production company, who were only confirmed at the last minute, and umpire Michael Gough, who arrived in Johannesburg from Newcastle on Monday night. Gough will stand in his first (and second) Tests in Bulawayo, and might be quietly expecting it to be an easing in to officiating at the highest level.Two hours later, Ntini was in his kit at Queens Sports Club, throwing balls. Lance Klusener was already there. At some point, Klusener got into an unusually animated discussion with Ntini, gesturing several times towards the square. There, Fungai Shanganya, Zimbabwe Crickets head groundsman, who regularly prepares surfaces for international cricket in Harare, is in his hometown of Bulawayo to get not one, but two Test pitches ready. Hes done this before, in Harare in 2013, when back-to-back matches were played against Bangladesh, so he knows how to handle a quick turnaround.In the middle of the lush outfield, he is preparing the right-most surface from the main grandstand and one in the middle. No one is quite sure which one will be used first. Theyll be exactly the same, so chances are well just decide on the day, someone joked.ddddddddddddFar more important decisions await Zimbabwe, though, as they enter their first home Tests in almost two years, depleted of their most important bowling resources. Both Tinashe Panyangara and Tendai Chatara have been ruled out due to injuries.Brian Vitori, who returned from having his action declared illegal, remodeled and then cleared, in last weeks match against South Africa A, is hanging around. Vitori looks fitter and fresher than ever, but is unsure if he is ready to play at the highest level. I am getting there, slowly, slowly, I am getting there he says.If he isnt quite there yet, Michael Chinouya might be. In all the years I have come across him, he still hasnt learned to crack a smile, which is completely unlike John Nyumbu. Ever ready for a joke, Nyumbu greets the media with the reality that there will be, no dancing this time, when wickets fall because he is also not in the squad. Hamilton Masakadza, who comes to call the stragglers for a meeting, is unlikely to be persuaded to dance, but he is more than likely to stop for a chat and he does.A few meters away, in the presidents suite, two men are putting up a flatscreen television for the VIPs directly above the area where they will look out from. Behind them are an odd collection of trophies - one from an ODI between Zimbabwe and Pakistan in 1998, another from the 1991 Currie Cup - and a photograph of a cap-wearing Peter Pollock, jumping up to defend a ball delivered by Doug Walters at Newlands in 1970. Of all the places in the world to find a picture of that, Queens Sports Club would not have been my guess.To the left of that, in a corporate box, with a luxurious wooden bar top, the seats have not been upholstered in years and the foam from the head rests and seats is peeping through the peeling black covers. Downstairs, a man is washing the window sills, wiping away any dust that may have collected there. Another is watering the grass beneath the open stands. None of them needs do anything to the main embankment. It is as inviting as ever. The trees are the same height as they have always been. The dappled sunlight shines through them, creating golden drops on the grass. Maybe, it will be full at some point over the next two weeks. Maybe.But, maybe not. There are several posters advertising the tickets prices for the two Tests - US$3 for the grandstand and US$2 for anywhere else in the ground. With a severe cash shortage in the country, who knows if people have any to spare. The emptiness of the Queens Sports Bar suggests not. At around 5pm, there is only a small group of people seated inside. They are watching highlights of the recently completed England-Pakistan Test. Time may have forgotten this place, but cricket has not. 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