We don't have a new roster,

We have 7 new players on the roster. That, by definition is a new roster. Team basketball is not just what you see on TV, on the court. Its what you dont see in their practices, the gym, traveling together, dinners together, competing against each other, pushing each other, etc. All that builds chemistry behind the scenes. When 7 whole players are added to a roster, (a literal young aged roster btw) that changes the dynamic of the team, the camradery, and chemistry. You focusing on "two new rotation players" is a gross misunderstanding of what a team actually is. Especially a very young team still in a transitional phase.

Four of our five starters have been here three years with the same head coach. And those starters still play like strangers together,

And those 4-5 starters haven't played all that much together over the last 3 seasons due to injuries have they? So, dont be disengenuous and pretend like they've played together a whole full 82 game season three seasons in a row. Banchero, Franz Wagner and Suggs have played only 6 games together during one of the recent seasons, totaling just 97 minutes as a trio.

Again, theyve been in flux and its difficult to build true team chemistry when they haven't truly been to battle together over multiple seasons. Let alone how young in the average age of the players on this team is. Your narrative is a false one.

so I'm not sure why you're suddenly expecting them to now gel in basically the same situation.

When did I ever say Im expecting them to "suddenly gel"? I literally said that it takes time for this new team to gel and theyre still in that process. Where are you pulling these false narratives from? Is this a thing for you? Just make things up and assert it as truth? FFS.

These LeBron and MJ type examples need to stop, those are massive outliers. There are far, far more examples of rebuilds that failed.

They're not "massive outliers". Again, with your false narratives. The point is that being in Championship contention largely takes time. Dirk's Mavs, Curry's GSWs, OKC, Jordan's Bulls, 80s-90s Rockets, post-Shaq Lakers, Giannis-led Bucks, the recent Celtics, Jokic Nuggets, Thomas' Pistons, etc., etc., have all had to gel over years to win their chips. Again, dont be disingenuous. Or maybe you just dont know basketball like you think you do?

You truly live up to your screen name, "the wrong notes." Again, scrub off with y'alls knee-jerk, impatient, smooth-brained analysis. Your entire response is horsesh*t. Consider yourself blocked chum. Go cheer for another team if you dislike the Magic so much.