What is up, fellow thermonuclear affers. I am Dana Valley coming at you
without my certified fantabulist co host, mister Grant Hughs, but we are pleased
and grateful to be joined by the equally certified fantabulist Kyle, co host of
the Court Cousins podcast covering the Orlando Magic. They did a great job over
there. I only recently stumbled upon to them, and they were a joy
to listen. To follow them on the Twitter machine at Court Underscore Cousins spelled
exactly as it sounds double c's. And then wherever you get your podcast platforms,
they are on YouTube and they're gonna be on all the pod mediums.
I will include links to all that stuff in the podcast and YouTube description,
so go check them out. Kyle, this is your first time on the
podcast, so you didn't know it was a mistake just yet. But how
are you doing well. I'm really happy to be here with you. Dan,
Thanks so much. I love what you do. I just I just
hope I put on a good show for all those thermonuclear mrffers out there tonight,
and I'm gonna try to just be out of this world like the alien
aesthetic that we're going for. I've got my my conspiracy glasses in the back,
just ready to go, so we'll see if I'm excited for those we're
gonna need. I hope those come on no fewer than twelve times during the
course of this podcast. And I also see the there was where I saw
a baby Yoda in the background. So we're keeping our game right there.
And yeah, we're like, I like the I like the aesthetic behind you.
I like the lighting, and I like the Orlando mascot whose name is
like failing me right now. It's their mascot, Bay, it's not things.
Yeah, and I've always wanted to ask I've always wanted to ask you,
Dan, I'm all right for a step in on you. There.
You've got the T MAC in the background, and now that we're talking magic,
I need a little history behind that. What's the context? Are you
a closeted Magic fan? Are you just a T MAC fan? What's happened?
Yes? Yeah, I'm really Orlando Magic fans. Some people would claim
that I'm just a fake Magic fan trying to curry favor with a non glamor
market. But I loved the that Orlando Magic era. That aesthetic is just
my favorite. It's not the hardcore pin stripe jersey, but I like the
pin stripes coming down the side in the white. And I also loved t
Mac and that magic era is like one of my great what ifs of like
what if these dudes stayed healthy looking at t Mac, looking at Grant Hill
and even just the stories of like around that time where they almost got Tim
Duncan and how close they came to getting that. So someone gave me that
jersey because they knew that I was obsessed with both the aesthetic and t Mac
himself. So it hangs there and for a who cares the jersey next to
it. I don't know if you've ever gotten to this. People have asked
me who it is. It's Danilo Gallinari because it's it's obviously Danila Gallanari.
I might be the only person on the planet who likes the Knicks Saint Patty's
Day colorways that they got rid of years ago. I loved those things.
Yeah, I can't get there with you. I don't know if I could
ever like a next jersey, but well that's fair, but like the next
jerseys are still boring their version of being creative is like, hey, let's
make everything all black and orange, and it's just like step outside the box,
give me green and orange, and I love it. This isn't a
jersey show, but for the Magic fans that are tuning in, we're craving
new jerseys, We're craving some of the nostalgias our thirty fifth season. We're
just begging give us something, give them the stars of the t mac era.
I mean, people really want to go back to the pin stripes.
I say, hold your holes, as folks. It's probably not going back
there. But let's see what the Magic front office and the marketing team developed
for us this year. That'll have to be a podcast when all the alternate
jerseys are released this year, which we've never done, which we probably should
have. Yeah, I mean it's so easy to please fans, Like if
you just gave them the pinstripes, the Orlando Magic fans would probably be over
the moon and back. And so it's not even a matter of like you
don't even need to come up with something innovative. These people are Everyone wants
nostalgia now, but some teams are just they haven't done a good job.
I think the Knicks have. Actually, the Knicks and the Celtics have sucked
something hard when it comes to their jerseys. I'm not gonna lie they are.
They are just what's the opposite of innovative, just unoriginal and lazy.
They feel like, like you said, not a jersey podcast though, it's
agast so I want to start here. Nationally. I think people who didn't
have as good a pulse on the team saw the cap space landscape, saw
the Magic could have or would have over twenty million in cap space, could
get to more if they really wanted to, and just expected them to do
something big. They end up with Joe Ingles, and I think that took
a lot. Again, a lot of people naturally were just like ah blah.
Even my co host Grant and too thrilled with Orlando's off season when we
went through grades. Were you expecting something bigger? Is this about what you
expected? Were you disappointed they weren't even linked to some sort of bigger swing?
Where did you land on just kind of the machinations of their off season?
Yeah, I definitely was not expecting anything big. I think most in
the Magic community we're not expecting something big. And if you're someone that's followed
the track record of what used to be Weltman and Hammond who were coming from
Milwaukee. Now Hammond has stepped aside and it's now Weltman and Parker running the
Orlando Magic front office. But you saw in Milwaukee what John Hammond. They're
patient, They're not gonna jump into anything crazy. I mean, thinking about
that situation. They drafted Janice, they picked up Chris Middleton as a reclamation
project, and you can see the parallels here in in Orlando and US Magic
fans are helping them, hoping those parallels continue to a championship. But we've
got we think our guy or maybe two guys. If we're gonna talk about
Wagner a little bit exactly, we've done that. We've got the reclamation project
and Mark ll Folt we're going to talk about in a little bit. We
tried to have another one in Bull Bull that didn't work out. But but
you can see the pattern again evolving from Weltman, who learned under the tutelage
of John Hammond. They're gonna be patient, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff Weltman
always talked about I'm not going for the sugar high. I'm gonna be patient
and we're going to develop this thing in the right way. We're gonna take
a swing at some point, you know, just like they took a swing
in Milwaukee and they went out and they got Drew Holiday to kind of finish
that that puzzle with also Brook Lopez. But we're not there yet. That
was in the second contract of Jannis. It's so early on right now for
us. I mean, it's a great thing that people in the national media
and national fans are saying, hey, why aren't they going all in,
because that means there's a lot of talent here in Orlando, and people are
considering that we could make a jump. But I think it's a little too
early. Magic die hard fans, we know it's a little too early.
It's coming not I don't even think next offseason. Maybe once we start getting
in the Franz's second contract and then Polos, that's when I can see us
really pushing the chips in. But I think we're still a ways off.
So no, you know, this didn't really surprise me. I wanted to
get shooting, and we got it in the form of Joe Ingles. You
know, it's three point shooters. That's what we needed, right, Look,
he's a trillion years old, but he was coming off he was coming
off an ACL injury last year, and he was a lot better than I
expected. I think he's probably closer. I would say he's further away from
cooked defensively than you would think. And yeah, the magic don't need necessary,
Like you could have one player on the floor who's the defensive liability with
this magic roster, and so I think that really helps. But what type
of like role should we expect Joe Ingles who have based off this edition,
is this we sign this guy to come in soak up real secondary minutes as
a ball handler for floor spaser or was this more about not necessarily breaking case
or emergency But he's not really going to play as much as you might think.
And this was more about getting a nice, high character veteran guy in
a locker room that is still when you look up and down the roster,
not saying these guys aren't high character already, but this is still a fairly
young team. Yeah. Absolutely, I think it's the ladder of those two.
I think it's a high character guy, hilarious dude from all reports that's
gonna fit in well. With this young Magic team, don't. I don't
know. I don't Where is he gonna fit in the depth chart is a
great question. It's a nice hypothetical to think about. I'd say maybe he's
gonna be the third or fourth guy off the bench. You think he's gonna
be backing up Paulo, probably playing the four or the three somewhere in there.
Coach Moseley last year, with the rotations he liked to take, he
well, first of all, he would put Sugs in immediately for Gary Harris
was the first sub in, and then soon thereafter it would be Franz off
the court because Mosley loves to see Morets and Franz working that second unit and
really giving the keys to the second unit to Franz. So how is it
gonna work this year? I know we're going to talk about some of these
other guys. You know, I think Sugs is gonna start, do you?
Then? You know, does av come in? Cole Anthony has been
our kind of six man microwave scorer, so I gotta figure he's gonna be
relieving Marquelle. Yeah, I think when Paulo comes off, you'll see Joe
Ingles go on. But you know, Paulo played thirty two minutes a game
last year. I think something like that. So I think that Joe Ingles
is going to be soaking up some of those minutes. Maybe we'll go like
small Ball five at some point and they'll get a little extra playing time.
I don't know. You reject that shit into my veins. Please, I'll
need someone to tag me on Twitter if they see Joe Ingles playing the five
during a Magic game and I'm watching, I'm gonna need to know. I'm
sorry. I didn't mean to suggest that. I meant in a small Ball
five lineup, when maybe Paulo is playing the five or something, Ingles may
get a few more minutes. But I really don't see this as you know,
a big He's not going to be a primary option, I don't think.
And if he is, like you said, break a glass in case
of emergency, Houston, I think we have a problem. There is an
emergency. I think if we see Joe Ingles getting a lot of minutes this
year, I think, look, twelve to fifteen minutes is probably the perfect
Joe Ingles role at this point. Anyway, when you're looking at his age
and if you do have aspirations of getting to the play in maybe getting into
the playoffs and wanting him there available for that, there's value in not over
using him during the regular season. There are other well, their actual big
edition of the off season is they draft Anthony Black, which was just such
like in Orlando Magic front office pick at this point, my two questions with
him because I do like Anthony Black, but my full disclosure would be this
was not the team I wanted him to end up on, just because they
had guys who can already really handle the ball and were I don't want to
say, because I believe in Palo's jumper, but like and I believe in
Jowen Suggs too, but like floors basing liability collectively, and he ends up
here, how concerned are you about that fit? And then also what type
of role do you expect him to have in year one? Where yeah,
this organization is still rebuilding, but like there are some expectations now, so
are they going to give him the freedom to fail or the runway to fail?
Yeah? I agree, don't I don't think he really fits. I
mean this, let me get the shades on for the first conspiracy theory of
the evening, because I don't think that the front office that was their guy.
I mean, I think that we had targeted Asar Thompson, and I
think the Pistons ruined the party because that just makes so much more sense on
this lineup, at least a guy who is touted as someone who could shoot.
And you're right, once that went, I just said, they went
for the magic guy, the long defensive player, and that's gonna get him
playing time. But it's really tough. It's really tough, Dave. How
does he get the runway? As you said, Jeff Weltman says, we
gotta give these guys a shot. Well, where's the shot coming from,
Jeff, Because I mean, I've got the number twenty on right now.
This is our boy, Mark l Folts. A lot of us in the
magic community believe in this guy. He turned when he came back. We
went from five and twenty to an over five hundred team. So he is
a winner. He is very key to this team, and there just seems
to be a lot of replication with the skill set that Anthony Black will bring
it bring in now, I think he's gonna be the backup point guard or
a backup playmaker. With the second unit, but because of the lack of
shooting and as of right now, the lack of shooting from mark el Folts,
I do believe it will get better, but it's never gonna be elites,
I don't think because of that duplication of skill. I don't. And
you have both those guys on the court at the same time, when you
know you've got Paulo who's not yet a very good three point shooter, Franz
is about thirty seven percent right now, which is fine. And then when
like that doesn't seem like that seems like a defensive stopper team. No one's
gonna score on us, But are we gonna be able to score? Because
teams will just park in the lane and what are we gonna do? That's
the problem now seeing him at summer League, man, he is big like
he is. He's yeah. I don't, I don't know what he's advertised.
I think when he's coming to league he said like six seven, and
Jet Howard supposed to be like six nine. But he's standing like eye to
eye with him. And also DJ Wilson, who is our center. I
believe am I getting his name? They were I to I mean this guy
looks big. He's a really good rebounder, a much better rebounder than I
knew, and his court vision is superior. But I think he took like
three or four three point shots in all of summer league games that he played,
and if you're gonna let it go, and that's the time. So
it was very concerning to me that our top draft pick, who should have
the keys in the summer league and just do whatever you want, buddy,
like let it fly, was not even shooting even when he was open from
three. So it does create quite the quagmire here for the Orlando Magic.
I don't know how Mark el Foltz feels about it, because it seems like
they just tried to draft his the insurance policy and if things don't will I
just it's a high enough pick to where he even say is it just his
replacement rather than the insurance policy? And I'm with everything you said pretty much.
I do think the lineup you outlaid it might get just enough spacing.
If Palo is as good this year as a shooters, I expect him to
be. But when you talk about functional shooting, like you have Franz Wagner,
and that's like you know Wendell Carter Junior and Palo like, you're gonna
want them to do more stand still stuff. And with Anthony Black and watch
a ton of him in college, it was more of a crash course when
he was coming into the NBA. I don't know that he does enough off
the ball offensively to where you can say, well, we're just gonna use
him as a forward and take him out of his point guard him. And
the other thing there is, even if he was, have you generated enough
secondary space and to actually use him away from the ball. And that's where
you run into these issues. And so I think this. I know I'd
slotted this later in the podcast, but where do you sort of land then,
like how invested are you in Mark l faults? If you're the magic
he is extension eligible at the end of September, I believe, and he's
played well, And I've gotten shit on this podcast. We've gotten shit on
this podcast because we suggest like guards who can shoot as like targets that the
mat like ideally would be like a wing player combo forward maybe like we've suggested
ball handling guards who could get the rock off, and we have our point
guard of the future in markl Folts. I think he's a very good NBA
player now, he shot like fifty percent on two point jumpers last year,
gets to the rim, He's fantastic his size defensively, I think he has
a great feel in the lane for he's got a lot better at not picking
up his dribble as well. I just if you're going to have him be
the person who's your first or even second orchestrator, depending on how you there's
Franz and there's Paolo, so you know you consider him like the two,
the one point five, the two, you need to have a lot more
spacing around him. And now you bring in Anthony Black. I just I'm
just wondering if it's gonna come to a head sooner than people think, and
does this manifest in like, oh, is Mark elf Folds even on this
team by twenty four twenty five? So just where are you on the like
how much of a believer are you and Mark elf Folds driving? And again,
like a really good offense, not just the one we just witnessed last
year. Yeah, well we gotta take a week and get right now,
Dan No, I mean I'm extremely high on Mark el Folds I love the
way he plays the game. It's a beautiful game of basketball that he plays,
and it's a unique game of basketball that he plays. You're right,
he's shot, for the first time in his career just over thirty percent from
beyond the arc. And teams know that. I mean, we all the
league knows that that's not his forte. He's not taking many three point shots,
but they depend, right, I think it's the big thing. But
he still gets into the lane because of the urky jerkiness to his game.
It's it's very different and you can see why he went number one. That's
special. I mean he was top you know, ninety fifth percentile and assist
percentage in terms of how many teammates are making buckets off of his assists.
I love I love that. I mean, he's just the facilitator. He
can get where he wants on the floor to his kills spots, as he
says, the kill spots. He loves the elbows. And so he's been
you know, rebuilding his shot that thoracic the nerve outlet syndrome that he had
for a while. You could see the shot was really odd for years.
And now his mid range shot looks really good. It's a high release,
and he still had the weird push shot year for most of the year from
behind the arc, which was so odd to me. He's shooting beautifully from
eighteen feet but then he steps out a little wise and he has this weird
push shot. But at the end of the year, his mechanics on the
on the mid range shot was the same as from beyond the arc. So
you know, that's just here conspiracy number two. All right, there they
go on that. Mark cal Foltz's shot is now fixed, ladies and gentlemen,
and he's going to be coming out now. I mean that's a little
hyperbolic, but there's potential to be a little bit better from beyond the arc.
That's all I'm saying. He's averaging career last year career high and points,
assist, rebound, steals, field goal percentage as you said, and
his effective field goal percentage has gone up every year since he's been in the
league. It's it's tough because he is Dan, He's he has the intangibles,
like there's nothing that I can really point to. All those statistics I
said are nice, but he's the leader of the team. We have Paula
Ben Carroll, we have Franz Wagner, and at the end of the game,
Mosley puts the ball in mark El Foltz's hand and he comes through.
He came through numerous times in the clutch for us, even when he'd make
a mistake. He's that type of guy that he gets a turnover, but
then he gets a steal and he makes it right. He just has a
winning a winning personality, and his defense doesn't get talked about enough. In
my opinion, he's the top ten and steals per game amongst guards who played
at least sixty games. So really, I mean you talked about the extension.
I would love to have him extended for you know, at least three
years. Can we get a you know, a three plus or a two
plus or something like that, which was his previous contract. That would be
comfortable for me. That would you know, that X contract would expire around
when Polo's new contract was needed, and then when Anthony Black's rookie contract was
up. So that would give you that that precipice that you're talking about when
it's all coming to a head. I don't think it comes to a head
this year. Mark El Folts is the guy. He's gonna have the keys,
but you're absolutely right, something's gotta give somewhere. He's got to become
a better shooter. Or you know, Anthony Black, who we're just talking
about, could be the guy that takes over for the magic we'll see.
I don't know, I'm really interested that, or Anthony Black might be a
trade piece for them when they actually do look to consolidate. And if you
ask me to choose right now, I'm choosing mark El Faults like I want
to keep faults if I'm Orlando. It's not even close. And in the
intern, which I did not mention, like they can stagger these two,
especially when Black is a rookie. It just really comes down to when I
look at this roster, if mark El Folts is going to be the floor
general for an elite offense, I just don't see like a pathway to Anthony
Black being a member, like a really critical member of the rotation. So
you don't want to get to a point where you have to stagger guys so
rigidly, like you don't want to have to put that thought in the other
rookie that they're gonna have coming in Jet Howard. Do you have any early
impressions of him and how he's gonna fit. And look, he's someone who,
for everything I know about him, would be pretty crucial to eying all
this stuff that we're talking about on offense together when you want to carve out
more spacing. I mean, definitely, he's got a killer mentality. I
mean I haven't watched too much of him besides what we saw and whenever I
was just under the impression that he was like basically like a six five guard
and then I remember seeing him like, no, this dude's a monster.
He's big. Yeah, I mean he's gonna probably be. You would think
he'd be coming in in the backup three role right now, backing up France,
and that we need shooting and if he can do it. He didn't
really come through. His numbers weren't great from some a league, but as
I said, he ain't shot, he ain't shot a shooting and we need
some more guys on the team like that. I think Magic fans we're gonna
be really excited to see him play. And he brings a lot more you
know, movement than say, at Caleb Houston, who we may or may
may not talk about later. We gave him a small three year contract.
He's pretty much like a stationary shooter guy. There is about the same size
as Jet Howard, plays about the same position, and I think that's you
know who, Jet Howard. Those minutes are up for grabs. Caleb Houston
is going to have to put up our shut up this year because Jet Howard
obviously much more high profile draft pick, and he just brings a little bit
more off the dribble. He had the ball in his hands end up some
games in summer league, whatever that is. But I like what I see.
He has some of that Cole Anthony dog in him where you know Cole
Anthony again, not afraid to shoot it. You can't, you know,
I hate and that's why it was so frustrating to see Anthony batt Black passing
up open looks. You're not going to see that from Jet. Kenny played
defensively and keep himself on the floor and in the rotation. We'll see.
But he's another Michigan guy. Call us the Michigan or Magic or the or
the Orlando Wolverines, whatever have you, because we've got a slew of the
guys on our team and whatever you want to make fun of that. Those
guys come in and they know how to play. So Juan Howard's doing something
right over there in Michigan. So now we got his son, I'm excited
to see him play. Really, he's actually I thinkgain I love Anthony Black
was one of my favorite projects coming in to the draft. I really hope
they unleash Jet Howard though, just because of what their offense needs. And
I think that when you kind of look at this team the way that they're
built for a team that's so good defensively, they don't have a lot of
just like pure wing types. I don't even know if that's Jet Howard,
but there's my point would be, there's minutes available, like if you're can
play wing minutes, and so I would really like to see him. Give
him some runway to see what he's gonna be able to give you on offense,
because even if he's not hitting threes, the types of threes he can
get off So the difficulty and then coupled with the volume, that just opens
up your offense for we talk like we're gonna talk about Palo in a second,
how good that dude is. When he's gonna get into the lame things
he could do around the basket. Imagine what he could do if there's just
more space than he had last year. And so I'm hoping we get to
see more of Jet Howard than I think they were actually gonna get to see.
Yeah, and I think he'll be on that second unit, You'll be
He'll be playing with guys like you know, Moritz Wagner and probably Franz will
be on the court with him sometimes times, and then Cole Anthony and Anthony
Black. The score needs to come from somewhere, and I think he's gonna
see some open shots. He's gonna have his opportunities, and hopefully the young
man knocks him down, because Lord knows we need some shooting. As you
said, so so Pala bank Caro. As I wrote, the outline is
hashtag Thatt dude. That's just been that's been established ten times over. And
so along those lines, I have three there's a three pronged question or segment
whenever you want to call it on bank Row. Let's start here. What
impressed you or surprised you the most about him as a rookie. I think
what impressed me the most and what we've been yearning I've been yearning for in
the Orlando Magic. In this NBA game that we have nowadays, he's getting
to the line. Man, he's getting to the Charity stripe. Seven point
four free throw a tempts for a game that's eleventh in the league. For
a rookie and Magic fans, we haven't had a guy like that that that
gets those free buckets on a regular nightly basis and in the NBA that wins
you basketball games. So it may not be the prettiest all the time,
but man, is it good to have a guy like that, like that
gets the calls, that draws the contact, that gets to the line.
It was just a breath of fresh air. I was ecstatic to have that
type of dude. I mean, you can't really matching Lebron, you know,
forty twenty point games as a rookie, matching this guy called Magic Johnson
and Larry Bird only rookie to achieve six hundred points, two hundred rebounds,
one hundred and twenty assists in his first thirty one games. The guy's a
Swiss Army Knights. He does it all. The thing that I love most
about him is he's a humble superstar, at least right now. He always
says the right thing. He gets excited about getting his teammates involved, and
I get excited about having this guy in a magic uniform, hopefully for a
very long time. I'm not even going to mention the possibility of a team
on the West coast that you know, in the in the Pacific Northwest region,
that's not happening. It doesn't exist. I'm not going to think about
it. I mean, that's even stuff like that, if people start talking
about someone entering their sophomore year leaving, when that's like, we gotta we
gotta pump the brakes on on that one. Out of the free throw stuff
is incredible, and just like when you look at the rookies who average like
twenty five plus points and I think it was ten plus free throws per one
hundred possessions, it's like Polo and a bunch of dudes who are going to
make the Hall of Fame. And so that's a pretty big harbinger. I
was actually pretty impressed with his defense. I think he's a lot more I
don't think the word would be I don't want to throw switchable out. There
was a lot more versatile and much less of a liability, not just by
what I was expecting from Polo Bangko, what I knew about his standards,
but just like from a rookies standards. And so i'll have someone positionally who
I think when you watch him, okay, like he's not gonna they're gonna
have to move him around a little bit. The fact that he can be
moved around and that you can envision scenarios because he's also good enough rebounder.
He's strong where they really want to get to additional small ball five looks where
it won't be Joe Ingles at the five, as we clarified earlier, it'd
be narrow at the five, like you can do that. And so I
think he gives you a lot more optionality on the defensive end than people credit.
And even if you're gonna play him lower, stash him on like a
lower usage wing, again, just his rebounding, there's gonna be the benefit
of that. So he knows you're gonna try and hide him on somebody,
you're still doing yourself a service by hey, we're gonna ensure that once that
shot goes up, he'll be someone who can end the possession and there's value
in that too. Yeah, I agree a thousand percent. I mean all
the ship that was talked about him was about his defense coming in. I
mean people, there was also let me get the conspiracy shades out one more
time. The sweat thing. There was like the sweat he sweats too much
story, I don't know. There was that, and there was that he
can't play defense, but you're right, he showed that he's extremely switchable and
feeble. World Cup rest in peace or usas lost to the loss to the
Gentlemans. We'll talk about Franz Wagner in a moment, not yet, though
he saw he played the five like he there were very few minutes that he
played the Orlando Magic at the five on a smaller five. It worked in
FIBA, it worked at times. I mean he destroyed New Zealand those poor
guys. But he showed that he's also can switch out onto smaller guards and
you're right, he can handle himself. And that's huge in a Coach Mosley
defense and an Orlando Magic team that loves their length, and Coach Mosley loved
playing the zone and switching on defense, so those are the two things he
really loved to do. All that switchability, and Paula Ben Carroll can do
that. So that's great to have in your superstar. We might have just
covered it. But what's like the biggest part of the Palo experience that doesn't
get enough national attention. I think it's free throws received plenty of national attention.
I think I think is his passing really Like three point seven three point
seven assists doesn't necessarily jump off the screen, but for a guy who's an
elite scorer as well, I mean, some of the passes that he made
were just spectacular. I mean, you didn't see him from a guy that
size and his handle. He's just so he's like a freaking ballerina out there
at six ten or he's coming down the lane. He's two hundred fifty ish
pounds. I mean, Doris Burke goes crazy for the guy's frame. And
add on to that the soft touch and the court vision and the fact that
I said earlier that he loves that, like he really genuinely enjoys it.
He's not just out there to get his own he wants to pass the ball,
he wants to get guys involved. And I think as he continues to
grow as a scorer. We're gonna see him, you know, managing double
teams even better hitting guys. And I can see that number ticking up a
little bit as he continues on, and I'm just you know, it's it's
great to see in your superstar that he loves to distribute that much. He's
not a selfish, I first guy, and you can see that in the
way that he passes the ball. Yeah, I think he's got to get
quicker passing out of some of the double teams, but he was making complicated
passes in those situations. And I think the bigger thing, too, is
if they can get to a point where they're consistently surrounding him with more spacing,
He's going to devastate guys running off the baseline or even just finding those
corner three point shooters. And that's what I'm really excited for. And so
I would think, look, right now, mark el Folts is their best
facilitator. We jump ahead. Anthony Black is still on this team. Mark
El Folts is still on this team. In a couple of years, I
fully expect Palaban Carrol might become their best pastor. I'm so high on his
passing that it's not even it's probably not even funny. It's probably I'm so
high on it that it's probably erroneous that it's it's probably a bad omen for
his future. And I just some of the passes he tried, and like
I said, the reaction time in some of those situations, it's gonna get
quicker. He was a rookie and so I'm I think that's the part of
his game that I'm surprised we haven't heard more about when even the spotlight's on
the magic is just because this is someone who I think can drive your entire
offense, and they didn't even really put him in that situation as much as
you would think as like friends, well, I wanna ran more picking Rolls
last year per game, then Palaway Carroll did it. Really, this is
someone who is like, there's room for him to do even more as a
playmaker, and I think he's going to eat up that room at some point
because he's that good. From from your from your lips, the God's ear,
sir, I'm gonna have to pass these shades over to you. I
don't know he's gonna be the best over Markuel, I see, I'm just
a Mark l Fuld stand. I don't know what I mean, that was
a little much. What's the one thing about him in year two, whether
it's something he needs to improve upon or you want to see him add that
you're going to be watching most closely for I mean it's probably a little bit
cliche, but his efficiency, and he's just got to get a little bit
better with his shot selection. Sometimes he was forcing shots when, as you
said, he could have been passing out, you know, forcing through a
double team, things like that. But forty six point five percent effective field
goal percentage that was bottom ten percent in the league for forwards as a rookie.
Hey, that's okay, but if you're really gonna make that superstar jump,
that needs to you know, he needs to get to his spots more
effectively. He loves he loves running the horn. We love running the horn
set with him so that he can operate from the elbow, especially the right
elbow. So I expect him to be able to get to those spots more
effectively. And I want to see that tick up. What about you or
what are you most excited for a second year? I think so it's gonna
be I'll be watching his passing more and I'm gonna be looking at the volume
of like, okay, well, like what's he doing as an initiator.
It's not just about picking rolls, but I want to see that go up
and then the other thing. I mean, it's pretty basic, but I
think it's a pretty big deal. Is I want to see the three point
attempts, Like those gotta come up. I don't even necessarily I care about
the percentage, don't get me wrong, Like four point two per thirty six
minutes is just not enough right now. And he went through pockets of time
where he shot well enough from three for long enough that it's, hey,
just jack up that volume and if you're at thirty two percent, will live
with it, because that puts pressure on defenses and ways. I still don't
think people fully appreciate. And I always come back to he's a better shooter
now, but he's still not great Marcus smart, Like he's reined in it
off the dribble attempts, but like even when he was taking too many of
those, the fact that he's willing to take six seven plus three pointers per
thirty six minutes that puts pressure on the way defense is scramble and if you
can hit them even he's look, he shot. He had one good three
point shooting season. I think Mark Marcus Smart did. If you look at
the difference between how defenses guard him versus how they'll guard Dylan Brooks or someone
from beyond the arc or even Mark el Faults right now, like it,
it can be night and day, and so I just want to see that
number come up from And it's it's a cliche, but I think in his
case, every other part of his game is already so dynamic and the skeleton
of effectiveness is just there that it's it's okay to say, yeah, just
get those get those three point attempts up, right, it only takes one.
It only takes one. You're absolutely right. Just just make the defenses
think about it. And I guess the other thing I really want to see
from him is the free throw percentage come up a little bit. I mean
seventy three. I did the math before we got on here that he left.
I mean, assuming he would have shot one hundred percent from the line,
which is absurd, he left one hundred and thirty four points out there.
I want to see him like, let's get up, Let's get that
up. Paulo we we just we just appraised you for how fantastic you are
at getting to the line, how historic you are at getting to the line
effect. But if you're only making seventy percent of those attempts, it doesn't
help the team as much as it could. So that's really what I'm hoping
for as well in his second year. It would be nice just from one
area, whether it's the free throw line, he's finishing at the rim,
which was I think was largely fine, there's three point shooting, mid range,
whatever. I just want him to have like elite efficiency from what they's
like, oh eighty seven percent at the foul line or oh Palo shot seventy
percent at the rim, or oh Palo shot like you know, I don't
know, like forty nine percent on like push shots or something like. I
just want him to have one of those this like one area where you point,
you're like, oh okay, like just lights out in that area and
that will get him to you know, twenty five twenty six points a game
if he gets if he gets there in one of those areas, I think,
yeah, I mean, if he's hitting like we should have done the
math, and if he shot like eighty three to eighty five percent at the
foul line, which is high, but it's not unreasonable like that that would
be something that could be a complete game changer. On top of you have
to assume he's going to prove his efficiency just from areas of the floor in
general, even if it's okay, not elite, it's oh, he shot
better than thirty percent from three, and he shot better than thirty eight percent
between three and ten feet or whatever it was last season. So still incredibly
high on him. And that's just I don't think he gets forgotten about.
But like when you see a lot of conversations about I want to start a
team with a player twenty three and under or twenty five and under, he
invariably always appears too low. I think, including on our list that we
made earlier this summer, I had him. I think it was number five
on my big board, and I was too much of a coward to pick
him until it was like seven or eight or something, and I walked around
like, yeah, even that was probably too low. Magic fans actually pretty
bad about it, you Breakfastard Dan. Now I'm interested on your take on
this because Magic fans we've been talking a little bit about this him playing with
Team USA this summer. We're talking about the areas that we want him to
improve, and yet he's been used as a five, and a lot of
there was there was a little bit of a civil war within the Orlando Magic
community about does it should he play for Italy and have the team around him
where he gets to just be the guy and get get going to that or
with Team USA, where we just saw he averaged you know, nine points.
Thank goodness, he was backing up Triple J, who gets in foul
trouble like no one I've ever seen. So he got he got some decent
minutes. But again it was at the five. It was he was an
ancillary piece. He was a second thought. He was a third thought on
offense. Do you think that how do you perceive that move from him?
Is there any impact for you? Or are you worried about that at all?
So here's here's my blunt take. I cannot bring myself to care about
what happens for these players in feed and I'll point to look at some of
the icons or better yet, remember Olympics, Mellow that was never gonna They
tried it a little bit as he got older, at the NBA. It
never worked that way. You're just dealing with such a scale of talent on
Tmusa, even when they're not thrown out there a plus plus squad. I
just can't bring myself they care, even though I would like to see him
play more five, but the fact that he played five for like, I
read more into what I'm gonna see in Summer League than what I'm gonna see
from Tmusa, just because the collection of star talent, even on the worst
team is such that it makes brandon Ingram It's, oh, like brandon Ingram
can't be a complimentary player, always needs to have the ball in his hands.
It's like, all right, but like this is a pretty specific circumstance
where he's playing off all these other dudes and Tmusa doesn't really even have like
a true big aside from where they have Walker Kessler follow and Triple J who's
not. He's like really kind of a four at this point. So I
can't bring myself to have an opinion. He's where he wanted to be,
and I think that's all that's all that matters. Would you expect the magic
though, too? Maybe test out more Paula with the five this year.
That's been talked a lot and debated. After the New Zealand game, We're
like, yeah, playing with the five, sure, but I just don't
I don't really see it, to be honest with you, Dan, like
very specific circumstances, Am I am I confident that he could bang with like
a chet Homegren style five. Sure, But in terms of if they're trotting
out, even like a guy like Thomas Bryan, it's not a great center
or anything. Just a center, a seven foot center. Paula is going
to struggle with that. I mean, it's not going to be easy unless
you're putting him. Unless he's not really playing the defensive five, and he's
playing next to like Jonathan Isaac, who playing against next Jonathan Isaac. That's
a that's a whole other that's a hilarity I should put on the right now,
exactly exactly now. But your point is well taken. We shouldn't read
too much into FIBA. You don't need to tell us magic fans about this.
We saw Evan Fournier go light the world on fire every Olympics and at
FEBA and we're like, Okay, this is the year he's gonna come back
as the number one score here he comes. Oh yeah, Evan Fortyer just
won the silver or the gold. Oh no, he's just the same,
Okay, damn yeah. So the Palo the Palace stuff with that, Like
I said, I can't bring myself to care there. But Franz Wagner already
sort of this every level score. Probably an underrated passer at this point,
probably even an underrated defender at this point. What is the next front tier
as we get into year three of the Franz Wagner experience. Yo, So
the big, the big progress I'm looking for with Franz. I mean he's
already let's let's let's give praise. I mean, he did just defeat Team
USA twenty two points. We love as the German Vonda kid. He is
so great. We love him on the magic. There's just nothing he can't
do. The next frontier we saw from his sophomore campaign eighteen and a half
four four rebounds, four point one rebounds, three and a half assists.
I think the next frontier for him is a fifty forty ninety guy. I
mean he's shot forty eight and a half percent from the field, thirty six
point five or three, So I guess that's that's the leap that he would
have to take an eighty four percent from from the line. So we love
us from Franz Wagner. He's an iron man. He played seventy nine games
and then eighty games. He has it off the glass both ways. The
euro steps through the lane are just dangerous, and you gotta keep sharp objects
away from Franz Wagner because the man loves to cut. He's cerebral. He
doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective and to score buckets.
So I think continue to tick up in that three point shot, get that
thirty six point five percent up a little bit, and then the other one
is is getting some more respecting getting to the line a little bit more.
If we can have as we already said, Paulo's getting to the line seven
and a half times. If that goes up, and now Franz is getting
some more respect and getting to the line, I think that's when he starts
to become I mean, he just had just shy at twenty points this year,
So some more opportunities at the charity stripe could could do wonders for the
for the Wonder Kid, what you wax poetic now on Franz Wagner, if
you would, because I just love to hear it. I don't know if
I have anything to add to what you say. The thing I'll be watching
for with him that I think really would sort of take him to another echelon
of player when you're kind of looking at what he's doing on the ball,
and he can do stuff in the lane, but he seems to get a
little hesitant when he sees multiple bodies coming at him, and then he'll be
prone to turnovers or he thinks he's faster than the guy or guys who were
in front of him, then realizes he's not and that results in a turnover
or not the best decision. And so I don't even know if I'm looking
for. Is it more poised, is it tightening up some of the handles
in traffic. But we've also see him do okay in that scenario, I
think, and not to step on the toes of what I said with Palo,
he probably has another gear as a pastor here because of some of the
possessions he's left on the table. We're just watching him where it feels like,
okay, I wish he was just being more decisive or understood his matchup
better, or the defense that was coming at him better. Again, it
was just a sophomore. I expect him to get better at that and the
other thing. You'll hear me say it probably ten more times this podcast as
the spacing around him improves. I think some of this stuff takes care of
itself, but for some of the on ball you said she was saddled with.
I would like to see the turnover rate, specifically in pick and roll
scenarios. I think he was at like seventeen plus percent he turned the ball
over and picking rolls last year. That's just a little high for the caliber
of player and even pass her to me that he is. And so that's
what I'm gonna be sort of looking at it. It's like, maybe that's
too like nitty gritty of like it doesn't really take his game to the next
level or something. But he's already done so much that it's time to start
probably nitpicking. Yeah, no, that's a fair point. I'd be interested
to dive a little bit more into those those pick and roll numbers and see
when in the season they came, because he, I mean, the beginning
of our season when we were five and twenty. Markel Foltz was down,
Cole Anthony was down for a little bit, Jalen Suggs was nicked up.
We were running Point France in Orlando, so that was trial by fire for
him and a lot of the turn He had a lot of turnovers early in
the year, so that may skew some of his season long numbers, but
I think it was a great learning opportunity for him. He'll probably never be
in that situation again where he's running Point I hope not again. That would
be you know, want him to be like, no, you want him
to be like a secondary turn exactly exactly. And and he got. He
got the trial by fire, as I said, being that primary ball hander,
and I think it only met him made him better at the role that
he suited for, which is that secondary ball handler, playmaker coming out of
a you know, coming around on a pick and roll. And so that
I just I'm excited. I'm so ecstatic to have these two guys. I
mean, we got the forward positions locked up for years to come, hopefully
here in Orlando. And they just compliment each other so very well. So
we we love the wonder kid it's him having him and more. It's two
is something very unique to having the brothers together more. It's also got to
contract this offseason with a little bit of a Fronz bump. We think here
in the Magic community, he got he got a little bit of that Fronz
bump on his U and its influence. Now that's what yea there, And
I'm not taking shots at Tanasis here, Like mo Vogner played like a real
role for last year. It's like they're not really comfortable. You're that's a
very accurate point. Yes, So I am a Jaalen Sucks believer. So
I'm gonna preface it with this, So don't don't let that effect. Don't
don't let my feelings affect what you're gonna say. Where are you at with
Jalen Sucks? I'm with you, I'm with you. I mean, I'm
this is this is Homer behavior here they're getting ladies and gentlemen. But what
else am I to do? I think Jalen Suggs came into the league with
superior expectations and we all thought he was going to be the franchise guy now
and then all of a sudden, this guy Franz Wagner, who you know.
On draft night, we're kind of just like scratching our heads, like,
who the hell is a Franz Wagner? And Jalen had a very irky,
jerky start. I think the way that he plays has been a double
edged sword for him in the NBA. What makes him so great is he's
got that dog in him. He has one gear. It's one hundred thousand
percent. He just goes hard all the time. But you know the other
side of that coin was that he was getting nicked up everywhere all the time.
I think this, and I believe I'm correct on this. This is
his first healthy offseason. He got injured in the summer league. I believe
his first year he got a thumb that hampered him into the beginning of his
year, and then he got nicked up a couple other times going hard to
the hole. And last year he had ankle searcher. So this is his
first fully healthy year, and we've seen the effective field goal percentage, the
two point shooting, the three point shooting, they all went up significantly.
He's top ten percent point two percent from three over his final thirty games.
I think like that was a real, that's a real number. I have
that statistic on my screen, Dan, so I'll do yes, I'm three
point six attempts per game. I'll let you know. So we're we're taking
heart in that the shot looks great, like it's well balanced. It always
looked pretty damn good. So I have faith in the shot. And as
you said again, thirty seven and a half percent. I had you said
thirty eight. Will go with that one because it's higher over his last thirty
games. Small sample size, but the shot looks there, and he hits
some big shots. I mean, he hit a couple of game winners last
year. So again, top ten percent amongst guards in steel percentage, block
percentage, offensive rebounding percentage. So he dog, he's a fighter, he's
a competitor. He's my choice to be our starting two guard next year.
I think I don't even think that's hot. I think he usurps Gary Harris
as the two guarden. Again, I don't even think that's hot because he
was in our final. He was in our ending lineups, which are far
more important than your starting lineups. He was in the ending lineups for coach
Moseley at the end of the year and when Jalen excelled those last thirty games,
those last forty games second half of the season, that's when our whole
team was getting healthy and he was settling into a role. We've learned that
Jalen Suggs, I think he's not a point guard in the NBA, is
a secondary ball handler. He's a shooting guard. You know, if you
get him downhill to the to the hoop, that's what we want. That's
great, But he showed some really high upside in my opinion, from beyond
the arc, and again, first healthy offseason, I am really really excited
to see the version of Jalen Suggs that we see this year. I think
you're absolutely onto something. Dah Yeah, And I think they're they've kind of
gradually just found the role and the personnel around him, even though it's not
perfect from a spacing perspective, it's going to force him into basically being this
three in D type of player for the most part, who can do a
little bit on the ball, but you don't want to see too much of
it, maybe in certain units. The starting question with him is interesting just
because I guess getting him away from Anthony Black might make a lot of sense.
Having Gary Harris come off the bench, It's yeah, that's wow,
We're I mean, we're gonna get into the rotations. That's that's a good
conundrum to have. I didn't, you know, I didn't build him as
a starter. I assume they would just go to Harris there. I'm hoping
the three point volume ticks up. But I think the thing that really he
does not receive enough credit for it because we focus so much on offense.
It's not just that he's good defensively, is that he's good defensively while taking
on these assignments that can make you look bad defensible where it's like, hey,
you go Chase Donovan Mitchell or you go Chase Tyry's Haliburton, and like
he's hand those types of assignments, and I think that's a really big deal.
And so I'm hoping that as he finds more of an offensive like niche
that this will help him. You know, the ship has probably sailed on
will he beat this megastar? We know better, but I feel I look
at him and I see the outline of just a really impactful NBA player,
and I think it's just a matter of finding that happy medium on offense,
not just with his usage and function, but of how that meshes with the
personnel that's around him. And I don't know if they found that balance yet,
but it does seem like they at least understand what direction they need to
head in with him. Excuse me, no, I think you're right.
He's kind of finally found his spots. He's maybe not the guy that US
Orlando Magic fans thought he was gonna be on Draft night, but he could
still be kind of, like, you know, an all defensive player or
a borderline I'm not. I mean, it's too too rich. I was
gonna say borderline all Star. That might be too rich. But what I
love about this in a twist way, and his kind of sporadic up and
down injury history so far is I'm hoping knock on wood. I got wood
here, He's gonna stay healthy. And then he's going into his second contract,
and then do you get more of a bargain rate on a Jalen Suggs
go on his second deal because he had kind of a stop and start first
contract, and all of a sudden he's blossoming in his second contract. Because
that's what you need, because you know, Paulo and Franz are going to
be max player guys, so you need to have some guys that are on
some more reasonable deals that also flourish and become key pieces. And I'm hoping
Jalen Suggs can continue to be a well kept secret and that not too many
folks around the league get onto him here in this season, because then he's
gonna be up for an extension and I hope to heck we extend him on
what might be a team friendly deal and that could be huge for the team
construction moving into you know, a year three, four, five, six
of this new generation of the Orlando Magic. Now, I know the pecking
order ended up this way in part because of injuries with the roster, including
basically to all three of these guys. I think, like, what is
what is the hierarchy when you're looking at allocating minutes to Gary Harris, col
Anthony and Jalen Suggs right now? Because Jalen Suggs is at the bottom of
that last I know he closed some important games, but he was third in
minutes per game among them. I think he I'm just curious as your thoughts
what that hierarchy looks like now, I think that Jalen Suggs will likely play
more minutes per game than Cole this year, and Markel plays the most out
of the lot. I just, I just I believe that much in j
Jalen suggs ascension. I just think he has more, He's got a larger
skill set, and he brings more winning, winning, winning assets to the
team than Cole Anthony, who we love, I mean, we absolutely love
col Anthony in Orlando. He's he's the he's the personality of the team and
can really light it up, be a microwave score. He's a great six
man. What's that exactly? We need that guy, like, get that
guy on hot mic immediately. I don't know why he's not miked up for
every freaking game, but we need we need like an uncensored like stream of
where like you can hear everything that's said on the mic, though, because
I always wonder, I want to know what they're cutting out. Well,
did do you remember that Jalen Suggs was on a hot mic. I don't
know if it was last season or two seasons ago, and he dropped the
mrfer he said, I think it was his game winner and against the Bulls
and and more. It's he's like, yeah, man, more it's in
the locker. He just he came up to me. Can I swear yeah.
He's like, he came up to me. He says you're a bad
motherfucker. And he said that on TV and and uh Dante Marcatel he was
interviewing him, was like, ohh he kind of he didn't know what to
do and just kept it moving. So that would be that would be good
for our team. I think Jalen Suggs though, I think we see a
big ascension from him. I do think he usurps Cole Anthony in terms of
minutes for a game and really settles in as long as you can have consistency.
So the big bugaboo for us has been injuries. So knock on wood,
we have some consistency this year and that's where Jalen Suggs has thrived.
Now, this is a little bit more complex than the question is going to
make a team because Anthony Black and even Gary Harris can play some wing minutes.
But it's Cole Anthony when you're kind of looking out, Okay, we
have faults. We have Gary Harris who can actually play wing minutes. We
have Anthony Black. Now we are invested in Jalen Suggs, So is he
the one that's most likely to get squeezed when it comes to minutes or is
it going to be you know, Black's a rookie and there's also Gary Harris
might not be sort of this long term piece. But I look at it
from a if you're trying to win games perspective, it almost feels like col
Anthony might be the guy that gets squeezed a little bit here. Yeah,
it's tough because you know, prior to drafting Anthony Black, Cole Anthony was
your second most proficient ball handler, the guy that you trusted with the offense
outside of Markelle Full So I mean he completely ran that second unit. Then
Franz would come on and do some of the ball handling responsibilities. But you're
right, now that you have Anthony Black, you feel you have a capable
guy to run your second unit Cole Anthony's skill set while we need shooting desperately.
So I'm not happy to let you know, a proficient ball handler and
a guy who can run your offense and one of our better shooters walk out
the door. But if if he doesn't where are the minutes coming from.
It has to come from somewhere. I could only think of Gary Harris right
he gets injured. He's been injured a fair amount throughout his career, so
there's that like, and our our point guard room has been nicked up quite
a bit, and we don't want to bank on injuries. But I think
we see We've been talking about this in the Magic community for it seems like
every year for the last few years. But Gary Harris being traded at the
trade deadline or being moved, you know, it's like that has been the
piece that we're like, yeah, we're gonna move him and get something.
It's that happens every year. It feels the most real now though, because
we really do have this log jam coming to a head, as you've been
remarking on, and we'll see what happens. I'm really interested to see what
happens with Cole. I think it's going to break people's hearts or a Magic
fans hearts to see him leave. So we're hoping he comes back. But
if he does wear the minutes, it's something's got a gift, Dan,
something's gotta give to that end. Who's more likely to get an extension before
the season starts, Cole Anthony or Mark el Faults. M Well, what's
interesting is, I think when you're looking at the importance of this is from
my perspective of it, when you're looking at the importance of the players,
you might assume that's Mark col Faults. But in my head, when you're
looking at the numbers, they might be willing to accept Colanthy might be willing
to take a much team friendlier number right now than Mark el Faults, because
I think of how high Faults is stock is kind of ascended over the past
couple of years. No, that's that's a fair point. Did I wrote
an article about this on early to Magic Daily dot com, and my play
to the front office was just try to extend these guys, both of them
as soon as possible so you can hopefully get a team friendly deal. Because
what I'm really worried about is, as you said, the ascension of Mark
el Folts. He goes out there and then as all of a sudden commanding
like mid to high twenties instead of low twenties. If he has a breakout
year this year and someone's looking for a point guard and believes it can be
him. So that's that's the danger. The thing. They've both been nicked
up a little bit, you know, especially Mark elle Folts. He's he's
had very few healthy seasons. So I understand if the front office isn't running
to get these guys extended, especially if they've already had conversations and the players
parties are a med amenable to a more team friendly deal and they're trying to
play hardball, which you never blame them for trying to get their guy money.
But our front office has worked some wonders with Wendell Carter, who I
think we're going to talk about in a moment. So you know, I'm
just crossing everything I have. I'm sleeping with the spoon under the pillow.
I'm doing it all. I'm putting the underwear and the freezer, hoping that,
you know, Jeff Weltman can work his magic again and get these guys
extended. If you're gonna ask me, I have to choose. I mean,
Mark el Foltz is more important to this team, so it would be
surprising to me if Cole Anthony gets extended first. But like you said,
it could be a more easily digestible number, and so I wouldn't be it
wouldn't be shocked, but I would be surprised if it was Cole Anthony.
First. I think Folts would is the number one priority here. Is there
a version where they sort of just kicked the can on both of them and
neither gets an extension they want to roll their flexibility into next summer and go
from there. I think there's there's definitely that's a possibility, but that's that's
a danger. That's a real scary scenario for me because I think both I
mean, Cole's been in the lab. You all see him, He's been
working on his game. If he continues to shoot, continue to improve his
three point shooting, it's going to be a very valuable asset. We'll see
though, you know it's it might be actually better in a way with the
new CBA. And I think these you know, these contracts are getting tamped
down a little bit as teams realize they have to be a little bit more
clever with what they can do in terms of signing, you know, going
over the cap and especially now over the over the second apron. So maybe
maybe teams are going to be a little bit more reticent to try to go
out and outbid restricted free agents because they will they both will have that denotion,
I believe. I know. Yeah, I mean that's always been and
I've never understood it, especially now because I think you only have thirty six
hours where your cap space is tied up in the like, you have thirty
six hours to match. They lowered it. So it's just like, I'm
a big fan of well, why did no one go and offer Austin Reeves
the one hundred million dollars if the Lakers match, You've tied up your cap
space for thirty six hours whatever it is, forty eight hours and what move
did you miss out on? And like so there we all love that.
There is a danger there. But at least if you're the Magic, if
you let col Anthony roll in a restricted free agency, you have the right
to match anything. Mark el Foltz is a dicey er proposition because if he
decides he wants to leave Egan just the lead. Yeah. Yeah, so
that's why I would say he's a higher extension priority as well. I don't
have a question about Wendell Carter Junior, really, I do, not a
stylistic one, but He's a podcast favorite of Grant and I. He also
will be for anyone who cares. This is how steel of a contract he
is. He's gonna be making nine point six percent of the salary cap this
year. Nine point six percent for a starting center who is in that borderline
all star center tier on this podcast anyway, Wow, I love it.
He considered to you or the Magic community, if you want to go about
it that way, the third most important, like long term core player on
this team. When you frame it his long term, maybe I have mark
ll Foltz is my third most important player just by virtue of how the team
turned around when he came back, and Wendell Carter Junior was playing during that
five and twenty stretch. So in terms of importance and impact on winning right
now, I would have mark Ell above that. But you know, there's
a great argument for Wendell. And the thing that about the contract that makes
it even better Dan is it's a descending contract. So as the salary cap
is going up, his contracts going down in twenty five, twenty six,
when this contract is over, I think it's ten million dollars. So,
oh my god, I'm losing my voice again. I'm coming. I apologize
to everyone. I'm coming out the I'm on the good end of an allergy
cold slash lost my voice stretch. He's gonna be six point nine point five
percent of the salary cap in his final year. That's projected. That number
could actually get more favorable for the Magic because the cap could increase by a
higher rate. That ye true, very good point, so, I mean,
and that's gonna be that's the last year of Paulo's rookie deal as well.
Franz, would you know already be signed. He's just he's so solid
for us. I mean, he's he's smart, he's very positionally he's a
positionally great defender. He uses his body really well. He's a good defender
and an underrated passer. That's kind of been a theme with this team.
We love to share the rock. I love taking his over on as sets.
It's one of my favorite gambling things to do. I just feast on
that at fifteen and nine, and he has done a tremendous job of extending
to the three point line. I mean, thirty five and a half percent
from three this year on a number I don't know how many attempts. I
gotta I gotta get that up. But he was at last year. He's
at almost four attempts a game. You'll take that for a center, Yeah,
exactly. So I mean a team that needs facing, that seems like
a valuable asset. You know, he struggles sometimes. He's a good defensive
rebounder. He's not a rim protector. He's not getting you offensive board.
He's not a superior rebound under At nine rebounds from your center isn't great.
But he's boxing out the big bodies and you know Polo's coming in and getting
him, or even little Cole Anthony comes in and gets more rebounds than a
guard his side should. But the only knock and I guess hesitation I have
at Wendell is he's only played above sixty games once and it was sixty one
or sixty two two years ago. So he's been perpetually injured, whether he's
he's got the corner, you know, he's always you know, stuff in
his eye or what have you. He has to sit, you know,
twenty games a quarter of the season for his entire career, and some of
his years he's you know, been out for more games than that. So
I think that's why we were able to get him on the favorable contract for
him. It was a great move. I can generational wealth. Now this
is my second contract, fantastic and we got it on a steel I think
that's probably going to be the best contract in the league in twenty twenty five,
if it's not already. He's a great piece. I hesitate sometimes when
he had to defend those superior centers, especially the seven footers. He struggles
to rebound the ball and that's something as a team that we struggle with and
a lot of the blame rests with your center on that rest with Wendell Carter.
But he facilitates offense. I mean he's a lot of times in the
pick and roll at the elbow, handing off the ball, sets fantastic screens.
He definitely is a key cog to the offense and our defense love to
have him. He says all the right stuff. So I'm super high on
him. It is what are you? Why are you so high? It
seems like you're even higher on him than I am. Can give me more
Wendell Carter Junior propaganda, please damn. I appreciate defensive malluability, especially in
biggs and so while he's not that traditional rim protector, the fact that he
can cover up for so many different things if you need him too, because
he's can be mobile on the perimeter and he's gonna make the right decision I
would say ninety seven percent of the time. I also think they don't use
him like in the post as much because they don't need to. And I
think that's a when you look at kind of he started, and I know
there was like some Jim boiling years there that really clouded some ship up and
why the Bulls ended up moving him the first place, I'm sure, But
like just when you're looking at his screening, when you're looking at some of
the shots that he can not just like from three, but like this is
someone who, yeah, he can hit the turnarounds if you need him too,
but he's also gonna cut, He's gonna move without the ball, whether
he's actually connecting on screens or slipping screens, and so to be that plug
in play while also stretching the floor. But then your defensive motor and execution
doesn't seem ever tied to your offensive usage. That's just like that's so rare,
and I mean we kind of just talked about it. I make,
we make jokes, but you have a starting center. He's making under ten
percent of the salary cap. Like, I'm just gonna fall in love with
that. As like the team perspective, I wish Wendell Carter Jr. For
him, I wish he was making a lot more money. But from the
magic perspective, he's just so incredibly valuable and I think he just lets you
do a lot of different things where it's okay, Palo's not the best shooter
right now, like the fact that you're center and above every shooter for his
position when you kind of filter out, like the actual shot types. He's
at over thirty eight percent from three last year on just straight catch and shoot
zero dribble threes. That's like, that's a huge asset and it opens up
the floor and I think he's actually it'll be he'll be even more dangerous now
if you're playing him routinely with another other than Franz Wagner, like another higher
end shooter, where it's, oh, is he getting minutes with Jet Howard?
Is it getting minutes with Joe Ingles or which, Oh, Palo shooting
thirty six percent from three like that just helps out Wendell Carter Junior a ton
as well because it gives him more things that he can do. Then after
he's setting screens, if he has more room to operate in the lane,
So he's become this good and versatile offensively operating with him like a finite amount
of space in the half court. I'm just I get what you're saying,
and I will always lean towards the guards as well. Where it's well,
Mark Valls is gonna have the ball in his hands, He's gonna be making
more decisions, So I understand that aspect. But he's just everything, just
from the contract to the versatility to the plug and plays what he's able to
do on offense defense. He's one of my favorite players in the league,
and I think he's probably one of the most underrated players in the league right
now. I would think absolutely absolutely. I mean it's just like that,
such a solid guy I want. I want more big man ship from him,
but that's not necessarily who he is. The versatility is the other side
of that coin. So the switch ability, which coach Mosley loves, You've
got like all these six ten guys. He Paulo Franz they're all like six
ten and they all can switch. Now with Paulo playing some five, It'll
be interesting to see now how he and Wendell continue to even work better together
now that Paulo's gotten a little bit more insight into the life of a big
man. Yeah, he's made appreciate a little bit. Tip. Yeah,
he'll be coming in. So it's at all where do Jonathan, Isaac and
Chumo OKK factor into the longer term outlook up this team? Next question?
No, all right, that was it? No? Yeah, right,
that's what's juicy next? You know, not really, I you would.
Chuma has been a sad the tragic story of the Orlando Magic. We've been
talking, we've been waxing poetic about many of the accolades and the rising stars
that we have on this team. Chuma's kind of he's the sad story.
He came in there was in those weird years before a right when Booch was
traded. He kind of got a lot more on ball. Looks he was
dunking on Anthony Davis, he was shooting the ball well from beyond the arc
and like, okay, okay, this is this is good. We got
a wing here. He looked like the three and D wing that you're you
know, Sky one point was just like absolutely bonkers. And he's still a
superior he's still a great defender, great on ball defender, but we've got
a lot of really good defenders now, a lot of really versatile defenders,
and so he can't really hang his hat on there. And his shooting has
gotten worse every single year. It's going in the wrong way, and I
think that probably spells the end for Chuma Okak, especially with Joe Ingles coming
in playing like the same position that he does. Chuma was supposed to be
like the backup for Paula and Franz, soaking up those minutes more. It's
kind of beat him out. Now we're bringing in Joe Ingles, now we're
bringing in Jet Howard. All these guys gotta get minutes. I just don't.
I don't see where it happens for Chuma unless you know, he lights
the world on fire during camp. And to talk about Jonathan Isaac, I
have I have a policy on court cousins Dan where I don't talk about injured
players, and technically he's not injured right now. But because of that policy,
we haven't talked about Jonathan Isaac in a long time. I mean,
Franz has played more games than Jonathan Isaac and Jonathan Isaac's seven year career,
So he's the ultimate what if He's the ultimate X factor in this whole amazing
hodgepodge that we're putting together right now in Orlando. When he was like in
nineteen twenty before he went down, he was blocking him beat like he was
the Yannis stopper, Like he was defending these guys better than anyone in the
league in our opinion, and you just saw, like, Wow, this
could be a defensive Player of the Year candidate. This guy could be a
cornerstone of the Orlando Magic before we had Paul On Franz, I'm like,
this is our star and it's just you know, one knee, then the
other knee, then the hamstring came back. For last year, he was
on a minute's restricting playing like ten twelve minutes and he got injured again.
So it's it's tough man. And he's been more active off the court than
on the court, which is a frustration to me because I love ball and
I want to see the young man play because he's so dang talented and could
help this team, But I just can't as a as a as a responsible
content creator, Dan, I just can't consider him and even a hypothetical situation,
but man, it would be it would be so good. I think
you're looking at it the smart way with Isaac. It's if if he can
contribute, that's a huge bonus. But there's also just like I won't say
they've outgrown him, but they're definitely just set up to move on from him,
like they don't need him and they don't even need what was the best
version of him at one point, because I have no idea where he would
fit offensively on this team right now. Yeah, yeah, oh go ahead.
Well he showed like he did show some nice flashes of stuff, turnaround
some post work. He was shooting pretty well from beyond the arc. But
yeah, you just you can't consider him as a responsible Magic fan. And
the best thing that he might be for us right now is a trade chip
for someone who's looking to dump salary and maybe get under the luxury tax or
under the second apron. That's seventeen million dollars and I think he has one
one more year left up this or is he on his last year. That's
attractive. That's attractive to some teams, and that might be the best asset
he brings to the Land of Magic. Do you when you're sort of looking
at Harris or Caleb Houston guys who played like really thank Kevon Harris to be
clear, and not Gary Harris. Oh yeah, sorry, Cavan's bed.
And so they come in they injuries, they played some bigger roles. I
think people expected them last year. They were both very interesting from the again
limited amount that I saw of them. Uh, Cavon Harris excuse me not
Gary Harris, chaos king and I really like Caleb Houston Holy defensive versatility.
There either these guys factor in this season or is the rotation at full strength.
I'll grow in them a little bit. I think they it would be
tough for them to factor and and with with everyone at full strength, if
they're in there, it's I'm not something might have gone wrong, you know,
Jet Howard is struggling, ab is struggling. Something like that is happening.
And I think you're more likely to see Kevan h play this year because
mostly just loves him. He's got he's tenacious on defense, and he's he's
much like Jalen sucks. He's got one gear. It's just all out and
I love that chaos king. That's exactly what he is. Caleb, while
switchable, didn't show much besides being kind of a spot up shooter. I
just I don't know where he fits. We'll see. I think this is
the last year that he's guaranteed on the contract, so I kind of have
a feeling he just fades off into the sunset or hopefully gets a shot on
on other team. But I don't see either of those guys factory in it
at all. Do you have another concern? We've talked a lot about the
spacing, and I do believe that's still in the half court. The biggest
concern is there another concern coming out of the off season when you look at
this roster that you still have. I mean, I mean we've talked about
it shooting, it's which is spacing, Like that's where's it going to come
from. We drafted Anthony Black as we've talked about already. That that's my
that's my biggest concern. That's my biggest concern. I'm also, you know,
interested to see how the team fares in hopefully meaningful basketball time too.
We're hoping in Orlando to to see some playoff basketball. And we love this
team in the regular season, but you know, there are there are guys,
there are teams that are regular season superstars, don't Evan Mitchell and that
when they get to the playoff. I'm sorry that was uncalled for those an
unnecessary shade Kyle, bad Kyle. Where it's a different game. It's a
different game and when teams can game plan. I would love to see this
team in a series because that's when our weaknesses would get exposed. That's when
we can figure out really where we need to move in terms of the direction
of the team. Hey, I'm optimistic about how we'll perform. You see
Franz Wagner going up against the USA and dropping twenty two. That's a guy
with ice in his veins. You know, when you've got guys like that
that have done it already on the international scale. We feel good about it,
but it's still an untested products. It's still a theory right now.
Dan. So that's the only thing I'm skeptical about, and i'd like to
see moving in this year. I think the one thing and this isn't a
concern. I would like to see them be even more aggressive to get going
in the open floor and in transition, especially in like sometimes it felt like
last year that they were more focused on not I don't want to say speed
necessarily, but like being faster in situations where teams wouldn't expect them to be
faster, where it's like, okay, after I made shot, like they're
going to try and get into their offense a lot quicker. But then if
they force a turnover and grab a rebound, it felt like they should be
getting into their offense a lot quicker than they were in those situations, so
I guess to like boil it down even further. They're fine after they're defending.
Makes I want to see them get faster after they're forcing turnovers or grabbing
live rebounds. I think there's room for them collectively to grow there. And
I'm not saying I'm worried they won't, just curious what they have the personnel
to do it, and they also have it. I mean, you added
eighty year old Joe Ingles and we don't know what's gonna happen with me black,
Like did you? They didn't necessarily add the personnelity that's going to make
them want to change the way they play in those situations. Gonna have to
happen them recognizing like, oh, this personnel that we already have in place
can do that. Yeah, I think I might disagree slight. I think
we saw more of that as this season went on, especially with Marquelle coming
back. I mean they he pushes, he pushes the ball, and with
Franz and Paulo, though, you are right, and there's more room to
grow. You've got guys that can off the rebound, push the ball immediately.
So it's a strength that I also would like to see us lean into
a little bit more and try to catch some teams on their back foot get
continue to get to the line. That's the opportunity where Paulo ticks those you
know, seven point four up to nine a game, and Franz continues to
get to line. Those are the opportunities, and I like where he has
at with that. One day. So after they started five and twenty,
which you've mentioned a couple of times, now, did you know the magic
started five and twenty For anyone who's listening to this podcast, everyone told you
they go twenty nine and twenty four before they close the season on a four
game losing streak. During that time, they were sixth in points loud per
possession. Aside from just the superior size that they have, what is something
that when you watch that really stands out about their defense, whether it's a
statistical aspect or just something you're noticing schematically, or with certain players or lineups
on the floor. Whatever. We've we've kind of danced around it talking about
each and every player, but it's the switchability. I mean every even Wendell
Carter to Mark l Foltz in that starting lineup, Jalen Suggs Franz, Paulo,
all of those guys are capable of switching on to anyone. Maybe not
for extended periods of time if you got Wendell on a one, but he's
done it before. So the switchability is superior. And and like you said,
the Jeff Weltman has loved drafting these guys with these huge wingspans. Just
positionless basketball is something that has been thrown at us ad nauseam by our front
office. And you see the benefit when Coach Mosley goes to the zone.
US Magic fans were pulling our hair out in the beginning of the year when
we're just our zone was getting destroyed. But as we started to get more
consistency, you started to really see it payoff in big moments where we'd be
able to stem the tide of an offensive run by going to that zone.
I think it really gave some teams fits too. We can not only play
man to man and switch, but we can also now have a reliable zone
defense that was coming together as we were getting to the end of the season.
So I'm excited to see that continue to grow and develop as we move
into twenty twenty three twenty four. Here, I'm excited to do and I
need to find I need to get dat on like the specifics of switching possessions,
specifically with Palel Bank Caro, just to continnew that Palla Bank Carroll defensive
agenda, because I just feel like from times when I watched him where it's
like, oh, that was a possession where he just capably guarded Jason Tatum
or oh did he just force the ball out of Kevin Durant's hands type stuff,
That's something I would need. I would love to see more data on.
Are you ready though for the cookie cutter portion of these look ahead podcasts.
I will I'm the cookie monster. Baby. Let's go, what does
the ten man rotation look like to you if you're building it out? Okay,
all right, so let's let's bring up the depth chart. So for
me, my starting five is going to be Marquelle, Jalen Suggs love It,
Franz Wagner, Paula Bank, Carroll, Wendell Carter Jr. Let's see
coming off the bench. Then we're gonna probably have Yeah, maybe Franz and
Jalen coming off at similar times. I would imagine. Then this is tough
because where does Gary Harris fit. That's what I'm struggling with most right now
in my mind, just like he is the actual person on this team,
I guess, aside from Franz that it's like finished three in D. Like
that's like he is three in D. You can't call Jalen Suggs that just
yet. So you have and he's he's great at what he does. I
mean, and here like an astronomical percentage on drives last year, that part
of his game, it's sort of fallen off a couple of years. He
only came back last year. No, and I think as Magic fans,
we want to see him shooting more. I love me some Gary Harris,
so he's got to be in that. I think he's you know, coming
in for Jalen Suggs. They're kind of swapping responsibilities this year. Coming in
for Franz Wagner. Is that when you put in Anthony Black at defending like
the two or three? Is he big enough? Can he do that?
Probably against most teams, he could defend the three. I think it will
be a nights and night basis. Then coming in for Markell, you're gonna
have Cole so he and Anthony Black will kind of go back and forth in
terms of running the offense. And this is where it gets weird, man,
Like there would be that's eight locks. Eight. I think i'd agree
with you, yeah, because you have the starting five Gary Harris, Collanthony
Anthony Black, right, so that's eight yeah, And I would agree with
you on all those locks. And and you've got to play your eleventh overall
draft pick. Right, you got to give him a runway, I would
assume in Jet Howard, so it's like you don't you kind of have to
play Moe Wagner unless you are leaning into palle all the way at back up
five at this point, right, So I guess yeah, So then where
the hell is going? Well, paid eleven million dollars to be the eleventh
man in you the way the towel, you know, sign me up,
sign me up. It's there's gonna be you know, it's fun to do
the ten man, but I we're gonna be twelve thirteen. They are a
regular season. That's gonna mix it up. But like it'll be interesting if
they made the playoffs, right, what their eight man rotation would be.
Maybe it's just we outline the eight locks. But it's like there's not a
lot of like there's a big big in the starting five, but then your
size kind of starts to drop off of you both Gary Harris and Colanthony coming
off the bench right, and and the guy we haven't talked about at all,
but I like a lot is go Goga Pataz. You like Goga?
I love Go. I mean he was our best offensive rebounder. And you
know that's you know, I talked to seth Partner. Our part now is
set part Now. His book Offensive Rebounding is how you determine who's a good
rebounder and he's the only guy that was really doing that as a seven footer.
He was also doing a pretty good job being vertical. So if we're
playing a team that has like a true center more it's can't really handle it.
Sometimes Wehendell struggles to get rebounds against those guys. Goga's our only answer.
So, you know, I think he gets some minutes somewhere too.
And what's the bigger wild card Goga's defense in space or Jonathan Isaac's availability.
I mean, that's gotta it's gotta be. That's the bigger wild card is
Jonathan Isaac. That's for anything. But yeah, Goga can get on roller
skates. Certainly, you gotta you gotta keep the man of the paint would
be or and this will be some extent, to some extent, excuse me,
matchup dependent, but what would be your preferred closing unit for this team?
Is it just the starting lineup that you would roll out or do you
see any potential for fussing and fiddling with any of the spots. I don't
think so. I don't think so. You know what, coach Moseley did
a great job of last year, and I think he'll continue to do so.
Is rewarding the hot hand Cole Anthony. If he gets hot, he
knows he can play into the fourth quarter. But he's got to be hot
because he can be a liability on defense at times. But so I think
the five that online as the starters is my finishing unit as well, Mark
Hill, Jalen, Paulo, Franz, and Wendell. If on day one
we see Gary Harris in the starting lineup, I would still imagine that Jalen
would be finishing the game. Yeah, And it seems like there's the most
potential for funsing and fiddling just in the backcourt. And I think at this
point I would even go as far as to say that there are just four
locks because you need Mark el Foltz's ball handling and playmaking. But like if
pal D or Franz makes this leap as a passer, you could in theory
if you're looking to skew more offense or space, like you get really wild
with who you're throwing out in the backcourt, then would give you more options.
But it does feel like there's four locks for what would be their most
used closing unit, that's Faults, Wendell, Palo and Franz. And I
would think that the fifth spot you mentioned could be coll Anthony, Jalen Suggs.
Could we see some Gary Harris depending on the matchup, Maybe I would
be it would be interesting. He can't really get played off the floor.
But like, would you ever see a Palo at the five? Closing unit
would be But that lead into I think this question. If you're a weirdo,
quirky, unconventional, yet to be seen lineup that you want to see
them try this year, well, yeah, let's let's let's run what we
ran against New Zealand there. Let's put Polo at the five. Let's put
some shoot, Let's put the most possible shooting that we can around Paulo Ban
Carroll. And I think that you do that with him at the five,
because then you can bring Ingles at the four. Got a three point shooter,
We could have Franz at the three, I guess, and then give
me some Gary Harris and like some Cole Anthony and run the offense more through
Polo and Franz. I mean, that's maybe sacrilegious to uh my boy Mark
el Folds, but if we're throwing out some wacky stuff, let's let's try
to flip the script, Orlando Magic, Let's try to we were a team
that could not shoot the three ball at all last year. Let's try to
surround Polo with as much three point shooting as we possibly can. But I
don't know if we're actually going to see that. Now. I'm really putting
on the glasses. I'm living in Lalo Land. I would love to see,
And to be honest, this team is really not fun when it comes
to making weird old lineups because I think so many of the lineups you can
just justify as being sensible, any of the combinations that you just put out
there. Just give me Polo plus all Wings. It's like, let's throw
Fronds on there, anti black Jet Howard, and then the other one is
Joe Ingles just for the shooting. So it's like Polo and those four or
Jalen Sugs. Even I wouldn't mind like having him in that scenario. So
Polo plus I'll call them wings. Polo plus a bunch of wings is what
I want to say. It's it's nothing compared to the Wingspan lineup of last
year that people wanted, which was like Bull, Jonathan Isaac, who you
know, Polo Ban Caro Franz Wagner the super huge lineup man Bull Bowl in
Phoenix now where they will soon learn that he doesn't play much. I just
love the memes coming out when he got when he's signed there of like they're
big three plus bull Bowl, Like yes, this is the missing piece.
Like fans, he's become such a phenomenon that like there will be like when
they come out with the photoshop graphics before they're in the Jersey, Like there
were those graphics of bull Bowl in the suns Jersey. Someone took the time
the photo shop bull Bow in a Suns Jersey. Okay, this is the
big one. They're over under as rerecord this on Friday night, September eighth,
thirty six and a half. Are you taking the over or the under?
And where do you see them stacking up in the larger context of the
Eastern Conference thermonuclear mr efforts? Right now, look at me. I need
you to take as much money responsibly as you can right now and run,
don't walk, and put it on the over. I myself did that.
I wouldn't give you advice that I wouldn't live by. I think I've put
money on over and then I put money on like over forty. I may
have even dabbled with over forty five. I don't think that's like a crazy
reach. When you look at as you said, you know that spurt where
we went twenty nine and twenty four, twenty nine and twenty five, if
you extrapolate that across the whole season, I think that's good for like the
seventh seed last year, something around those lines. So I think we're coming
in very underrated with that thirty six and a half, because that would still
be a losing season. And I do not see the magic being under five
hundred. I expect us to be over five hundred. And I say,
run, don't walk, Dan, tell me you're with me. I don't
reveal it because we do our over Under podcast separately, and I've decided this
year that I won't reveal mine because then they're all spoiled. When Grant and
I going to record it, yours will be recorded. I put the I
have receeats forever yet, so yours will be recorded. I will say,
this does give me, And there's a big reason why this gives me.
Last year's Sacramento Kings Vibes, where theirs came out and it was like thirty
five or something stupid. It was like, oh no, that's way too
low. And then I think what helps the Magic is no one got a
lot better in the East this summer, I think, And the more instructive
exercise to go through is Okay, well, what are the teams that we
are prepared at this moment are going to be better than the Magic? There's
the Bucks, There's the Celtics, which it will be the Celtics, but
I want to make it clear, I'm so low on the christophs Porzingis acquisition
is not your There's the Calves. And then I'm not saying that they are
going to be fourth in the East, but like that's where that's where the
locks run out, because yeah, okay, the Knicks fine, maybe,
but the heat. What's happening with Damian Lillard? They lost two mission critical
guys this offseason. If they don't have to yeah, if they get Dame,
sure, the heat? What the fuck is going on in Philly?
I have no idea yet count on them? So yeah, there are these
other teams, like what's gonna happen with Atlanta? What's going on in chicagoan
Toronto? There? But that's sort of my point is that the East is
so wide open. Definitely it benefits a team like the Magic. I think,
where's the team like the Heat. I don't think it benefits them as
much, especially if they don't have Dame. But a team like the Magic,
a team like the Pacers, you're looking for someone who could run off
more wins than you're expecting. So that is my not revealing my pick for
the Magic, but those are my on Orlando's over under. I think there
are just three teams. They're so far above the rest of the East and
that everyone else, with the exception of Washington, who was trying to suck
and kudos to them. We're doing so that could end up being jumbled together.
Man, I mean, I'm the Brooklyn Nets were six. They're gonna
tumble, like you know. The Cleveland Cavaliers are a good regular season team.
They'll probably be up there, but seventy six. And I won't reveal
this, but I flirted with picking me him to come out of the East
this year. I'm like, I'm drinking all the Cleveland Cavaliers. I love
me some Evan Mobilier. Man, he is gonna be still good and people
who are just like using the playoff series to discredit a sophomore is like,
let's let's chill. Make sure you go watch the Hard Knocks Hardwood Knocks video
on Evan Mobili. I saw that was supposed to the other You know,
it's funny you made that mistake because I get we get tagged time and hard
Knocks stuff on Twitter because people think like that's the handle of hard knocks.
H Is there any on anything pertaining to this roster? I didn't ask you
about You think we need to discuss after ninety minutes that we did not hit.
Oh no, I got I got to talk about my Go Go bats.
So I think I'm happy. Dan. I just gotta tell the people
it's a good time right now. It's all right, it's not You're not
going to be a bandwagoner if you come right now, the water is warm,
it's before everyone's on board. So just just come on, come on
board. We're fine being your B team. Okay, we don't need to
be your A team out there, ladies and gentlemen, but just you know,
give us some eyeballs once in a while. We're a great lead past
team. It's gonna be exciting Yeah, they're they're absolutely gonna be fun league
past team, and you can show your membership aboard the Magic bandwagon by hanging
a random era jersey behind you whenever you're podcasting. That's how that's how we'll
know, Kyle. Can you just tell all our listeners where they can find
you and all the work that you're putting out. Absolutely. Another great way
to show your Orlando Magic fandom is to come on over to Court Cousins.
Come check us out, Me and my cousin the Peace. We put out
shows, we put out, you know, recaps of all the games.
We like to call ourselves a comedic Orlando Magic, an NBA podcast. We
don't take ourselves too seriously. So if you're looking for a laugh and you're
looking for some basketball, come on over to Court Cousins. You can also
catch some of my writing at Orlando Magic Daily dot com. So thanks so
much, Danon, and thank you everyone out there. Yes, you can
find the links to Court cousins social media stuff and all of their YouTube link
in there as well, so go subscribe a lot of fun. Kyle,
thank you so much for coming on and rest as short. I'll probably be
pestering you again downline, Absolutely, you're you're welcome anytime in this Orlando Magic